Verity Healthcare

Over time, Glen Tullman’s disdain for healthcare gamers like payers, care navigators and advantages consultants has been nicely documented. Tullman based Transcarent in 2020 with the notion that good software program eliminates all of the friction within the center, bringing suppliers and customers collectively effectively thereby lowering employer prices and enhancing the affected person expertise. He has declared again and again that Transcarent shouldn’t be a navigator, likening navigators to out of date journey brokers. 

Regardless of this historical past, Tullman — ever the savvy marketer — made a fairly gorgeous announcement in January. Completely timed with the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare convention in San Francisco — when healthcare reporters are primed to report on offers huge and small — he revealed that Transcarent was shopping for care navigation firm Accolade for $621 million and taking it personal.

Wait, whaaaat?!!!

This text will look at how Transcarent has fared within the market since its founding and what might have probably led to this unlikely marriage between Transcarent, based mostly in Denver and Accolade, based mostly in Seattle. By means of a consultant, Tullman declined to be interviewed for this text, even after being made conscious of the character of the story. Neither did the corporate agree to supply a Transcarent buyer for an interview. Tullman didn’t reply to a textual content. [For those, who don’t want to read this long article, here is a video synopsis]

How will you get from “You may’t navigate a damaged system” to purchasing the most important, if struggling, care navigator? There’s irony and a sure type of hypocrisy on this 180-degree flip. Again in 2021, Tullman, a celebrated digital well being serial entrepreneur, supplied an in depth rationale for why he didn’t worth care navigation. In a joint panel dialogue with the big-name healthtech disruptor – Jonathan Bush of athenahealth fame – on the annual HLTH convention in Boston, Tullman stated the next [slightly edited for clarity]:

I’m not as sort to navigators as a result of I feel navigators are yet one more step on this course of and you may’t navigate a damaged system. After we have been at Livongo, individuals would say, ‘We now have a navigator and as an alternative of going on to our individuals, we undergo the navigator.’ After we went on to individuals, we bought 35, 40% of the individuals to choose in and after we went by the navigator it was like 12%. It was yet one more step and folks need simplicity. So the very first thing is – you’ll be able to’t navigate a damaged system. In case you break glass in a room, in case you are in healthcare you’d say ‘I wish to clear somewhat house after which I’ll rent any individual once I wish to stroll by the room, [and] they will remind me of the best way.’ Most of us outdoors of healthcare would simply sweep up the glass. In order that’s what now we have to do – sweep up the glass.

[Livongo refers to the diabetes and chronic disease management company that Tullman ran and that he successfully sold to Teladoc for an eye-popping $18.5 billion. It was a historic deal in digital health. What happened to Livongo, thereafter, is a travesty in the world of digital health, though opinions vary on who is to blame. More on that later.]

When Rajeev Singh, the CEO of Accolade, who was additionally at HLTH in 2021, heard of Tullman’s characterization of navigation, he was emphatic in his opposition to this imaginative and prescient:  

“You want navigation groups,” he instructed MedCity Information. “They must be powered by main care physicians and psychological well being specialists who can truly ship the care and we’ve performed so in a digital mannequin that claims, ‘You’ll see a main care doctor, they will stick with you thru your journey.’”

Singh took exception to the Transcarent mannequin (at the very least at the moment) that charged solely when individuals used the service versus having employers pay for your entire inhabitants. It was shortsighted, he felt. He added:

 “I feel what’s unsuitable with Glen’s mannequin of solely charging for the individuals who want the assistance is that individuals don’t know the place to go after they want the assistance. Glen’s mannequin is after the actual fact, and that after-the-fact-call-me-if you-need-me mannequin has been confirmed time and time once more to not enhance outcomes and never management prices in healthcare. We do cost for the entire inhabitants. Fashions like Glen’s say – ‘I’m going to present you a greater end result on that episode of care’ [but the employer is thinking] ‘I purchased all these providers to enhance my episodic care and but my development line goes up’ and that’s been true for consumers for the final 25 or 30 years.”

