This issue brief places the American Jobs Plan in the context of current Medicaid HCBS spending and considers how policymakers might allocate the new funding, as the proposal to date includes little detail.
US biotech Aura Biosciences has closed an oversubscribed financing, raising $80 million to help take its lead virus-like drug conjugate (VDC) for a cancer that affects the eye into late-stage development. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company is currently testing belzupacap sarotalocan (AU-011) in a phase 2… Read More »Aura raises $80m to develop its virus-like cancer drugs
New biotech Antiverse has raised seed funding of £1.4 million ($2 million) to develop its artificial intelligence-based platform for discovering therapeutic antibodies. The Cardiff, Wales startup is combining machine learning and phage display techniques to model antibody-antigen binding and says it can cut the time… Read More »Welsh startup Antiverse raises $2m for antibody discovery toolkit
Even as the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out is accelerating across the country, the public health and economic effects of the pandemic continue to put pressure on Medicaid spending and enrollment. In mid-February 2021, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and Health Management Associates (HMA) fielded a two-part… Read More »Medicaid Spending and Enrollment Trends Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic – Updated for FY 2021 & Looking Ahead to FY 2022
This brief takes a closer look at multiple measures beyond waiver waiting lists to evaluate state choices about optional Medicaid eligibility pathways, spending, and services for seniors and people with disabilities as of 2018. The analysis draws on several KFF resources, including 50-state surveys of… Read More »State Variation in Medicaid LTSS Policy Choices and Implications for Upcoming Policy Debates
The health technology company’s valuation skyrocketed to $1.3 billion following its latest funding round. It plans to use the new funds to launch Innovaccer Health Cloud, which will aggregate and normalize data from different systems and support the development of interoperable apps.
Vividion Therapeutics has technology that enables it to develop drugs for “undruggable” disease targets. The Series C financing is a crossover round, an indication a biotech is preparing for an IPO.
The House COVID-19 relief proposal would temporarily lower what millions of Marketplace enrollees and uninsured potential enrollees would pay toward premiums and would provide states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs a financial boost that would more than offset their costs initially, two new… Read More »Two New Analyses: House COVID-19 Relief Plan Would Temporarily Lower Marketplace Premiums for Millions and More than Offset Short-Term State Costs to Expand Their Medicaid Programs
The House Energy and Commerce Committee reconciliation proposal as part of the COVID relief package aims to encourage non-expansion states to take up the expansion by providing an additional temporary fiscal incentive for states to newly implement the ACA Medicaid expansion. This brief provides illustrative… Read More »New Incentive for States to Adopt the ACA Medicaid Expansion: Implications for State Spending
MedLumics has raised another €18 million (around $22 million) to fund clinical trials of its optically-guided imaging system used to guide a surgical procedure for atrial fibrillation (AF) – a serious heart condition that causes an irregular heartbeat. The Spanish biotech says the latest round… Read More »MedLumics raises €18 million for atrial fibrillation device
This explainer provides an overview of the federal “Ending the HIV Epidemic” initiative and explores issues that might mitigate or facilitate its success.
Dutch biotech InteRNA Technologies has raised €18.5 million ($22 million) in second-round financing as it prepares to start clinical trials of its lead drug candidate INT-1B3 for solid tumours. The Series B funding has come more than five years after InteRNA’s first-round, which raised just… Read More »Cash round sets up trial of InteRNA’s microRNA for cancer
New figures have confirmed that the UK’s biotech sector received a massive boost from the COVID-19 pandemic last year, with investment levels soaring to £2.8 billion ($3.8 billion) from a level of £1.3 billion in 2019. That makes 2020 a new record year for the… Read More »UK biotech investment at record levels amid COVID-19
2020 was undoubtedly a year full of uncertainty and challenges. It showed us how different industries can become vulnerable when unexpected changes occur, but also has provided many brands and businesses with innovative tech-driven solutions to tackle the rising problems. Now in 2021, uncertainty still… Read More »Healthcare Financing in 2021 & Medical Cost Trends That May Play An Influence
In this Viewpoint for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), KFF’s Tricia Neuman and co-author Richard G. Frank of Harvard Medical School explain that the looming 2024 insolvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund cannot be ignored for long.
A new KFF analysis finds donor government support for global family planning efforts totaled US$1.5 billion in 2019, matching the previous year’s record level and well above the US$1.1 billion in 2012 since the London Summit on Family Planning that created an international goal of… Read More »Donor Government Funding for Family Planning Remains Steady in 2019
This issue brief takes a close look at Section 1115 waiver activity in the final days of the Trump Administration, including approval of Tennessee’s TennCare III program, to understand implications for the Biden Administration.
As the Biden Administration takes office, the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn are the key issues that will substantially shape Medicaid coverage and financing policy in the year ahead.
This fact sheet provides information about the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. government funding and engagement with WHO.
This issue brief analyzes enrollment and spending trends related to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion ahead of the coronavirus pandemic and examines potential consequences of recent enrollment increases.
