Tech

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Health systems across the country are warning patients about an increase in phishing scams involving Epic’s MyChart patient portal.

Epic’s VP of research and development, Trevor Berceau, warned in July that the company has seen an “uptick in scammers trying to trick patients by using the MyChart name or logo to make emails, text messages, phone calls, and websites look official.” As of Aug. 27, 41 health systems have warned patients about the scams, according to Becker’s.

Berceau said in a statement posted to Epic’s website that the increase in phishing attempts are “due to scammers taking advantage of the popularity of the MyChart brand rather than any security concern,” and told users they could keep using the portal as normal. The company declined to comment further on the matter.

Read more about what the scams entail.—MA

      

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Hospitals

Francis Scialabba

Welcome back to Signed and Scrubbed, a monthly roundup of hospital deals, developments, and bankruptcies.

This month, health systems everywhere from Maine to Colorado moved closer to finalizing mergers.

Here’s your August 2026 rundown.—CM

      

Tech

Whoop

When wearable fitness-tracking brand Whoop hired its new CMO in July, it marked a new chapter for both brand and executive.

Whoop was fresh off a $575 million Series G funding round that valued the brand at $10.1 billion, positioning it to potentially go public amid a surge in the global wearables market. DJ van Hameren, who spent more than three decades at Nike before exiting two years ago, was looking for his next act.

“I have always had a growth mindset and love to figure out how we tell stories, we build brands, and we grow businesses,” van Hameren told us. “I felt there was a part of me that really was curious about a number of areas, specifically around sports.” After a conversation with Whoop founder and CEO Will Ahmed and other team members, “it was really, really clear within a matter of minutes or hours that this would be a phenomenal next chapter,” he added.

Van Hameren was the first of many new executive appointments, including a new chief commercial officer, its first-ever chief communications officer, a chief medical officer who oversees Whoop’s consumer health strategy, and a chief accounting officer. The brand’s leadership overhaul comes amid a broadening of its marketing strategy that seeks to diversify its user base and highlight how sport and health connect to daily life, van Hameren told Marketing Brew.

Whoop has, since its founding in 2012, traditionally been more associated with an “athletic male American base,” per the Wall Street Journal; it’s now focusing on women users. And it’s looking to target both athletes and everyday consumers through methods including partnerships with major fitness competitors and athletes (some of whom are the company’s investors) as well as through owned media, like its weekly Whoop Podcast.

Whoop, which in July announced it had more than 3 million members worldwide, is looking to grow amid more intense competition in the wearables space. Oura, a smart ring that tracks health metrics and is targeting an IPO that could value the company at as much as $16 billion, , and Apple continues to dominate the space with around 18% of market share as of Q1, according to data firm IDC. The wearable technology market overall is $103.1 billion in size as of 2026, according to Grand View Research, and is projected to increase to $229.9 billion by 2033.

Keep reading on Marketing Brew.—JS

      

vital signs

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: $2.88 billion. That’s the maximum amount Eli Lilly plans to spend to acquire immunology drugmaker Merida Biosciences. (CNBC)

Quote: “IVF is almost a treatment that only the top 1% can afford reasonably.”—William Kiltz, VP of marketing and business development at New York-based CNY Fertility clinic, on why Americans are traveling abroad to receive IVF treatment (KFF Health News)

Read: How health system leaders are attempting to strike down Medicaid cuts. (Stat)

Jobs

Real jobs, shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Healthcare Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board.

Mario Murreda

Healthcare Brew sat down with Ogilvy Health’s global CEO on how the agency is adapting its pharma marketing playbook as regulators and consumers both raise the bar on healthcare advertising.