Healthcare Brew covers pharmaceutical developments, health startups, the latest tech, and how it impacts hospitals and providers to keep administrators and providers informed.

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Caroline Catherman

Healthcare Brew delivers the latest news and trends in healthcare.

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Wondering who’s in and who’s out at major health companies, emerging startups, hospitals, and more? We’ve got you covered.

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The CEO of Duke University Health System has stepped down and moved West to join Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente as president of integrated care and coverage, effective Sept. 29. Duke President Vincent Price announced earlier in the month a search has begun for his successor.

Period-tracking app Clue announced the ob-gyn and specialty-certified pediatric and adolescent gynecologist as its new chief medical officer on Sept. 24. In addition to her medical qualifications, she boasts 260,000+ followers on Instagram, where she’s known as “The Period Doctor.”

The former Harvard Medical School professor of medicine and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute medical oncologist is leading the National Cancer Institute, effective Sept. 29.

Alloy Health, a digital midlife women’s health care platform, announced Parker as chief technology officer in a Sept. 30 

 post. He comes to the position from digital health company Everlywell.

Nonprofit CareQuest Institute for Oral Health announced Rakes as its CEO Sept. 15. He previously served as chief growth officer for Centene and CEO of its Georgia-based subsidiary Peach State Health Plan. He will now help CareQuest in its mission to advocate for and advance dental care.

Remote cardiac monitoring platform company PaceMate announced Shoffstall as its inaugural head of AI, innovation, and data strategy on Sept. 16. He’s previously held executive positions at AI-focused companies Teradata and Beginly Health.

Amgen recruited the Genentech exec to become its VP of research and co-head of research biology, effective Sept. 29. She will oversee the biotech company’s therapeutic areas of oncology and immunology.

Pfizer’s former global president of oncology and rare diseases is now CEO of a new biotech, Intent Biologics, the company announced Sept. 9. The clinical-stage company focuses on developing exosome therapies for inflammation and immunology.

 CEO is leaving the role she’s held since 2017. Walmsley will step down from her position at GSK on Jan 1, and current chief commercial officer, Luke Miels, will replace her.

Healthcare Brew's August on Rotation editorial feature

On Rotation: September 2025

A nondefinitive list of moves from the nation’s healthcare leaders.

Cassie McGrath

Maternal health has long been a challenge in rural areas, with 52.4% of 1,955 rural hospitals not offering obstetric care as of 2022, according to a 

, experts have previously told us access to birthing services is only expected to become more difficult.

New research from Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, and the University of Georgia may provide more insight into why maternal care access is challenged in these areas—namely, due to mergers and acquisitions.

The study, which is a National Bureau of Economic Research 

, found that five years after rural hospitals are acquired, they are 30% less likely to provide obstetric services.

“It is very much a growing and troubling trend in rural communities,” Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the nonprofit National Rural Health Association, told Healthcare Brew.

 To conduct the study, researchers pulled M&A information from the American Hospital Association and data analysis firm Irving Levin Associates, and reviewed 467 M&As (317 involving at least one rural hospital) from 2006 to 2019.

There are three main reasons rural hospitals struggle to offer obstetrics care, Cochran-McClain said.

For one, Medicaid covers 47% of all births at rural hospitals, 

, and tends to reimburse providers much less than what commercial insurers do ($8,732 less on average for all deliveries, 

“They’re losing money on the obstetrics services they’re providing,” Cochran-McClain said.

 as a result, she added, noting that lower birth volumes (as fewer people live in rural areas) and low payments make it hard to pay workers and maintain the right equipment for labor and delivery services.

Last, malpractice insurance puts pressure on rural hospital providers, she said. In a 2022 report from independent watchdog the Government Accountability Office, stakeholders said the number of deliveries a provider needed to perform to offset the cost of malpractice insurance (around 100 a year) could be the total amount performed in a rural facility that year.

It’s more likely facilities that are struggling financially are “choosing to or having to” close because there are so many factors “stacked against being able to offer labor and delivery,” Cochran-McClain said.

