Inside Google's $100 million bet on American Well

Welcome to Dispensed Daily, your daily dose of healthcare news from Business Insider's healthcare editor Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer and the healthcare team. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday.

Hello,

Today in healthcare news: Telehealth company American Well is going public with a $100 million investment from Google, an analysis of financial earnings from insurance startups, and how recovered coronavirus patients can donate convalescent plasma.

I'm your host of today's Dispensed Daily, Megan Hernbroth, the most recent addition to Business Insider's healthcare team covering health-tech startups and venture capital.

American Well is going public with a $100 million investment from Google. We pored over the 196-page filing to find 5 crucial details about the companies' plans to change how you get care.

• American Well, a telehealth giant and rival to Teladoc, on Monday filed to go public.
• As part of the initial public offering, Google's cloud division is investing $100 million.
• We read the 196-page filing and spoke with Google Cloud's head of healthcare sales to find 5 critical details about the companies' plans.

Read the full story from Blake Dodge here>>

We just got a look at how health insurance startups like Oscar, Clover, and Bright fared through the early months of the coronavirus pandemic

• We took a look at how health insurance startups Oscar Health, Devoted Health, Bright Health, Clover Health, and Alignment Healthcare fared through the first half of 2020.
• The period reflects a time when the coronavirus pandemic hit, pushing the US into a recession, and leading many people to postpone routine medical visits and elective care.
• While large publicly traded health insurers beat expectations and posted major profits in the second quarter of 2020, the startups had more mixed results, with some posting net losses as others saw much higher profits.

Read the full story from Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer here>>

Hospitals and blood banks are running out of convalescent plasma for coronavirus patients — here's how to donate

• Demand for convalescent plasma is likely to keep rising now that the FDA has approved the treatment for emergency use.
• Hospitals, blood banks, and organizations like the Red Cross were already reporting shortages.
• Requirements for donating plasma are strict: Donors must have a clinical COVID-19 diagnosis and be symptom-free for at least two weeks.

Read the full story from Aria Bendix here>>

More stories we're reading:

• 2 more people have been reinfected with the coronavirus, European scientists say, a day after the first confirmed reinfection in Hong Kong (Business Insider)
• Alphabet's Verily enters the stop-loss health insurance market (CNBC)
• As Elon Musk's Neuralink prepares to draw back the curtain, ex-employees describe rushed timelines clashing with science's slow pace (Stat News)
• Pandemic-related 'deaths of despair' were forecast at about 75,000 back in May — now they could be up to 150,000 (Business Insider)

See you tomorrow! In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me at mhernbroth@businessinsider.com or healthcare@businessinsider.com.

Subscribe to this newsletter here.

- Megan