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Biden seeks more transparency in nursing home ownership, industry demands more aid

Biden seeks more transparency in nursing home ownership, industry demands more aid

The Department of Health & Human Companies proposed a rule that would need facilities to disclose ownership by private equity. Advocates for nursing houses say the issue distracts from the want for extra funding.

President Biden has pushed to boost the good quality of nursing homes, and now his administration has taken steps to get rid of extra mild on the house owners of extensive-term treatment services.

The Biden administration announced this 7 days that it is proposing new principles to supply extra transparency on nursing residence possession. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services issued a proposed rule to compel nursing residences to disclose much more data about their possession and management.

In addition, the rule also phone calls for nursing residences to disclose if they are owned by personal equity investors or true estate financial investment trusts. The Biden administration has been vital about non-public equity possession of nursing residences, indicating that they present decreased quality care.

Health and Human Expert services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the actions replicate the administration’s commitment to make sure nursing dwelling inhabitants get the ideal attainable treatment.

“President Biden has produced distinct: enhancing our nation’s nursing homes is an urgent precedence, and this Administration is not worried to just take bold motion to deal with this head-on,” Becerra said in a assertion.

“We are continuing our unprecedented initiatives to maximize nursing property possession transparency – for the reason that it’s what the public justifies. We are pursuing all avenues to shine a mild on this marketplace,” he stated.

Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Treatment Association and Nationwide Centre for Assisted Residing, claimed nursing homes really don’t oppose supplying additional data on possession. But he stated only a little selection of amenities are really owned by personal equity.

“We guidance transparency and enjoy the Administration’s efforts to aid households in generating more educated conclusions,” Parkinson mentioned in a statement. “However, focusing on possession and personal equity is a red herring. Considerably less than 5 p.c of nursing homes are owned by non-public fairness corporations and about 12 percent are owned by a REIT, an entity that ordinarily has no influence on daily functions.”

The proposed rule would need nursing homes to disclose residence ownership to the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies and to the states.

CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure explained in a assertion that the rule “would bolster our capability to look at ownership styles, which include personal equity and actual estate expenditure trusts.”

The proposed rule would also involve properties to disclose much more details about organizations “that lease or sublease house to nursing homes, since the amenities and assets proprietors might be established up as distinctive corporate entities even however the entities do the job hand-in-hand,” the wellbeing department mentioned.

The wellness section cited a research revealed in JAMA Wellbeing Discussion board that observed citizens in nursing households owned by personal fairness teams had been 11{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} much more most likely to visit the unexpected emergency division and 8.7{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} additional most likely to require hospital admissions, when compared to other for-revenue nursing properties.

In his 2022 Point out of the Union Deal with, Biden denounced “Wall Street firms” who have taken in excess of nursing residences and lifted expenditures, even as high-quality dropped.

Biden has termed for minimal nursing benchmarks at nursing houses. The Biden administration has also proposed more funding for inspections and harder penalties for nursing houses that have fallen small in defending clients.

Parkinson stated the problem of personal equity ownership is dwarfed by the inadequate funding of nursing houses, which would make it tougher to offer satisfactory staffing.

“If we really want to strengthen America’s nursing homes, we need policymakers to prioritize investing in our caregivers and this chronically underfunded health care sector,” Parkinson stated in a assertion. “Together, we really should concentration on meaningful remedies that can strengthen providing the top quality of treatment and solutions that our nation’s seniors are worthy of.”

The National Academies released a report that endorses dramatically transforming the funding of the nursing residence industry. The report concluded “the way in which the United States funds, delivers, and regulates treatment in nursing household configurations is ineffective, inefficient, fragmented, and unsustainable.”

In April 2022, the well being office produced numerous several years of data on nursing house possession and houses that have improved palms due to mergers, acquisitions or consolidations.

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Arkansas Engineering Faculty Member Recognized for Outreach to Aid Poultry Sustainability Efforts

Arkansas Engineering Faculty Member Recognized for Outreach to Aid Poultry Sustainability Efforts

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Bob Scott, director of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, left, and Deacue Fields, vice president for agriculture, present the John W. White Outstanding State Faculty Award to associate professor Yi Liang.&#13
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Fred Miller

Bob Scott, director of the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, still left, and Deacue Fields, vice president for agriculture, existing the John W. White Fantastic Condition College Award to affiliate professor Yi Liang.

Yi Liang, affiliate professor of biological and agricultural engineering, was regarded on Jan. 13 for her outreach efforts to aid the poultry field in solving its greatest issues.

