How Hazel Health won over Centene

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Over the weekend, President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. If confirmed, the more conservative court is set to weaken abortion rights. Kimberly Leonard has the list of the cases where that might occur.

Also today in healthcare news: an exclusive look at Hazel Health's pitch deck that won over Centene, what would happen if Trump overrode the FDA on a coronavirus vaccine, and a closer look at a controversial testing startup.

We got an exclusive look at the presentation telehealth startup Hazel used to raise $33.5 million and convince a major health insurer to bet on upending the way kids get healthcare

• Hazel Health, a telehealth startup, works with students in grade schools.
• Business has exploded over the course of coronavirus outbreaks. In just 3 months, the company added about 1 million students to the network, it said.
• Here's a look at the pitch deck Hazel used to get a fresh $33.5 million from investors including health insurer Centene in September.

Read the full presentation here>>

If Trump bypassed the FDA on a COVID-19 vaccine it could 'upend' the traditional approval structure and erode the public's trust in the executive agency, expert says

• President Donald Trump suggested that the White House could bypass the US Food and Drug Administration on approving a coronavirus vaccine.
• Marc Sanchez, an FDA attorney, and consultant, said the remark was an "unfortunate attempt to increase the pressure on the FDA."
• Sanchez said doing that would erode public trust in the agency and in a vaccine.

Read the full story from Lauren Frias and Sarah Al-Arshani here>>

Utah's Nomi Health has faced controversy over its COVID-19 testing initiative, but its founders say the program proves the startup's idea of lowering healthcare costs by 'cutting out the middleman' is on the right track

• Startup Nomi Health launched in 2019 to build a payments platform aimed at lowering healthcare costs by eliminating traditional corporate health insurance plans.
• The company received $10 million in previously-undisclosed seed funding to fuel Nomi Direct, which would connect employers with healthcare providers to offer medical services at prefixed prices.
• But when the pandemic hit, Nomi Health sprang to action on coronavirus testing, partnering with a handful of other Utah-based tech companies.
• Though the initiative faced multiple controversies, Nomi Health's founders believe that the experience proved their thesis: That directly connecting stakeholders saves money.

Read the full story from Keerthi Vedantam here>>

More stories we're reading:

• The Trump administration diverted $300 million of funding for the CDC for a celebrity ad campaign (Politico)
• There's even more evidence that getting enough vitamin D could reduce the risk of severe coronavirus infections (Insider)
• Illumina and Grail defend their decision to merge to investors (Stat News)
• Hear the latest on the race for a coronavirus vaccine and the 'return to normal' from 3 leading experts. (Business Insider)

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- Lydia