Topic
The business of healthcare
8 articles drawn from The Care Equation, its 24 industry studies and 100 companies profiles.
Explainer
How Do Medicare Advantage Plans Make Money? The Formula Explained
Medicare Advantage plans earn the gap between a risk-adjusted federal payment and members' care costs. Here is how benchmarks, bids, stars and coding work.
8 min read
Explainer
How Do PBMs Make Money? Rebates, Spreads and Fees Explained
Pharmacy benefit managers earn from retained rebates, spread pricing, owned pharmacies and fees. Here is how each works, with one prescription traced.
9 min read
Guide
How to Analyze a Health Insurance Company: 7 Steps
A practical guide to reading a health insurer: funding mix, medical loss ratio, cost trend, reserves, risk adjustment, segment profits and the policy calendar.
8 min read
Guide
How to Analyze Hospital Financial Statements: A Practical Guide
How to read a hospital's finances: net vs gross revenue, payer mix, operating vs total margin, days cash on hand, 340B, leases and the red flags to watch.
8 min read
Case study
Walgreens and VillageMD: Why the Primary Care Bet Failed
Walgreens put about $9.7 billion into VillageMD to build 1,000 clinics. Within four years it wrote most of it off. Here is why retail primary care failed.
8 min read
Case study
What Happened to Babylon Health? From $4.2B SPAC to Collapse
Babylon Health sold itself as an AI doctor, listed at a $4.2 billion valuation in 2021, and collapsed in 2023. The cause was US risk contracts, not the app.
8 min read
Case study
Why Theranos Failed: The Blood-Test Startup That Skipped Proof
Theranos reached a $9 billion valuation and 40 Walgreens stores without proof its tests worked. Here is why it failed and what healthcare learned.
8 min read