Liang obtained the John W. White Exceptional Extension Point out Faculty award throughout the once-a-year Agriculture Awards ceremony held past month.

As an affiliated school member with the Heart of Excellence for Poultry Science, Liang conducts outreach and exploration endeavours for the U of A Method Division of Agriculture by way of its two arms — the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Assistance and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Liang also functions with biological and agricultural engineering students by means of the U of A’s College or university of Engineering.

Liang’s research and extension attempts emphasis on getting realistic means to boost poultry creation efficiency and sustainability.

“My used investigate and extension system provides well timed specialized help to poultry producers, integrators, sector staff, extension agents and other people,” Liang said. “I concentrate on strengthening poultry manufacturing performance by strengthening air top quality, cutting down farm strength and h2o usage and evaluating renewable strength purposes.”

Liang stated she strives to make absolutely sure her facts reaches each individual corner of the point out. Her crew utilizes internet information, push releases, films, extension agent trainings and workshops.

Liang said she was very pleased to be the receiver of the award.

“I was extremely grateful for currently being nominated and picked by my friends for this award,” Liang stated. “I feel honored to be section of the crew that dedicates our work to enhance economic standing and high quality of life for Arkansans.”

Lalit Verma, professor and section head of biological and agricultural engineering, nominated Liang for the award due to the fact of her provider to the poultry marketplace.

“Dr. Liang has been a diligent and hardworking engineer committed to serving the poultry business,” Verma stated. “She is a complete, group-spirited and sincere school member, not only contributing to the extension mission, but also to research by means of related and beneficial get the job done. She has also contributed to our department’s training packages. I nominated her for the reason that of her reliable, longstanding and outstanding engineering contributions to the poultry enterprise.”

Tom Tabler, professor and poultry extension professional at the University of Tennessee, labored with Liang during his time with the U of A Process.

“Dr. Liang is nicely acknowledged and respected by the Arkansas poultry industry and by several specific poultry producers throughout the point out,” Tabler wrote in a nomination letter. “Her get the job done with air high quality, electricity audits, poultry litter, vegetative shelterbelts, solar electricity and sprinkler cooling programs for broiler chickens are just a several of the areas that have made her such a precious asset to the poultry field, poultry producers, county agents and the University of Arkansas.”

Tabler reported that Liang’s potential to connect has served her discover achievements.

“She is an outstanding researcher, but extra importantly, she can just take investigate results and disseminate the information to clientele in an impartial, easy to understand structure that is quick for them to comprehend, acknowledge and place to use in their day by day life,” he wrote.

Walter Bottje, professor of poultry science with the experiment station, explained Liang’s expertise was instrumental in staying awarded a nearly $10 million grant from the U.S. Section of Agriculture’s Countrywide Institute of Meals and Agriculture. The grant undertaking focuses on empowering the U.S. broiler business for sustainability.

“This complete grant necessary that all 3 arms of the land grant mission be represented,” Bottje wrote in a nomination letter. “Dr. Liang’s function with a business sprinkling (floor wetting) system has demonstrated that the quantity of water employed in cooling broiler houses can be diminished by 50-60{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} as opposed to regular evaporative cooling techniques whilst retaining advancement general performance.”

David Caldwell, head of the Section of Poultry Science and director of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, explained Liang was a deserving receiver of the award.

“I was thrilled to see Dr. Liang receive this recognition,” Caldwell reported. “Even even though Yi is administratively found in organic and agricultural engineering, we consider her to be 1 of us, and we are really fortunate to have her as an affiliated school member in the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. It is really fitting to see her acquire this award for her determination to performing with poultry integrators and growers across the full state.”

Liang joined the U of A Technique Division of Agriculture in 2007. She gained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Beijing Agriculture College in China. She gained her Ph.D. from the College of Alberta, Canada.

To find out about extension courses in Arkansas, get hold of your community Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Comply with us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To study additional about Division of Agriculture analysis, pay a visit to the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station web-site: aaes.uada.edu. Adhere to on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To understand extra about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.

About the Division of Agriculture: The College of Arkansas Procedure Division of Agriculture’s mission is to bolster agriculture, communities, and families by connecting dependable exploration to the adoption of greatest tactics. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Assistance, the Division of Agriculture conducts exploration and extension work within just the nation’s historic land grant education program. The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities inside of the College of Arkansas Process. It has places of work in all 75 counties in Arkansas and college on five technique campuses. The College of Arkansas Program Division of Agriculture features all its Extension and Analysis applications and providers without the need of regard to race, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, incapacity, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other lawfully protected position, and is an Affirmative Action/Equivalent Prospect Employer.

