Cone Health said Wednesday it has ended its pursuit of being acquired by a Virginia healthcare system following nearly 10 months of negotiations.Cone and Sentara Healthcare, based in Norfolk, Va.,
Cone Health shutters pricey digital diabetes venture
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After years of hyping its new digital diabetes monitoring company, Cone Health is scrapping the venture it poured millions of dollars into, citing a highly saturated market for such tools.
A few years ago, the Greensboro, N.C.-based health system gave media interviews and fired off press releases promoting the smartphone app it said would revamp diabetes care. But the deal didn t work out as planned. Tucked in a clause of its latest financial statement, Cone said it s winding down the company this year.
Not-for-profit Cone, which is in the throes of merging with Sentara Healthcare, declined an interview. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Jones said in a statement that when Cone started the joint venture with Wellsmith, an Austin, Texas, technology company, there were no comparable solutions on the market. Cone s financial statement said the venture was formed in late 2015.
A Cooper administration commitment to providing a guaranteed weekly minimum amount of COVID-19 first doses for the next three weeks appears to have mollified â for now â concerns about wide distribution gaps among vaccine providers.
However, Novant Health Inc. officials said Friday they continue to advocate for additional first doses for its mass-vaccination site at Hanes Mall and those planned in the Charlotte area.
Cone Health officials have made a similar plea after being shut out of first doses this week.
Meanwhile, as state health officials have pivoted to emphasizing using up all first doses each week, they have placed their COVID-19 contact tracing efforts on the backburner.