These challenges can leave rural hospitals open to an M&A deal, too, as it’s sometimes their 

. And health systems can help the rural facility grow market share and access more patients.

There were 128 M&As of critical access centers (a federal designation for certain rural hospitals at least 35 miles from another hospital) between 2010 and 2022, according to 

 from University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and University of Southern Maine researchers.

Cochran-McClain said M&As can bring increased access to equipment, 

, referral networks, and specialty care. But it also means the facilities and communities lose “independent decision-making” about what services to offer or if the hospital will even stay open.

“Obstetrics is definitely a good example of [when] the community may not have the same influence on being able to provide that service as when it was an independent,” she said.

Study: Rural hospitals are 30% less likely to offer obstetric services after acquisitions 

Rural hospitals face low reimbursement and staffing challenges. 

As some in the medical field know too well, it can be hard to leave a healthcare job.

Sure, patient relationships and coworker bonds are difficult to sever, but one of the top things keeping many from branching off on their own just might be their contracts.

Between 37% to 45% of US physicians are in employer agreements that limit where they can work after they leave or how long they must stay in their current position, according to professional group the American Medical Association (AMA), compared to about 18% of the overall workforce nationwide, per a 2021 

On Sept. 10, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it had sent warning letters to several healthcare and staffing companies with potentially “unreasonable noncompete agreements in employment contracts.” A few days earlier, it had 

 for public comment to inform “case-by-case” enforcement of noncompetes going forward.

This comes shortly after the commission announced Sept. 5 it’s officially abandoning attempts to defend a 

 on all noncompetes that it passed in April 2024.

It’s all left providers and hospitals alike asking: What’s next for noncompetes?

“Even though [the FTC ban] legally did not go through, that has caused a lot of professional societies, state governments, and regulators to take a look at the issue,” Joseph Marine, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told us.

 Chances for a nationwide ban on noncompetes are “slim,” but restrictions are growing state by state, Daniel Gilman, a senior scholar of competition policy at nonprofit research organization International Center for Law & Economics, told us.

There have been more than 60 state bills introduced in 2025 to establish or expand restrictions on noncompete agreements, according to bipartisan public policy organization the Economic Innovation Group. As of June, the group counted four states (California, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and North Dakota) that have totally banned noncompetes and 34 plus Washington, DC, that have restricted their use.

Whether restricting noncompetes is a good thing depends on the market and who you ask.

Marine believes that while these agreements can be a tool for smaller practices to ensure they recoup their investment in new hires, it’s possible they could also be “abused” by big health systems and groups to dominate a local market, as has been previously 

“Noncompetes are being written in a way by these large health systems that physicians who wish to leave and do something differently are virtually always forced to move, sometimes out of the state, in order to practice,” he said.

In 2023, hospital lobbyist group the American Hospital Association opposed the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, arguing 

 to the commission it could disrupt the healthcare labor market and exacerbate healthcare worker shortages.

AMA, which lobbies for physicians, largely opposes noncompetes in its code of ethics. It argues they “restrict competition, can disrupt continuity of care, and may limit access to care,” though it 

 a complete ban, either, the organization said last year.

Gilman said whether noncompete agreements illegally restrict competition likely depends on the market and factors like how many competitors there are.

He said there’s not enough research to conclude how noncompetes impact physicians or healthcare costs.

“​​We have very few studies of the effects of noncompetes in the healthcare sector specifically, or even more specifically, with regard to particular healthcare occupations,” he said.

 in the Journal of Human Resources found noncompetes to be linked to lower physician job turnover. The study also noted, however, that this is a “relatively understudied topic” and more research is needed.

What is the future of healthcare noncompete agreements?

Breaking up is hard to do.

Nicole Ortiz

Occasionally, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition?

