Healthcare Startups Capitalizing on the Sharing Economy and More

By Clive Riddle, April 1, 2015

These five healthcare lists – courtesy of healthsprocket - should be of great interest today –addressing the sharing economy; King v Burwell; upcoming M&A transactions; headlines you might have missed; and hot innovation initiatives:

Healthcare Startups Capitalizing on the Sharing Economy and More

1. Uberlance - provide on-demand ambulance services with your SUV
2. Airpital - rent out your spare rooms for hospital services
3. PatientGrades - site for doctors to rate their patients
4. TeleCrowd - crowdsourcing telemedicine - vote on patient's diagnosis & treatment
5. AirRx - Start a Mail Order Pharmacy with your unused prescriptions

Five Possible Outcomes for SCOTUS King v Burwell Decision

1. To avoid split tie decision, Scalia and Ginsberg thumb wrestle to settle matter
2. Court disallows federal funding in states using healthcare.gov, with farmer exemption allowing combined corn/healthplan subsidy
3. Court strikes down Obamacare - Congress passes emergency band-aid bill providing monthly lottery tickets and band-aids to uninsured
4. Court rules federal subsidies may continue, but not via healthcare.gov - strict interpretation requires actual physical marketplace with pop-up tents
5. Court keeps Obamacare intact - Congress authorizes funding of time travel - terminator cyborg to go back to 2010 and prevent passage of ACA

Four Upcoming Blockbuster Healthcare M&A Transactions to Watch For

1. UnitedHealthcare acquires states of Florida and Arizona to increase Medicare marketshare
2. J&J acquires actual cloud covering east coast for cloud-based pharma initiatives - relocates cloud to reduce future employee snow days
3. Company formerly known as WellPoint acquires copyright to Star Spangled Banner as part of re-branding company as "National Anthem"
4. HCA acquires Carnival Cruise Lines to create new medical tourism fleet

Important Healthcare Headlines You Might Have Missed

1. German government delays renown U.S. Clinic's expansion to Hamburg and Frankfurt - puts Mayo on hold
2. In nod to digital age, doctor offices now feature e-versions of past magazines in patient lobbies using refurbished Apple Newton tablets
3. Red Cross licenses use of name to Blue Cross Blue Shield plans wishing to re-brand insurance products in Republican states
4. Concerns mount with new obesity management procedure converting unused part of brain to second stomach
5. GAO investigation uncovers missing "M" in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acronym

Hot Healthcare Innovation Initiatives

1. Implantable chip sends you text message letting you know when your knee hurts
2. McDonalds / CMS partnership pairing choice of Value Meal with each Value-Based payment
3. Exercise treadmills installed in fast food line queues
4. StubHub-like app to auction your doctor appointment time
5. Starbucks Pharmacies dispensing your daily prescription with your latte

The lists provided in Healthsprocket’s annual April 1st edition of the SprocketRocket newsletter. If you’d like to check out similar lists from previous April 1st editions, click here