Category: Media Mentions

The Boston Business Journal quoted David Williams about Optum’s rumored interest in purchasing Atrius Health. (Atrius Health, state’s largest independent physician group, is in acquisition talks)

“As a physician-led organization, Atrius can make a strong impact on healthcare quality and cost,” said David Williams, president of the Health Business Group, a Boston-based consulting firm. “But they need a strong balance sheet to play against (the state’s largest hospital groups) Mass General Brigham and BI Lahey. With backing from Optum, Atrius will be able to be a strong force in Eastern Massachusetts and have the ability to enter into meaningful, value-based contracts with private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid.”

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David Williams was quoted in the Boston Globe (Biden, public health critics slam slower-than-promised pace of US COVID-19 vaccination rollout. “This should be D-Day right now,” said one expert. But it’s not.)

“Speed is what matters,” said David Williams, president of Health Business Group, a Boston management consulting firm. “This should be D-Day right now. But what’s happening nationally is it’s just being done in a bureaucratic manner and it’s not being done with the urgency you’d do in a civil defense or war-time exercise.”

Williams cited Oxford University data showing Israel, with a population not much bigger than Massachusetts, already has administered 5.68 doses per 100 people compared to the US total of 0.64 per 100.

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Investor’s Business Daily is out with a comprehensive and timely piece on Amazon’s bold moves in healthcare (Amazon’s Health Care Push Could Be Its Next Big Market Disruption). Even though Amazon has been weighing on the fortunes of traditional healthcare players for some time, the recent Amazon pharmacy announcement still shook up the market, driving down the shares of CVS, Rite Aid, etc.

David Williams is quoted

Amazon probably has the best shot at moving the needle. That’s because of its global, personalized connection to consumers, its high-speed delivery of packages, its powerful cloud computing unit and the wide variety of medical equipment on its e-commerce platform.

“Everyone in health care is scared of Amazon, and rightly so,” said David Williams, president at Health Business Group, a health care consultant. “Amazon is coming at it from all directions and they have the technology, scale and consumer focus needed to succeed.”

“All these companies will have to figure out how they stay alive,” Williams said.

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Diabetes is a costly illness that affects tens of millions of Americans. Joslin Diabetes Center is a world renowned specialist located in the heart of Boston’s Longwood Medical Center. It seems like it should be booming, but in fact diabetes treatment is not a great business and Joslin has not had strong financial performance.

Cancer, cardiology and orthopedics –with their invasive procedures– are much better for making money. But good diabetes care means coordinating lots of people to examine and guide the patient. That’s expensive to provide but not well reimbursed.

And standalone specialty hospitals, even prestigious ones, need strong connections to integrated health systems if they want patients.

So it’s no surprise that Beth Israel Lahey plans to acquire Joslin. As David Williams told the Boston Globe (Beth Israel Lahey Health plans to acquire Joslin Diabetes Center), the deal makes clinical and financial sense and is unlikely to attract regulatory scrutiny.

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Reader’s Digest (20 Ways City Life Could Change Forever After Coronavirus) featured David Williams in an article speculating about how city life will change after COVID-19.

After the September 11th attacks, physical security became an immediate priority in the United States. There was a visible increase in security measures and personnel in office buildings, throughout urban spaces, and in airports, along with new physical and digital surveillance technologies. According to David E. Williams, president of the Health Business Group, a consulting firm that specializes in technology-enabled health-care and medical devices, we could see health security post-COVID-19 elevated like physical security was after 9/11. “It will become a pervasive part of our urban economy and society,” he tells Reader’s Digest. “Expect temperature, face-mask, and handwashing checks at office buildings, city restaurants, and crowded public spaces. City sewer systems will be monitored for viruses. Counter-terrorism sensors on the streets and in subways that currently sniff for radiation and chemical weapons will be retrofitted to sense airborne virus particles, too.”

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