About the Dale Bumpers Higher education of Agricultural, Food and Lifetime Sciences: Bumpers Faculty delivers lifetime-transforming possibilities to placement and put together graduates who will be leaders in the businesses affiliated with foodstuff, spouse and children, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of lifetime and who will be initial-choice candidates of companies looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and business people. The school is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who created the point out well known in nationwide and worldwide agriculture. For extra data about Bumpers Faculty, take a look at our internet site, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.

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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Rite Aid and Amazon

Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Rite Aid and Amazon

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – January 25, 2023 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses CVS Health CVS, Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA, Rite Aid RAD and Amazon’s AMZN.

Industry: Pharmacy & Drugstore

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/2043036/3-retail-pharmacy-and-drugstore-stocks-to-watch-amid-industry-headwinds

The past three years of the public health crisis have significantly altered the structure and trend of the Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry. On a positive note, amid the ongoing supply-chain disruption and staffing shortages within healthcare, the retail pharmacy business has been in high demand, thanks to the exponentially growing demand for distant medical services and remote patient care. Particularly, mail-order pharmacies are registering growth on account of telehealth and remote monitoring services.

Added to this, with digitization, retail industry players are significantly strengthening their omnichannel presence from sole brick-and-mortar dependency. All these are creating unique opportunities for stalwarts within the industry like CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid, which are investing strategically in easy patient access to prescription and maintenance medications.

However, the majority of the retail drug store heavyweights have been southbound due to the ongoing pressure of drug pricing and reimbursement. Further, with a decline in the severity of COVID-19, the demand for related retail health support has decreased meaningfully, resulting in a significant drop in pandemic-led revenue generation for the industry players.

Last but not least, perceiving the huge growth prospects of this space, there has been a number of new entries in this industry, increasing the competitiveness of the space. Especially, a stalwart like Amazon‘s entry into the retail drugstore space has created a survival issue among the existing entities.

Industry Description

The Zacks Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry includes retailing of a range of prescription and over-the-counter medications. The broad retail network of companies within the retail pharmacy industry delivers advanced health solutions to patients, customers and caregivers.

Over the past few years, the scope of the retail pharmacy and drugstore market has expanded exponentially. In North America, some of these entities evolved to add wellness products and groceries to their traditional portfolio of prescription and over-the-counter medications. Looking at the attractive growth potentials of this industry,  non-healthcare leaders like Amazon, in 2018, acquired pharmacy delivery startup PillPack to enter the U.S. healthcare space.

3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores Industry

Industry Trend Remains Dismal Amid Reimbursement Pressure: Brand-name drugs, which hold wide profit margins, are protected with a reliable supply chain. However, the low-margin generic drugs, which have a fragile supply chain network, have been bearing the brunt of the pandemic-induced economic slump. Drug retailers are also witnessing a constant rise in medicine prices, stemming from the rising cost of raw materials of drugs.

The industry players are currently grappling with continued pressure from non-reimbursable pharmacy expenses, which are significantly pulling down the mass demand for prescription as well as over-the-counter drugs and vaccinations. It has been widely observed that patients are replacing prescription medicines with low-cost generic drugs.

Amazon’s Entry Steals Market Share: A Business Insider report in 2021 came up with the speculation that there have been discussions about Amazon setting up standalone stores in a few locations, including Boston and Phoenix. Further, per the report, which cites insider sources, Amazon is exploring plans to place the pharmacies inside Amazon-owned Whole Foods locations. Earlier, following its entry, the e-commerce giant grabbed a significant chunk of the online pharmacy market from the legacy retail drug store space.

Amazon Pharmacy’s omichannel performance has been significantly robust since the inception. Going by a Viseven report of Jan 5, 2023, Amazon’s omnichannel experiences are the keystone to customer retention that help to cover previous sales reductions. This has already significantly increased competition in the retail pharmacy market. Needless to say, the speculation of Amazon planning to enter the Brick-And-Mortar space has come as a major blow to the industry, putting retail pharmacy and drugstore stocks in a tighter spot.