Dani Bowie, SVP of workforce AI at travel nursing agency Aya Healthcare, began her career as a nurse and has moved into “helping hospitals run more efficiently.” With Aya specifically, she’s in a role where she taps into how AI and predictive analytics can ensure nurses are scheduled “in ways that support their well-being and help hospitals manage labor costs,” she said.

We spoke with Bowie about how her work has evolved and how the tech she works with factors in.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s the best change you’ve made or seen at a place you’ve worked?

 remains one of the most complex challenges for hospitals and health systems. Where efficiency and automation are lacking, and resources are misaligned, that’s where technology can make the largest impact: by transforming scheduling. What previously took hospital nurse leaders hours and days can now take less than five minutes with the right technology.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

, there are a lot of misconceptions about AI in healthcare. AI isn’t intended to replace clinicians but rather enhance their work and help them practice to the top of their licensure. The tools we’re developing are built to save nurse managers hours per week of manual effort—that kind of time savings is invaluable.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

As a former health system executive, seeing the technology I designed and created implemented in hospitals across the country is so rewarding. It’s ensuring nurses like me are caring for patients at the bedside rather than being 

, staring at a computer screen covered in sticky notes, buried deep in spreadsheets until they’re cross-eyed.

What healthcare trend are you most optimistic about?

I’m really optimistic about how technology will 

 streamline processes, better utilize their resources, and improve alignment between previously siloed units. Technology is helping frontline leaders get away from mundane and tedious work so they can focus on what’s most important: patient care.

How this healthcare exec is helping make health systems more efficient with AI

Dani Bowie oversees how Aya Healthcare implements the tech, with hopes of reducing burnout.

Maia Anderson

Leaders from across the healthcare industry are responding to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

 CDC Director Susan Monarez less than a month after she took the role.

HHS announced Monarez’s firing in an Aug. 27 

 on X. Following the news, four CDC leaders resigned. Though Monarez had initially 

, with her lawyers saying only the president had the authority to dismiss her, the White House on Aug. 28 

 Jim O’Neill, who was HHS’s deputy secretary, as the new CDC director.

Now, healthcare leaders and professional organizations are warning the firing and subsequent resignations threaten US public health and the country’s ability to respond to future infectious outbreaks.

A number of major healthcare organizations have made statements in light of Monarez’s firing.

Bobby Mukkamala, president of the American Medical Association, the country’s largest lobbying group for physicians and medical students, said in an Aug. 28 statement the move was “highly alarming.”

“In the wake of CDC budget cuts and the termination of hundreds of employees earlier this year, the AMA is deeply concerned that this turmoil leaves us highly susceptible to public health threats,” Mukkamala said.

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the professional organization American Public Health Association, called for Kennedy to resign, saying “his actions have sown confusion, demoralized staff, and jeopardized the very foundation of our nation’s health security.”

“What CDC desperately needs now is stability, experienced leadership, and a steadfast commitment to science,” Benjamin added in the Aug. 27 release.

A group of eight physician-led professional organizations also banded together to condemn Monarez’s firing. The American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Osteopathic Association, American Psychiatric Association, and the Society of General Internal Medicine issued a joint statement Sept. 3 saying the “turmoil” at the CDC will “have harmful consequences for the health of the American public.”

“As physicians, we are extremely worried that this latest action takes place at the critical start of the flu and respiratory illness season, at a time when we should be increasing access to vaccines and encouraging their use,” the groups said, adding that they have instead received “

” and “contradictory” vaccine recommendations.

The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, a trade group that represents public health schools, released a statement Aug. 28 urging Congress to “uphold the CDC’s role as a neutral, science-led institution dedicated solely to the protection and promotion of the public’s health.” The group said the firing and resignations “jeopardize our nation’s ability to respond effectively to ongoing and emerging health threats.”

Additionally, a group of nine former CDC directors and acting directors published an opinion piece in the 

 on Sept. 1 applauding Monarez for “standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.”

 a congressional hearing during which senators questioned his actions since taking over the HHS, including changing 

 and firing Monarez. In the hearing, Kennedy claimed he fired Monarez because she allegedly told him she was “untrustworthy,” 

One day before the hearing, a group of more than 1,000 HHS staffers, both current and former, 

 to Kennedy and Congress calling on the secretary to resign.