In November 2021, when Singh defined the above to MedCity Information, Accolade was in higher form, although the inventory slide to close oblivion had begun.

Quick ahead to 2024 and Accolade had misplaced massive purchasers like Comcast, lower its workforce and closed places of work to include prices in a bid to satiate Wall Avenue. However the firm had nonetheless devolved to a penny inventory. By the top of summer season final yr, individuals within the know realized that Morgan Stanley was purchasing the corporate round for a purchaser. Tullman swooped in to take the corporate personal in what is basically considered as a fireplace sale.

Why would somebody who brazenly denigrated navigation as a official class inside the healthcare ecosystem purchase probably the most well-known, though struggling, navigation firm? Why purchase it for even a penny if it’s so outdoors your imaginative and prescient of healthcare disruption and affected person empowerment, not to mention for $621 million?

There are two attainable causes:

1)  The Transcarent mannequin has totally failed. 

2)  These profit brokers and consultants, HR professionals and well being plan middlemen are so highly effective that they shut out Transcarent totally for making pejorative statements towards them, thereby making Tullman a sufferer of the system he tried to disrupt, forcing him to search out his approach into the arms of care navigator Accolade.

“The gross sales staff offered little or no organically“

Interviews with a number of individuals – former workers of Transcarent and Livongo, healthcare executives who’ve identified Tullman a very long time, opponents — reveal that Transcarent has fallen nicely in need of the bold objective outlined in its tagline: “One Place for Well being and Care.” 

A former Transcarent worker stated that Transcarent’s new enterprise gross sales goal for 2024 was $175 million from self-insured employers and channel companions mixed. However the individual bets they didn’t obtain that final yr.

“I’d say that they may have completed out 2024 anyplace between $55 million to $60 million, which is 30 % to their new enterprise gross sales objective,” stated the previous worker, who didn’t know what Transcarent’s complete 2024 income was and didn’t wish to converse on the file due to a nondisclosure settlement. 

Leslie Krigstein, vp of communications and authorities affairs at Transcarent, declined to supply income figures for 2023 and 2024, stating that it’s a personal firm. She famous that the corporate covers 4.5 million lives and has greater than 400 workers.

Transcarent has raised $424 million and has a valuation of $2.4 billion as of March 2024, in line with Pitchbook. Fundraising is certainly one of Tullman’s key strengths. In the meantime, in digital well being particularly, valuation is kind of nebulous, pushed by some onerous knowledge but additionally infused by an estimation of future market potential, which in flip is fed by the entrepreneur’s storytelling functionality. Anybody who has adopted Tullman, particularly from his Livongo days, is aware of that his fundraising and advertising capabilities are legendary.

“Glen elevating cash shouldn’t be a problem,” stated one former affiliate. “I imply he might choose up the telephone and lift cash. He’s an incredible storyteller and newbie magician. However like every story and magic trick, generally it’s onerous to inform what’s actual and the trick doesn’t work. ”

A former Transcarent worker who left in January 2024, countered this characterization.

“I’ve heard over a few years – ‘Glen’s conceited, Glen’s this, Glen’s that,’” recalled Jeff Dobro, who was the chief innovation officer of Transcarent. “He’s an aggressive CEO like every profitable CEO, however I’d let you know personally, I feel he’s basically a superb individual and a superb chief. Particularly at this level in his profession, he’s in it as a lot for the mission as for making one other $18 billion.” 

To get anyplace near that determine sooner or later, Transcarent must exhibit success within the market right now. However the former worker stated that the $175 million gross sales goal for 2024 was utterly unrealistic and not one of the merchandise Transcarent sells has been very profitable. 

The corporate’s merchandise embrace:

• “care experiences,” as referred to by Transcarent, which concentrate on muscle and surgical procedure care, most cancers, weight administration and psychological well being. 
• a pharmacy profit app launched in 2022 in partnership with Prescryptive Well being. One other associate is Mark Cuban’s Price Plus Medication.
• the AI WayFinding device, a chat-based software program device launched in Might, which is supposed to supply solutions to worker questions on advantages and may navigate customers to care based mostly on their wants. 

