INDIA – The Mayo Clinic in the United States has invested to acquire minority stake in Karkinos Healthcare, an oncology-focused managed healthcare platform subject to certain conditions.

As part of the agreement, Mayo Clinic will nominate a member to Karkinos’ Board of Directors. According to a statement, the two companies will collaborate on the transfer of technical know-how.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed by the startup. Karkinos, on the other hand, stated that the funds will be used “for the development of healthcare solutions.”

Ratan Tata, Venu Srinivasan, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Ronnie Screwvala, Vijay Shekar Sharma, and Bhavish Agarwal, among others, have previously invested in Karkinos.

The Tata Group is investing Rs 110 crore (US$14.2 million) in Karkinos while Rakuten Medical, a global clinical-stage biotechnology company, and Reliance Digital Health, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, hold minority stakes.

Venture Capital fund Endiya Partners also has a stake in the startup.

Karkinos Healthcare is an oncology-focused managed health care platform that specializes in the early detection and treatment of common cancers.

According to the startup, it employs a distributed cancer care network, collaborating with multiple healthcare institutions and professionals in the ecosystem. It aims to bring cancer care closer to people’s homes.

Karkinos collaborates with numerous healthcare institutions and professionals in the oncology ecosystem, and it already provides services in Kothamangalam, Chottanikkara, Thodupuzha, and Munnar locations in Kerala’s Ernakulum and Idukki Districts, with plans to expand its operations across India.

In collaboration with the Government of Manipur, the startup is also establishing a Cancer Centre on the campus of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.

Mayo Clinic’s Q1 financial report

Meanwhile, Mayo Clinic reported a US$227 million net loss for the first quarter of the year, becoming the latest hospital system to struggle with a drop in investments and an increase in labor costs.

According to the hospital system’s earnings report, it generated US$3.9 billion in revenue for the quarter while maintaining a 3.6% operating margin.

Several systems reported losses in the first quarter as a result of increased labor costs as well as other cost pressures such as inflation.

Mayo went on to say that the first-quarter results reflect “long-term plans for revenue diversification, digitization of healthcare when appropriate, using platforms to accelerate innovation, and investing in complex and serious clinical care treatments.”

Mayo also saw a drop in cash and investments. Due to investment losses, the system posted US$17.6 billion at the end of the quarter, down from US$465 million since the end of 2021.

Salaries and benefits cost US$2.3 billion, up 7.4% from the previous period, and accounted for nearly 60% of total expenses.

In addition, admissions to the system were lower than in the previous two years. Mayo saw 29,117 patient admissions in the first quarter, compared to 29,226 in the same period in 2021 and 30,645 in 2020.

However, compared to the previous two years, outpatient visits had increased. Mayo Clinic received 1.19 million outpatient visits in 2018, compared to 1.15 million in 2021 and 1.13 million two years ago.

More hospital systems have seen an increase in outpatient visits as patients return to facilities for care that was foregone or delayed due to the pandemic.

However, systems are also dealing with massive investment losses and a staffing shortage. Some hospitals, including Providence Health and Kaiser Permanente, lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of investment losses and an increase in deferred care.

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