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A wall of debt is coming due for private equity-owned hospitals and nursing homes that threatens to undermine care for some of the most vulnerable Americans. That’s triggering alarms in Washington. Cheap and flexible financing that helped big Wall Street buyout firms snap up health centers, long-term care facilities and provider networks in recent years has evaporated. Higher borrowing costs are chipping away at margins. And bankruptcies at private equity-owned businesses are on track to reach decade highs, which could result in job cutbacks. (Sutton, 9/11)

In 2021, venture capital firms spent nearly $5 billion to fund behavioral health startups, according to an estimate from research firm CB Insights. The funding bonanza helped start hundreds of companies offering remote therapy, medication prescription, wellness and other mental health services. A lot has changed in two years. Because of high interest rates, an oversaturated market and potential regulatory changes to remote prescribing, many of those mental health startups may look for an exit ramp, industry insiders said. (Perna, 9/12)

As part of one of the tech industry’s most revered venture funds, Daryl Tol is very familiar with fast-paced, sometimes overblown pitches from go-getter founders, lining up at happy hours and investor panels to score just a few minutes of face time. A chance meeting, or an email to the right person, could propel pie-in-the-sky ideas into billion-dollar, global businesses. But he’s also deeply embedded in another world: One where inflated claims have life-or-death consequences, and where breathless newcomers inspire more derision than enthusiasm. (Ravindranath, 9/13)

Walgreens has inked a deal with primary care enablement technology company Pearl Health to expand the retailer's push into value-based care. Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens, the retail and pharmacy division of the Walgreens Boots Alliance, will provide value-based care services to provider partners through the agreement with Pearl. The companies will help clinicians transition to value-based reimbursement, starting with Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Accountability and Community Health members. (Turner, 9/12)

Â鶹ŮÓÅ Health News and InvestigateTV: Watch: In Emergencies, First Comes The Ambulance. Then Comes The Bill

When her 9-year-old daughter was having trouble breathing, Yvette Hammonds took her to a local emergency room. It quickly became clear that girl needed to be transferred to the children’s hospital about 40 minutes away in Atlanta, so her daughter was loaded into an ambulance. Months later, Hammonds received a bill for nearly $1,000: the cost of the ground ambulance ride from one in-network hospital to another. (Jackman, 9/13)

About 1,000 Kaiser Permanente employees in the Baltimore area will vote this week on whether to strike, as contract negotiations crawl forward between the California-based health care organization and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents more than 85,000 health care workers nationwide. (Roberts, 9/12)

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia CEO Madeline Bell was the top-paid executive in The Inquirer’s review of pay at 13 Philadelphia-area nonprofit health systems. The bulk of her $7.7 million total came from a $5.6 million bonus. Bell’s bonus, which included one-year and three-year awards, was about the same as the next five highest bonuses combined. (Brubaker, 9/13)