Inside these ailments talked about above, any digital care is powered by a telemedicine platform Transcarent acquired when it purchased some belongings of 98point6 for about $100 million in 2023. The Surgical procedure Facilities of Excellence community, the core Transcarent enterprise round which Tullman has added different services and products over time, was additionally acquired. It navigated workers to cheaper locations to acquire surgical procedure. This got here from Transcarent’s Bridge Well being acquisition in 2020. 

Regardless of the number of merchandise, not a lot new enterprise was coming in by the doorways, the previous worker stated. The three largest self-insured purchasers of Transcarent are Allstate, Apple and Boeing, and Boeing was inherited from 98point6, in line with the previous worker. An Apple spokesperson didn’t reply to an e mail confirming the connection. The corporate was not on the checklist of consumers that Transcarent supplied.

“They offered little or no organically. Most of Trancarent’s purchasers are from corporations Glen acquired and the remaining have been offers influenced by Glen and/or his pals and funding companions,” the worker stated.

This narrative conflicts with what Tullman has stated publicly. Within the January 8 press launch asserting the acquisition of Accolade, Tullman was quoted as saying that in January alone, Transcarent added “greater than 500,000  members to our platform together with among the most progressive, and revered employers on this planet….”

Nonetheless, no new employer was named within the announcement. Krigstein, Transcarent’s  spokeswoman, stated UPS, Pilot|Flying J, Navistar, Allstate, Banner|Aetna, Boeing, Chipotle, Chubb and Walgreens are present clients that Transcarent is allowed to call publicly.

Transcarent is excluded from RFPs

Whereas Transcarent flexed its January membership numbers, others shared the attitude of the previous worker — Transcarent is performing poorly within the market. They aren’t getting in entrance of self-insured employers by RFPs, a key strategy to win new enterprise.

“There have been over 70 RFPs final yr within the employer navigation market – they weren’t in any single certainly one of them,” stated a former enterprise affiliate. 

In different phrases, Transcarent didn’t even have the chance to bid for the enterprise in every of these cases. However even after they have been included, they’d few wins.

“Of the RFPs they have been concerned in, they gained solely 2-3 and people had lower than $1 million income potential,” stated a senior chief at a competing firm. 

Why have been they excluded from RFPs? Listed below are some attainable causes:

• Tullman has described profit managers as pointless middlemen who’re solely in it for the charges and never looking for the pursuits of employers. Typically leveraging his C-suite connections, Tullman would bypass HR and advantages professionals and promote on to senior executives, upsetting the profit brokers intensely. They responded by shutting Transcarent off from RFPs.
• Transcarent has a number of merchandise and none of them is nice. There’s no singular concentrate on creating something best-in-class, making the job powerful for gross sales individuals.
• The corporate doesn’t present advocacy sources for customers. As an illustration, if workers or well being plan members get a invoice they don’t perceive, they will’t name a Transcarent customer support consultant for assist. Not like bigger gamers in navigation like Accolade, Included Well being or Quantum, Transcarent doesn’t have name facilities that may assist the common Joe. 
• Transcarent does little or no utilization administration on behalf of employers and plans. Let’s say an worker is really helpful for again surgical procedure. Corporations like Accolade, Quantum and Included Well being can carry out the evaluation to see if the process is medically essential and decide whether or not all the foundations set forth by employers to acquire protection have been adopted. These corporations can work with the worker’s doctor and the third get together administrator employed by the self-insured employer to achieve a choice and talk that to the worker. Transcarent, if required, can do utilization administration however solely on an advert hoc foundation. It has no formal infrastructure — no staff of clinicians who can work with a plan’s claims division and worker’s supplier — in place.  