“We believe health policy should be based on strong, evidence-based principles rather than partisan politics,” the staffers wrote. “But under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, HHS policies are placing the health of all Americans at risk, regardless of their politics.”

Andrew Nixon, HHS’s director of communications, said in a statement sent to Healthcare Brew that restoring the CDC to be “the world’s most trusted guardian of public health” requires “sustained reform and more personnel changes.”

Former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials Deb Houry and Demetre Daskalakis smile while employees and supporters of the CDC line up outside the CDC global headquarters to honor the three leaders who resigned in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's firing of CDC director Susan Monarez

What healthcare leaders say about the CDC director Susan Monarez's firing 

Execs and organizations across the industry have warned the move is a threat to public health. 

What healthcare leaders say about the CDC director’s firing 

 to be bought by private equity firm Sycamore Partners, and pharmacy experts are worried it’ll bring with it layoffs and pharmacy closures.

 last December, and Walgreens executives 

 in March they had signed a definitive agreement with Sycamore. As part of the deal, Walgreens and its subsidiaries are to be split into five separate, privately owned companies: retail pharmacy chain Walgreens, pharmaceutical wholesaler the Boots Group, specialty pharmacy company Shields Health Solutions, post-acute care company CareCentrix, and primary care clinic chain VillageMD.

Under Sycamore’s ownership, Walgreens will be led by CEO Mike Motz, who previously worked as CEO of Staples US Retail, a company the private equity firm acquired in 2017. Former Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth will continue to serve as a director, company execs said in an Aug. 28 press release.

Shane Jerominski, co-founder of the Pharmacy Guild, a pharmacy workers union 

 in late 2023 that represents employees at some Walgreens and CVS locations, told Healthcare Brew in an emailed statement the deal “raises serious concerns for pharmacy professionals and the patients we serve.”

“When private equity firms take over, patients and communities are too often left paying the price through store closures, reduced staffing, and prescription errors—all of which jeopardize safe patient care,” Jerominski said, also highlighting that Sycamore has no background in healthcare or retail pharmacy.

Sycamore’s restructuring of Walgreens “must not come at the expense of patient safety or the dignity of the professionals who keep our pharmacies running,” Jerominski added.

Cherokee Layson-Wolf, a professor in the department of practice, sciences, and health outcomes research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, told Healthcare Brew her biggest concern is how the deal will affect patient access to pharmacies.

For example, Sycamore may choose to consolidate pharmacy locations and rely more on central fill locations, Layson-Wolf said, which are facilities that fill and transfer prescriptions to pharmacies.

Walgreens has 11 such locations—the company calls them micro-fulfillment centers—that send prescriptions to more than 4,500 stores, Wentworth said in the company’s Q1 2025 earnings call in January. At the time, Wentworth said he wanted to get that closer to 6,000 stores this year.

More central fill locations could mean fewer pharmacies, which may affect patients’ ability to see their pharmacist, Layson-Wolf said.

In a statement released following the announcement, Jim Baker, executive director of nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), said the deal puts “patients, workers, and entire communities at risk” because of Sycamore’s record of 

, and cost cutting, which could lead to fewer pharmacies and “thousands of workers” losing their jobs.

 to close 1,200 stores, and PESP warned “store closures could accelerate under Sycamore Partners’s ownership,” adding closures tend to “disproportionately impact low-income, rural, and minority communities and can create ‘

’ where patients lose access to essential medicines and services,” according to the statement.

Since Sycamore acquired Staples, the company has shut nearly one-third of its stores in the US, according to PESP. If the same number of Walgreens stores close, that would mean more than 70,000 layoffs, the nonprofit estimated.

 in 2024, including 145 “mostly corporate” employees in January, 646 employees in March, an undisclosed number of roles in April, and 256 employees in December, we previously reported.

