• California: Transcarent has acquired Accolade for approximately $621 million. Transcarent helps self-insured employers access different types of healthcare services, and Accolade offers care delivery, navigation, and advocacy services. Accolade, which originally went public in 2020, was taken private under the deal. Through the acquisition, the combined companies will serve over 1,700 employers and health plan clients. According to Transcarent CEO Glen Tullman, the deal will allow the company to incorporate its generative artificial intelligence wayfinding experience with Accolade's personalized health platform. "Adding Accolade's people and capabilities will significantly enhance our existing offerings," Tullman said. "We're creating an entirely new way to experience health and care. We are truly better together." Tullman will lead the combined company, and the executive leadership team will include representatives from both organizations. (Turner, Modern Healthcare, 4/8; Capoot, CNBC, 4/8)
• District of Columbia: Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that FDA properly rejected applications to market fruit- and dessert-flavored liquids for e-cigarettes. In the case, FDA had appealed a lower-court decision ruling that the agency unfairly changed its standards for approving liquids in e-cigarettes while evaluating two companies that wanted to sell new products, including "Iced Lemonade" and "Jimmy the Juice Man Peachy Strawberry." In the court's opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that FDA's rejection of the application was "sufficiently consistent" with the guidance it had provided companies hoping to gain approval for such products. In response to the ruling, Yolanda Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said it was "a major victory for the health of America's kids and efforts to protect them from the flavored e-cigarettes that have fueled a youth nicotine addiction crisis." (Jouvenal, Washington Post, 4/2)
• Michigan: Cargill Kitchen Solutions has recalled over 200,000 pounds of liquid egg products under the brands Egg Beaters and Bob Evans due to concerns about potential contamination with sodium hypochlorite, the active ingredient in bleach. According to Cargill, four kinds of liquid egg products were shipped for distribution in Ohio and Texas and food service use in several states, though they may have also been distributed nationwide. In a statement, Cargill said that the products "do not pose a health concern if consumed," but that they had been recalled "out of an abundance of caution." The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service also concluded that the products "should not cause adverse health consequences," but said people should avoid consuming any of the potentially contaminated products and throw them away or return them to the store. (Treisman, NPR, 4/4)

Vertical integration and consolidation are significantly altering the healthcare landscape. From health plans to retailers to incumbent health systems, consolidation is reshaping conventional norms in the industry. Radio Advisory's Rachel Woods sat down with Advisory Board experts Paul Trigonoplos and Eliza Dailey to discuss the reasons for and reactions to the recent explosion in consolidation across the industry and explore how different stakeholders are responding and where the future is heading for diversification and integration.