The previous worker stated that of the profit brokers — the Aons and Mercers of the world — WTW (Willis Towers Watson) had probably the most animus towards Transcarent.

“There was one senior individual at WTW. He was the principle blocker of Transcarent nationally,” the previous worker stated.

A WTW consultant declined to remark, citing a coverage of not commenting publicly on particular corporations.

One other former Transcarent worker confirmed such exclusions.  

“It’s very true that in 2021 and 2022 it was fairly a job to simply get included within the RFPs,” the individual stated. “By the start of the 2023 promoting season, going into 2024 we have been included in each related RFP with the six or seven main broker-consultants on the market.” 

Nonetheless if the RFPs had necessities asking for the seller’s ratio of variety of workers it will cowl to the overall variety of navigation professionals it had, Transcarent would get “disqualified” as a result of that wasn’t the enterprise mannequin. That repeated disqualification led this former worker to convey up the worth of navigation to Tullman, however these considerations didn’t change the CEO’s thoughts.

“Glen emphasised, ’We don’t wish to be navigators, we wish to discover a completely different approach to assist individuals.’ However across the starting of ’24, possibly the top of ’23, employers have been telling the C-Suite and Glen that, ‘Our members actually are type of misplaced on the market,’” the individual stated.

That healthcare, certainly, is riddled with people within the center benefiting from opacity within the system shouldn’t be disputed. In a fashion, Tullman was gutsy in calling out the institution. So, the truth that the profit consultants routinely blocked Transcarent – if that is true throughout the board for all main brokers within the nation – appears to strengthen the concept that Tullman took on entrenched pursuits, which had a damaging enterprise influence on Transcarent. In different phrases, he’s a sufferer of the system he aimed to disrupt.

However sources interviewed for this text didn’t agree with that characterization. Tullman declined to take a seat for an interview. 

“If Transcarent had one of the best merchandise, the profit consultants wouldn’t care about what Glen has stated and can be extra open to battling their well being plans and PBMs,” one former worker stated. “They’d purchase the merchandise at scale.”

The supply added that within the surgical facilities of excellence enviornment, opponents like Carrum Well being did a a lot better job than Transcarent when it got here to serving to  employers maintain down their surgery-related prices, particularly in most cancers. A CEO who has identified Glen for over a decade equally stated Carrum, Lantern and Contigo Well being are all superior to Transcarent within the surgical COE (Facilities of Excellence) enterprise. Contigo Well being counts Walmart as a consumer. 

A competitor put it like this:“In lots of offers they’re not even introduced in, however after they’re introduced in, I imply their complete variety of wins in 2024 was two-to-three and in nearly each single case, the rationale they gained that deal is as a result of Glen both knew the C-suite or a board member. It wasn’t gained as a result of the benefit of the answer helped them within the deal.”

The individual famous that Transcarent is pursuing too many issues and doesn’t have a “best-in-class” product in any of them – they’re stretched too skinny.

Take an opportunity on Transcarent

The dearth of recent enterprise was so worrisome that salespeople have been apparently directed to supply efficiency ensures in change for brand new enterprise.

“He instructed all potential employer purchasers that in case you take an opportunity on Transcarent, you gained’t lose any cash on this system, and in case you do, there can be monetary ensures on the backend,” stated one former worker.

In change for the ROI ensures, the gross sales individuals usually requested purchasers for permission to make use of their names and/or emblem in external-facing communications and advertising, this individual stated. 

In the meantime, Tullman would leverage his enterprise contacts to try to promote on to clients. The CEO who has identified him for greater than a decade paints the technique of promoting on to executives in harsh phrases.

“I feel Glen preys on the advantages consumers who do not need a ton of sources to grasp that there’s nothing below the veneer that he’s presenting. There is no such thing as a Transcarent mannequin. They don’t have any NCQA designation, no URAC designation. They don’t have any onerous normal accreditation for care administration,” the chief stated. “He invests some huge cash in political connections and in being a part of CEO golf equipment that give him entry to board members that don’t know a lot about advantages. He’s very charismatic and an excellent marketer.”