In the last few years, biopharma companies focusing on psychedelic medicines have been springing up like mushrooms – magic or otherwise – and venture capital money is starting to follow. Today sees the launch of the first investment fund in the UK devoted to psychedelic… Read More »VC fund dedicated to psychedelic meds launches in UK
UK digital health firm Sensyne has secured access to millions more anonymised patent records via an alliance with US clinical trial data specialist Phesi. The new agreement comes after a string of access deals with NHS trusts for patient data, and coincides with a bid… Read More »Sensyne launches fundraising, agrees patient data deal with Phesi
UK digital health firm Sensyne has secured access to millions more anonymised patent records via an alliance with US clinical trial data specialist Phesi. The new agreement comes after a string of access deals with NHS trusts for patient data, and coincides with a bid… Read More »Sensyne launches fundraising, agrees patient data deal with Phesi
This data note analyzes federal Medicaid outlays in federal fiscal year (FFY) 2020, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both annual and month-to-month growth rates in federal Medicaid outlays increased during the second half of FFY 2020, reflecting the onset of the pandemic and enhanced… Read More »Federal Medicaid Outlays During the COVID-19 Pandemic
CatalYm has closed a €50 million ($59m) series B financing round to fund clinical studies of its immunotherapy targeting Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF-15). The round was led by Vesalius Biocapital III, with participation from Novartis Venture Fund (NVF), Wachstumsfonds Bayern, coparion and founding investors… Read More »German biotech CatalYm raises €50 million for GDF-15 inhibitor immunotherapy
Ireland-based Fountain Healthcare Partners has raised another €125 million ($131 million) for its third life sciences fund – 25% ahead of its target – and says it will pump most of the money into European therapeutics and medical device companies. The latest cash injection adds… Read More »Kyowa Kirin backs €125m life science fund closed by Fountain Healthcare
Sarepta chief commercial officer Bo Cumbo has left to head up gene therapy venture – AavantiBio – with $107 million in backing from his former employer and three high-profile life sciences investors. Rare disease specialist Sarepta is putting up $15 million of that first-round financing,… Read More »Sarepta helps bankroll new gene therapy startup AavantiBio
This brief provides an overview and status update of the Medicare accelerated and advance payment program, which provided $100 billion in loans to Medicare providers in the spring of 2020 to compensate for revenue shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic. The brief describes who got… Read More »Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments for COVID-19 Revenue Loss: More Time to Repay
Swiss medical data specialist Sophia Genetics has raised $110 million in an oversubscribed funding round that will be used to boost its headcount and international presence and prepare to take its shares public. Proceeds from the sixth-round of private fundraising will fund the growth in… Read More »$110m financing sets up US, Asia expansion for Sophia Genetics
Digital health startup Lyra Health has raised $110 million in fourth-round financing, raising its value above the $1 billion threshold for the first time since it was founded five years ago. California-based Lyra provides mental health care services that employers can include in health care… Read More »Digital health firm Lyra enters unicorn territory after fundraising
Cambridge, UK-based Biofidelity has raised $12 million in first-round funding for its cancer diagnosis platform, which can detect mutations quicker than current approaches like gene sequencing. The Series A comes just a few months after Biofidelity launched with seed funding from Longwall Ventures and private… Read More »UK cancer mutation testing firm Biofidelity raises $12m
Anglo-Austrian biotech F2G has raised $60.8 million in venture financing to help it bring a drug for life-threatening fungal infections through late-stage development and onto the market. While these infections remain fairly rare, there is still a pressing need for new antifungals to provide treatment… Read More »Novo-backed $61m fundraising helps F2G prep for antifungal launch
This brief provides an overview and status update of the Medicare accelerated and advance payment program, which provided $100 billion in loans to Medicare providers in the spring of 2020 to compensate for revenue shortfalls due to the coronavirus pandemic. The brief describes who got… Read More »Medicare Accelerated and Advance Payments for COVID-19 Revenue Loss: Time to Repay?
The temporary boost in federal Medicaid funding enacted as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) will soften the economic blow of COVID-19 on states, but is unlikely to fully offset state revenue declines or forestall budget shortfalls stemming from the pandemic, finds… Read More »Temporary Enhanced Federal Medicaid Funding Can Soften the Economic Blow of the COVID-19 Pandemic on States, but is Unlikely to Fully Offset State Revenue Declines or Forestall Budget Shortfalls
This brief examines how much fiscal relief states can expect from the increase in the Medicaid FMAP under FFCRA under different assumptions about the duration of the relief, how the FMAP increase provides broad fiscal relief to states and the factors that affect how much… Read More »How Much Fiscal Relief Can States Expect From the Temporary Increase in the Medicaid FMAP?
With Lost Customer Opportunities, Revising Payment Plan Strategies Can Help Your Business Reach More Customers Far too many customers are turned away and declined from services over shortcomings with credit. When you rely on traditional lenders, they only allow you to finance customers with good… Read More »Take On More Customers Than Ever Before
Half of the 14 donor governments analyzed in the study decreased their spending on global HIV efforts from 2018 to 2019; six increased; and one held steady. Donor government funding supports HIV care and treatment, prevention and other services in low- and middle-income countries.
This report from KFF and The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) finds donor government disbursements to combat HIV in low- and middle-income countries totaled US$7.8 billion in 2019, a reduction from the US$8 Billion in 2018 and nearly the same as the funding… Read More »Donor Government Funding for HIV in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in 2019
Are credit card processing fees cutting into your profit margin? Here are some tips to help your business save money. Every time a customer pays for services or products with a credit card, the merchant has to pay a card processing fee. While the fee… Read More »How to Save Money on Payment Processing
The Hidden Costs of Accounts Receivable Many businesses extend credit to customers, to provide the services and products they need. According to a 2019 report on the economic well-being of U.S. households, 33% of adults are either unable to pay their bills or are one… Read More »How can you collect overdue payments and get fair compensation for your services?
Protect yourself from crowdfunding scams Many people use crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe to reach out to their social networks to help pay for much-needed medical treatment. Unfortunately, not every crowdfunding campaign is trustworthy. While crowdfunding can be a useful way to gather donations for people’s… Read More »How to protect yourself from crowdfunding scams before you donate
Do you offer simple, fast, and reliable digital interaction to your consumers? Is it possible to convert every customer into a collection opportunity? The answer to this question lies in the financing system used for collecting payments. The need to offer such options occurs due… Read More »How Automated Payment Solution (APS) boosts collections for your business?