Online Pharmacy and Mail Order Boom: The widespread shelter-in-place regulations since the beginning of the pandemic have created a significant shift in demand toward mail order and online pharmacies. Experts say that this transition is expected to last even after the pandemic is over. Data claims that COVID-19 has only accelerated the already-growing demand for e-pharmacy and mail-ordered home delivery systems.

Going by a Patch report, “Two years ago, 11{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} of U.S. adult pharmacy customers got their prescription from an online pharmacy, based on a survey conducted by market research firm CivicScience, [.] That figure has been steadily rising over the years, according to Statista.com, an online statistics portal.” With Amazon’s big move into the healthcare space, the retail pharmacy industry entered a new phase of fierce competition. To counter this rivalry, the companies are strategically attempting to gain in size and scale.

Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Dull Near-Term Prospects

The industry’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bleak near-term prospects. The Zacks Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry, housed within the broader Zacks Retail and Wholesale sector, currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #190, placing it in the bottom 24{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} of more than 250 Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} of the Zacks-ranked industries outperforms the bottom 50{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

We will present a few stocks that have the potential to outperform the market based on a strong earnings outlook. But it’s worth taking a look at the industry’s shareholder returns and current valuation first.

Industry Underperforms S&P 500 & Sector

The Zacks Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores industry has underperformed the Zacks S&P 500 composite as well as its sector over the past year. The stocks in this industry have collectively lost 20{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} over this period, while the Retail-Wholesale Sector has declined 12.3{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b}. The S&P 500 composite has declined 10{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} over the said time frame.

Industry’s Current Valuation

On the basis of forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), which is commonly used for valuing medical stocks, the industry is currently trading at 9.3X compared with the S&P 500’s 17.78X and the sector’s 22.14X.

Over the last five years, the sector has traded as high as 12.51X, as low as 7.53X, and at the median of 9.92X.

3 Retail – Pharmacies and Drug Stores Stocks in Focus

CVS Health: CVS Health is currently seeing greater engagement in an expanded set of digital health services such as antibody and PCR testing, vaccinations and omni-channel pharmacy. During the last-reported third quarter of 2022, the company added nearly one million digital customers and is currently serving more than 46 million unique digital customers, an impressive 11 million more since this time last year.

This uptick was driven by the company’s omnichannel pharmacy strategy, focused on simplifying how consumers fill and receive prescriptions. CVS Health’s digital capabilities for health interactions such as COVID testing and vaccines, prescription services, and sales of health and wellness products have dramatically increased consumer engagement across all CVS Health businesses.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 revenues indicates a 7.3{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} rise from 2021. CVS Health, a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock, also has an impressive five-year historical earnings growth rate of 8.3{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b}.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Walgreens Boots: Walgreens Boots continues to make progress in transforming the pharmacy business and the method of delivering healthcare, both through physical stores and digital channels. Currently, the company’s U.S. retail business is demonstrating good momentum through digital and omnichannel growth from the myWalgreens loyalty program, owned brand innovation and alternative profit streams.

In the last-reported first quarter of fiscal 2023, the company continued to progress in transforming the pharmacy business and the method of delivering healthcare through physical stores and digital channels. The company is also witnessing mid-single-digit growth in stores with normal hours. Moreover, Walgreens has opened its ninth automated micro fulfillment center, now supporting about 3,000 total stores.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2023 revenues indicates a rise of 1.5{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} from fiscal 2022. The long-term expected earnings growth rate is pegged at an impressive 5{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b}. Walgreens Boots carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

Rite Aid: Rite Aid remains focused on strengthening its foothold in mid-market PBM, innovating across its retail and mail-order pharmacy channels, enhancing the in-store experience by curated digital offerings, improving merchandise and rebranding its image with a new logo. Rite Aid earlier launched the first three Stores of the Future and successfully concluded the acquisition of Bartell, which will help expand its customer base.

The company revealed plans to lower costs via the closure of 145 unprofitable stores, reduced corporate administrative expenses and enhanced efficiencies in worked payroll, and other store labor costs. It also intends to reduce costs related to Elixir due to declining membership.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2024 earnings indicates a rise of 28.24{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} from fiscal 2023. Rite Aid currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance  for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Zacks Names “Single Best Pick to Double”

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

It’s a little-known chemical company that’s up 65{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} over last year, yet still dirt cheap. With unrelenting demand, soaring 2022 earnings estimates, and $1.5 billion for repurchasing shares, retail investors could jump in at any time.

This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9{1668a97e7bfe6d80c144078b89af180f360665b4ea188e6054b2f93f7302966b} in one year.

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Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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