The previous affiliate stated that lack of a compelling enterprise mannequin is likely one of the the explanation why Tullman tries to bypass advantages professionals.

“He doesn’t like coping with profit consultants like Mercer or Willis, who employers usually use to vet new applied sciences and might ask questions that may cease the employer from taking the dangers or deciding on a vendor or do due diligence on whether or not one thing works,” the individual stated. 

The Transacrent-Livongo parallel: “Two turds…”

Leveraging enterprise connections for a profitable sale is routine in gross sales. So, there could possibly be a component of jealousy in what the naysayers say about Tullman’s techniques. He actually instructions consideration within the market. He has taken two corporations public in healthcare — Allscripts and Livongo — which in themselves should not a imply feat, and has invested in lots of corporations by 7wire Ventures, the enterprise capital agency he co-founded with Lee Shapiro. He additionally achieved what no different CEO has — promoting a illness administration platform for $18.5 billion within the deal that introduced Livongo to Teladoc in 2020, a historic deal in digital well being. 

However it’s what occurred to Livongo thereafter — the writedown that Teladoc needed to take to offset the acquisition provided that gross sales by no means actually panned out — that irks associates and opponents. Livongo was constructed little by little by cobbling collectively belongings that weren’t revolutionary by any means, sources stated. They argue that the identical factor is occurring at Transcarent. Take the AI-powered software program and telemedicine enterprise of 98point6, which Transcarent purchased for roughly $100 million in 2023.

“They have been shedding 60 cents for each greenback of income they made,” stated the healthcare CEO who reviewed 98point6 funds earlier than passing on it. “Glen has a sample of taking distressed, low-quality belongings after which slapping a bunch of tech collectively.”

The “sample” remark is clearly a reference to Livongo and that general sentiment was shared by one other government – Jonathan Bush, the straight-talking, potty-mouthed healthtech disruptor. Bush based athenahealth, was pressured out years later, and now leads Zus Well being. Ever the garrulous persona, right here’s how he described Livongo.

“What was Livongo? It was a fricking [glucose monitoring] firm and a training firm and Glen put it collectively and stated,’No, it’s a diabetes firm.’ This firm was on the market attempting to promote these displays and lumbering alongside and no person cared. And it was put along with this huge advertising factor [and the story became] ‘No, we’re going to handle pre-diabetes. We’re going to promote it proper to the employer,’” Bush stated. “Simply sensible. That was a good way of taking two turds and making a chocolate cake.” 

Livongo was created out of EosHealth, which made a glucose monitoring system in a position to join the consumer to a diabetes nurse, wherein 7wire Ventures had invested. It was renamed Livongo when 7wireVentures acquired it and Tullman grew to become CEO. 

Bush stated the identical story is taking part in out at Transcarent.

“You purchase a surgical heart chain and also you say it’s not a surgical heart chain. It’s Transcarent. Like no, it’s not. It’s a f-ing surgical heart chain,” he declared.

When Bush was reminded that he complimented Tullman onstage at HLTH in 2021 for his success in taking two corporations public, promoting Livongo to Teladoc and for his imaginative and prescient at Transcarent, Bush countered:

“Yeah, I feel it’s essential that you simply write down in your article, ‘Glen Tullman is a very, actually profitable entrepreneur as a result of he’s a very, actually good salesman. He’s organized and disciplined and relentless.’ I’m undecided he would thoughts me saying he’s not significantly concerned with constructing actually transformative merchandise.”

However was the failure of Livongo after Teladoc acquired it Tullman’s fault? Some, like Bush, consider “Livongo was a lemon disguised as a Ferrari.” Others put the blame squarely on Jason Gorevic, the then Teladoc CEO who negotiated the deal. Gorevic resigned from the corporate final April. 

