In the wake of the CVS-Aetna deal and the Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan Chase venture partnership, legacy hospital systems have a new merger to worry over. Walmart is reportedly seeking to diversify and expand into healthcare delivery, through a potential acquisition of Louisville-based health insurer Humana.
For its part, Humana last year acquired home health services and hospice provider Kindred Healthcare. Given that CMS recently added unskilled home health to its list of covered Medicare Advantage services, a health insurer with verticals in non-hospital delivery of value-based care makes a particularly attractive acquisition target for Walmart, which is already a giant in retail pharmacy.
Get the full story and analysis here, from The Wall Street Journal‘s Melanie Evans.