Editors’ Top Five Week of April 30, 2018

Connecticut FMLA Bill Extends Care Beyond Immediate Family
Connecticut’s proposed family medical leave program would cover employees who wish to visit their “third cousin, once removed that had some kind of family medical issue,” according to an exchange between Representatives Christopher Davis, R-Ellington, and Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford at a Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee meeting last week. (Marc E. Fitch/Yankee Institute for Public Policy)

4 Years Ago Amazon Trekked Cross-Country to Learn About Aging in Place
“We have looked at the older population in the context of health…and we know this group has a lot of issues and unmet needs.” (Christina Farr/CNBC)

Humana Moves to Buy Another Homecare Group
It’s the second time that TPG Capitol, Welsh Carson, Anderson, & Stowe, and Humana made a combined offer on a homecare organization in the last 6 months. In December 2017, they put $4.1 billion down on a similar company, Kindred Healthcare. The goal is to split Kindred, creating a new Kindred at Home division which Humana would initially own 40 percent of, with plans to purchase the rest from TPG and WCAS at a later date. The three firms are purchasing Curo Health Services. (Ryan Black/Healthcare Analytics News)

Is This Startup the Warby Parker of Telemedicine?
Lemonaid is part of a new wave of telemedicine businesses that allow patients to skip the traditional office visit and instead chat online with a doctor to get birth control or prescription drugs to treat simple conditions, like urinary tract infections and erectile dysfunction. The idea is to rethink the way health care works, at least in some respects. (Rebecca Robbins/Stat)

Drug Copay Groups: Critical Patient Charities or Fronts for Drug Makers?
Copayment assistance groups, created to help patients with the increasingly higher price of drugs to treat medical conditions, are under investigation by federal authorities for possibly skewing the cost of health care to favor drug companies. (Jayne O’Donnell, David Robinson, Ken Alltucker and Liz Freeman/USA Today)