“Teladoc grossly overpaid for a corporation that had $300-plus million in income,” stated one former worker of Livongo. “They need to not have paid quite a lot of billion. Disgrace on Teladoc for overpaying. There was no provision within the settlement for senior management to be retained. In a number of months, key executives have been all gone and Teladoc had no concept how you can promote the product. Livongo didn’t change or innovate the product for years, and when Teladoc purchased it, they didn’t innovate both. The opponents morphed and caught up. Livongo was a superb product however it was the identical product for six years with little innovation.”

Gorevic didn’t reply to an e mail requesting remark.

“Glen did a financial institution heist with the Teladoc deal,” stated the healthcare CEO. “Good for him, however individuals have seen that Livongo was a home of playing cards. They aren’t going to be fooled once more.” 

The senior chief at a competing agency expressed the same sentiment.

“From my standpoint, I completely don’t need one other Livongo catastrophe,” this individual declared. “I imply, digital well being was set again by what occurred with Livongo.”

Whereas the above could be true, it’s necessary to notice that ought to the deal between Transcarent and Accolade be authorised, Transcarent might change into a headache for opponents – these interviewed and never interviewed for this text – given Accolade’s footprint within the employer world.

“He’s holding his nostril and swallowing the deal”

Nobody disputes that working with employers is tough and that it’s a protracted gross sales cycle. It’s a lot tougher for smaller corporations like Transcarent to beat incumbents as a result of to get traction it’s essential to present scale. As one former Transcarent worker stated, each Quantum Well being (based in 1999) and Included Well being (based in 2011) have been at it for some time and underwent completely different iterations to morph into what they’re right now. Accolade, which is extra a services-heavy, people-heavy enterprise fairly than one powered by tech like Transcarent, was based in 2007. Against this, Transcarent was based solely in 2020. So it’s not stunning that Transcarent hasn’t been tremendous profitable within the market. 

What’s stunning is Tullmans’ 180-degree activate navigation. 

It seems that Transcarent wanted Accolade a lot that Tullman referred to as Singh, Accolade’s CEO, out of the blue in late July of final yr to precise his curiosity in shopping for Accolade. That was roughly 5 months earlier than the ultimate deal was publicly introduced.  

“Glen felt insurance coverage corporations wanted to go, profit brokers wanted to go and navigators wanted to go,” stated one healthcare CEO. “There’s some mental dishonesty round shopping for Accolade.”

So, Transcarent clearly wished to purchase Accolade after which presumably do what it has tried with different corporations — cross-sell its personal merchandise to Accolade’s consumer base. One such product is the chat-based WayFinding resolution. Wall Avenue analysts famous that WayFinding is doing nicely within the market, though one former worker and competitor solid doubt on its success. 

Transcarent wanted Accolade to get scale, to be included extra broadly in navigation RFPs. However did Accolade discover its strategy to Transcarent with open arms? Did its board really feel the love?

The proxy assertion that Accolade filed with the SEC earlier this week exhibits how Accolade shopped round its enterprise unsuccessfully for months — at one level receiving a bid for $10.30 a share from an organization that Accolade itself was initially hoping to amass. This supply was greater than $3 per share increased than what it lastly offered for, though by that point Accolade’s share worth had declined additional. Representatives of Accolade’s board contacted practically 30 corporations and personal fairness companies however by no means thought-about Transcarent as a worthy match. Tullman’s curiosity was wholly unsolicited.

The truth is, Accolade’s board rejected the preliminary bid of Transcarent, which provided to pay $6 per share for Accolade. Not solely was the bid not excessive sufficient, however they didn’t believe in Transcarent’s monetary wherewithal to finish an all-cash deal. 

