Craig-Hallum analyst Kevin Ellich commented on last night's announcements by UnitedHealth (UNH) of long-term strategic partnerships with Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and LabCorp (LH) starting January 1, 2019, whereby both labs will be national providers of lab services. In a research note to investors, Ellich said he is "not surprised" by the announcement, adding that it is "clearly a positive" for Quest, as with UnitedHealth's 48M+ covered lives, it will have access to 90% of all insured lives nationally. Conversely, Kevin sees it as a "clearing event" for LabCorp shares, as the exclusive UnitedHealth contract, which was set to expire at the end of this year, was an overhang. In the event LabCorp loses some UnitedHealth volume, he expects the company will be able to mitigate the impact in a variety of ways, including entry into the Aetna (AET) contract and access to its ~22M medical members, which is exclusive to Quest now but in 2019 Aetna has the option to add another preferred lab provider. Ellich has a Buy rating and $204 price target on LabCorp, while he has a Hold rating and $107 price target on Quest Diagnostics.

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UnitedHealth Group is announcing support for people who may be concerned about their personal data potentially being impacted based on preliminary findings from the ongoing investigation and review of the data involved in the malicious criminal cyberattack on Change Healthcare. The company is also providing an update on progress in restoring Change Healthcare's products and services. Based on initial targeted data sampling to date, the company has found files containing protected health information or personally identifiable information, which could cover a substantial proportion of people in America. To date, the company has not seen evidence of exfiltration of materials such as doctors' charts or full medical histories among the data. "We know this attack has caused concern and been disruptive for consumers and providers, and we are committed to doing everything possible to help and provide support to anyone who may need it," said Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group. Given the ongoing nature and complexity of the data review, it is likely to take several months of continued analysis before enough information will be available to identify and notify impacted customers and individuals. As the company continues to work with leading industry experts to analyze data involved in this cyberattack, it is immediately providing support and robust protections, rather than waiting until the conclusion of the data review. People can visit a dedicated website at changecybersupport.com to get more information and details on these resources. A dedicated call center has been established to offer free credit monitoring and identity theft protections for two years to anyone impacted. The call center will also include trained clinicians to provide support services. Given the ongoing nature and complexity of the data review, the call center will not be able to provide any specifics on individual data impact at this time. The call center can be reached at 1-866-262-5342 and further details can be found on the website. The company, along with leading external industry experts, continues to monitor the internet and dark web to determine if data has been published. There were 22 screenshots, allegedly from exfiltrated files, some containing PHI and PII, posted for about a week on the dark web by a malicious threat actor. No further publication of PHI or PII has occurred at this time. While this comprehensive data analysis is conducted, the company is in communication with law enforcement and regulators and will provide appropriate notifications when the company can confirm the information involved. This is not an official breach notification. The company will reach out to stakeholders when there is sufficient information for notifications and will be transparent with the process. To help ease reporting obligations on other stakeholders whose data may have been compromised as part of this cyberattack, UnitedHealth Group has offered to make notifications and undertake related administrative requirements on behalf of any provider or customer. Change Healthcare has made continued strong progress restoring services impacted by the event. We have prioritized the restoration of services that impact patient access to care or medication. Pharmacy services are now back to near-normal levels, with 99% of pre-incident pharmacies able to process claims. Medical claims across the U.S. health system are now flowing at near-normal levels as systems come back online or providers switch to other methods of submission. Change Healthcare realizes there are a small number of providers who continue to be adversely impacted and is working with them to find alternative submission solutions and will continue to provide financial support as needed. Payment processing by Change Healthcare, which represents approximately 6% of all payments in the U.S health care system, is at approximately 86% of pre-incident levels and is increasing as additional functionality is restored. Other Change Healthcare services, including eligibility software and analytical tools, are being restored on a rolling basis with the active reconnection of our customers now the priority. To date, approximately 80% of Change functionality has been restored on the major platforms and products, and the company expects full restoration of other systems to be completed in the coming weeks. For the latest information on service restoration and customer support, please visit www.uhg.com/changehealthcarecyberresponse.

Healthcare Services Analyst Fidel holds a group luncheon investor meeting with SVP Sopcak in New York on April 23 hosted by Stephens.

Evercore ISI says that while neither OptumRx nor Cardinal Health (CAH) would confirm the winner of the contract, McKesson (MCK) confirmed it had won the contract beginning in July. Cardinal this morning announced that its pharmaceutical distribution contracts with OptumRx, which represented 16% of fiscal 2023 revenue, is expiring at end of June and will not be renewed. Evercore estimates the win would represent a 50c-65c earnings per share benefit to McKesson on a full-year basis or likely half of that given the contract does not start until July. The firm does not see Cardinal's announcement as "heralding a broadly more competitive period for the distributors, but rather a one-off contract shift given what was likely an off-market contract."

Quest Diagnostics announced the launch of a new blood biomarker test for phosphorylated tau 217, or p-tau217. P-tau217 is a biomarker associated with Alzheimer's Disease, supported by research as useful for an early diagnosis of AD. The test is the latest addition to the AD-Detect portfolio of blood tests for assessing the risk of Alzheimer's Disease, which also includes testing for an array of AD biomarkers, including p-tau181 and amyloid beta proteins, as well as Apolipoprotein E isoform and plasma testing, for patients with cognitive impairment. The test is expected to be available for ordering on April 26.