• Arizona/Massachusetts: Datavant and athenahealth are partnering to automate providers' medical record requests at scale and simplify data sharing across different organizations. According to Fierce Healthcare, Datavant has a data exchange network that connects over 80,000 hospitals and clinics while athenahealth provides EHR software, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement solutions to small and independent provider practices. The companies will work together to develop a product that integrates Datavant's clinical data access technology and managed release of information services directly into athenahealth's cloud-based athenaOne solution. Through the partnership, athenahealth's 170,000 ambulatory care providers will be able to securely access high-quality patient records without leaving their workflow. "This is a true co-development partnership, not just a joint go to market exercise," said Kyle Armbrester, CEO of Datavant. "Together, we're building a fully integrated release of information solution embedded directly in the athenaOne platform. We're bringing Datavant’s technology and managed services into athenahealth’s existing workflow, so practices can automate ROI from intake to delivery." (Landi, Fierce Healthcare, 10/28)
• Illinois: Medline, a medical supply company, has filed for an IPO, which could make it one of the largest-ever listings backed by private equity. In 2021, private equity firms Blackstone, Carlyle Group, and Hellman & Friedman took the company public in a $34 billion deal. Now, Medline and its backers are aiming to raise roughly $5 billion through the IPO, increasing the company's valuation to as much as $50 billion. According to Bloomberg/Modern Healthcare, Medline initially filed for an IPO last December, but uncertainty from tariffs delayed its plans to go public in the first half of the year. If the IPO is finalized before the end of December, it would be the biggest in the United States this year, far exceeding Venture Global's $1.75 billion in January. Currently, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp, and JPMorgan Chase are all working on Medline's offering. If the IPO is completed, Medline will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol MDLN. (Lipschultz, et al., Bloomberg/Modern Healthcare, 10/28; Jeffries, Becker's Hospital Review, 10/29)
• Maryland: According to a new audit from HHS' Office of Inspector General (OIG), Medicare improperly paid suppliers $22.7 million for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies provided to enrollees during inpatient stays between 2018 and 2024. These payments did not meet Medicare rules, which prohibit suppliers from billing items provided during inpatient stays separately. Instead, these items must be provided directly by a facility or formal arrangements with it. The audit also found that suppliers may have collected up to $5.9 million in deductible and coinsurance payments from enrollees or their representatives. OIG recommended CMS recover the overpayments and encourage refunds to any affected enrollees. OIG also advised reviewing its edits for further refinements, but CMS did not concur with this recommendation. (Jeffries, Becker's Hospital Review, 10/29)

Host Rachel Woods talks with Advisory Board’s Sarah Hostetter and Vidal Seegobin about how private equity can be a good and not-so-good partner to healthcare organizations and how leaders can cultivate a successful PE partnership.