In line with the proxy:

“The Accolade Board, together with the members of the Particular Committee, mentioned Father or mother’s [Transcarent’s] September Proposal, together with considerations with respect to Father or mother’s skill to finance a possible transaction, dedicated curiosity, and lack of historical past efficiently finishing transactions of the proposed measurement and nature, decided to not transfer ahead with Father or mother as a possible counterparty at the moment, and directed Morgan Stanley to speak to Evercore that Father or mother’s proposal was inadequate for Accolade to interact additional concerning a possible transaction.”  [Evercore was the financial advisor of Transcarent in this deal]

In the end, after a few again and forths, the value settled at $7.03 per share for a complete deal worth of $621 million, the quantity Transcarent would pay to take Accolade personal. Basic Catalyst and Tullman’s 62 Ventures are forking over the cash in change for extra fairness within the mixed firm. 

“He’s holding his nostril and swallowing the deal,” stated the healthcare CEO referring to Accolade’s Singh. “He doesn’t like Glen.” 

After agreeing to an interview by LinkedIn messaging, Singh by no means responded when instantly emailed. Neither did an Accolade public relations skilled. As talked about beforehand, Transcarent’s Krigstein was made conscious of the character of this text with repeated requests for an interview with Tullman, which have been all declined. Tullman didn’t reply to a textual content message despatched to his cell phone. 

The deal is anticipated to shut pending a vote from Accolade shareholders within the second quarter of this yr. 

Will the Transcarent + Accolade succeed if the deal is authorised?

No matter how Transcarent and Accolade ended up in one another’s arms, the true query is that this: Will they succeed as a mixed entity? Right here’s an emailed assertion from Krigstein, Transcarent’s vp of communications and authorities affairs: “On a mixed foundation, we’re on a path to $1B ARR and double-digit EBITDA margin profitability in three years time.” ARR refers to annual recurring income and EBITDA is earnings earlier than curiosity tax depreciation and amortization. 

The responses from outdoors the corporate have been combined. 

“From the perspective of constructing a big worthwhile enterprise, hoping two negatives make a optimistic is a problem. The thesis is …one,  that you are able to do lots of cross-selling as a result of Accolade particularly has a really massive e book of enterprise. And two, you can too lower prices utilizing know-how. Sure, the logic is there, however it’s very onerous to execute,” stated the competitor’s senior government. “We now have examples of Teladoc and Livongo simply based mostly upon the identical thesis, however it didn’t work out. I imply what know-how does Transcarent have or how can they be way more environment friendly in bringing Accolade’s prices down when independently each Transcarent and Accolade are bleeding cash?” 

A former worker echoed the competitor.

“Arduous to inform if it would succeed, however I’d guess ‘no.’ Glen has historically been very dangerous at integrating corporations, and why would placing collectively two struggling corporations hastily make one profitable firm?”

Bush stated it could possibly be optimistic for Accolade.

“I imply, Accolade has bought lots of clients and no actual leverage. A minimum of now they’ve bought a sequence of surgical facilities which might be less expensive than the massive hospitals that they navigate to. Now, I don’t know what share of the lives truly sit in a spot the place you possibly can use that, however it’s an concept. It’s higher than what they’d.” 

Others see the transaction as a pure and sensible evolution for Transcarent. The mixed firm may have anyplace from 10 million to fifteen million coated lives, estimated Ryan MacDonald, an analyst with Needham. One other analyst additionally pointed to that golden phrase in attaining industrial success in healthcare: scale

“I feel with Accolade, the primary factor is that Glen will get this instant growth to much more lives and purchasers. After which upon getting that scale, I feel the whole lot else follows,” stated Jailendra Singh, an analyst with Truist Securities. “I’m not going to guess towards his knowledge.”

Truthful sufficient, however what concerning the knowledge of betting towards navigation after which convincing your self and an investor to shell out $612 million for it?

Dobro, Transcarent’s former chief innovation officer, put it neatly: 

“Markets change, individuals change. Despite the fact that you begin with an concept, generally it’s not likely the fitting one.”

Quoting economist John Maynard Keynes, he added, “When the information change, I modify my thoughts. What do you do, sir?”

Appears to be like like Tullman did the identical — he couldn’t beat the navigation corporations at their sport shortly sufficient, so he modified his thoughts and joined them. 

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