Healthcare Brew reached out to both Walgreens and Sycamore Partners for comment on the potential for layoffs or store closures, but did not hear back by publication. 

Walgreens private equity takeover may bring layoffs, pharmacy closures, experts warn

Some worry private equity’s business model may jeopardize patient access to pharmacies. 

Fool one healthcare facility, shame on you. Fool 40 of them? There…might be a bigger problem at play.

Maryland resident Thomasina Amponsah pleaded guilty to working as a nurse at not one, not two, but 40+ facilities across Maryland despite never having a nursing license, according to an Aug. 14 release from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

Fraudulent nurses have been arrested in several states over the last year, from 

, involving everything from stolen identities to 

It’s a rare but avoidable mistake that puts patients’ lives and a healthcare facility’s reputation at risk, Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of trade organization the American Nurses Association, told us.

“When there are individuals who impersonate nurses, that breaks people’s trust. So it is very important to us to make sure the processes to ensure that these things don’t happen are strong,” Mensik Kennedy said.

The Maryland Board of Nursing “will continue to investigate and take appropriate action” against anyone caught misrepresenting themselves, Maryland Department of Health spokesperson David McCallister told us.

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), a membership group for state boards, said in its 2024 fraud detection 

 that fraudsters “look for the easiest entry routes,” taking advantage of organizations with lax hiring policies and loopholes.

Most practices have a thorough screening process with multiple checks built in, but some fail to verify the license matches up with the applicant’s identity, Mensik Kennedy said.

, and people feel the pressure to get nurses approved into the system and hired as quick as possible,” she added.

But while less thorough screening might speed up a hire, the cost of firing and replacing that person might not be worth it. Turnover of one bedside registered nurse (RN) costs the average hospital $61,110, and each facility loses an average of $3.9 million to $5.7 million per year amid the current 16.4% RN turnover rate, according to 

 NSI National Health Care Retention and RN Staffing Report.

To ensure applicants are qualified, NCSBN advises employers to look up people on its nurse licensure and disciplinary database, 

The database allows employers to check for free if a person’s stated license number, birth year, and last four digits of their social security number match up. It also shows all their licenses and disciplinary history in other states and allows employers to get immediate alerts of any changes, Matt Sterzinger, NCSBN’s IT director, told Healthcare Brew.

Sometimes, though, imposters obtain a license linked to their real identity.

In 2023, a federal investigation known as Operation Nightingale uncovered a now-defunct diploma mill that sold 7,600+ fake nursing diplomas and transcripts in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Delaware. People who bought these fraudulent transcripts qualified to sit for the nurse licensure exam. About 37% passed, allowing them to work as nurses, the New York Times 

Mensik Kennedy said this problem is potentially exacerbated in states like New York and California, where applicants can take the exam an unlimited number of times with just a 45-day waiting period between each attempt. Other states require additional training after several failed exams.

“When you get the opportunity to take unlimited tests and then keep getting your scores back…you learn what areas you need to study,” she said.

There’s discussion in the industry of whether some facilities should do even more to screen applicants, Mensik Kennedy added.

For instance, most states take fingerprints when new nurses get their licenses in order to perform a criminal background check, but most facilities don’t verify fingerprints before hiring someone, she said.

Mensik Kennedy argued another form of “fingerprint,” which the ANA has been advocating for, could be if nurses were reimbursed per service, like doctors—creating a paper trail—rather than the current norm of paying them a salary that’s bundled into the costs of patients’ rooms.

Mensik Kennedy also believes state boards, which investigate reports of potential posers, need more resources and funding in order to more efficiently track down these imposters.

“Nursing, without a doubt, is a very highly specialized and ethical profession, which requires rigorous and lifelong learning and training,” she said. “You can’t just show up. And there are no shortcuts.”

A close-up photo of a woman in scrubs holding a clipboard with a stethoscope around her neck, there's a large red question mark obscuring her face.