Healthcare, Pharma & Life Sciences

CHANDLER – October 29, 2026 -- Upstream Rehabilitation, the largest dedicated outpatient physical therapy provider in the United States, has renewed its enterprise agreement with EMR vendor Raintree, covering more than 1,200 clinics across 28 states.

ScribeIQ now supports more than 40% of Upstream's evaluations

Upstream has used ScribeIQ, Raintree's ambient AI scribe built for rehab therapy, to document more than 40% of the evaluations it records in Raintree. The stated aims are more complete documentation, more accurate coding and more clinician time with patients.

Raintree CEO Nick Hedges said Upstream has seen the AI deliver additional revenue per visit and time back for clinicians. The source provides no figures for either.

Plano, Texas – October 29, 2026 -- Community Hospital Corporation (CHC) will bring in John Henderson, who has led the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH) since 2018, as Senior Vice President of Hospital Operations in January 2027.

Henderson's TORCH record includes $250M in targeted Medicaid rates

Henderson has spent more than eight years advocating for and supporting all 155 rural hospitals in Texas through TORCH. In 2023 he secured $250M in targeted Medicaid rates. During the 2025 Texas legislative session he led advocacy for the rural OB rate enhancement and HB 18.

On TORCH's own finances, he turned an initial loss into seven consecutive years of gains and quadrupled cash and investments.

PROVIDENCE – October 29, 2026 -- The Rhode Island Life Science Hub (RILSH) and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to plan how Rhode Island hospitals can join the MLSC-supported biobank network, with Alzheimer's and other brain diseases as the first focus.

Eleven Massachusetts institutions already participate in the network

The participating Massachusetts institutions are Baystate Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Medical Center Health System, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and UMass Chan Medical School.

New York – October 29, 2026 -- ProJenX will present long-term Phase 1b data at the 2026 NEALS Annual Meeting showing that its ALS candidate prosetin reached target therapeutic exposures and kept a favorable safety profile over extended dosing. The meeting runs Oct. 27-30 in Clearwater, Florida, and online.

PRO-101 data show target engagement tracking with prosetin exposure

Prosetin is an oral, CNS-penetrant MAP4K inhibitor being tested in people with ALS in the Phase 1b PRO-101 study. The trial is evaluating safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. According to CEO Stan Abel, target engagement in PRO-101 tracked with exposure.

Abel said the results show for the first time that CNS-penetrant MAP4K inhibition is "a viable clinical strategy." The company has not disclosed participant numbers, dosing levels or efficacy endpoints in this announcement.

San Diego – October 29, 2026 -- Atrium Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RNA) has dosed the first patient in Corventis, a Phase 1/2 trial of ATR 1072 in PRKAG2 syndrome, and expects initial proof-of-concept data in the second half of 2027.

Corventis will enroll about 37 participants in two parts

The open-label, multicenter study will evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and efficacy of ATR 1072. Part A uses multiple ascending dose cohorts to characterize safety and support dose selection. Part B is a single-arm expansion cohort at the recommended Phase 2 dose, assessing efficacy trends in cardiac structure and function.

The primary endpoint is the incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events. Secondary and exploratory endpoints include PRKAG2 mRNA reduction, siRNA tissue concentrations and plasma pharmacokinetics.

ST. LOUIS – October 29, 2026 -- Centene Corporation raised its 2026 adjusted diluted EPS guidance floor by $0.40 to greater than $5.20, after third-quarter adjusted diluted EPS of $0.58 and a GAAP diluted loss of $0.14 per share. The insurer also lifted its GAAP diluted EPS guidance floor to greater than $3.46.

CEO Sarah M. London said the company's core businesses produced a "faster recovery" in its earnings trajectory than previously anticipated.

Medicare outperformance narrows the full-year HBR range to 90.4%-91.1%

The consolidated health benefits ratio (HBR) was 92.7% in the third quarter, unchanged from a year earlier and better than the company expected. Medicare drove the outperformance, while Medicaid and Marketplace are on track. Centene cut its full-year HBR guidance range to 90.4%-91.1%, improving the midpoint by 15 basis points to 90.75%.

VADUZ – October 29, 2026 -- Implantica AG has begun training its first U.S. surgeon on the RefluxStop anti-reflux implant, with the first U.S. procedures already scheduled at the University of Southern California (USC) after FDA approval in August 2026.

USC professor observes live RefluxStop procedures in Mainz

Dr. John C. Lipham, Professor of Surgery at USC, observed RefluxStop procedures performed by Dr. Moustafa Elshafei at Marienhaus Klinikum Mainz, Germany, on Monday, October 26. The observation is part of the training requirements for U.S. surgeons.

Lipham said his waiting list has continued to grow since the FDA approval and that he is eager to return to Los Angeles and begin treating patients.

Irvine – October 29, 2026 -- SBC Medical Group Holdings (Nasdaq: SBC) has begun in-house development of a DNA methylation test to estimate biological age, entering a longevity market that Report Ocean projects will grow from about $800 billion in 2025 to about $2 trillion by 2035.

SBC AI Longevity Innovation leads development on the Waqoo Group research base

The Medical Services Organization has assigned the project to its subsidiary SBC AI Longevity Innovation, Inc. The unit will draw on the regenerative medicine research of Waqoo, Inc. (TSE: 4937), a consolidated SBC Medical subsidiary, and Waqoo's subsidiary Cell Pro Japan Co., Ltd.

SBC Medical will pair that molecular research with its clinic operations infrastructure and customer experience know-how from its core MSO business. The company says objective, repeatable ways to track the body's internal condition over time remain limited.

United States – October 29, 2026 -- A three-doctor orthopedic practice with a 12% call abandonment rate loses more than $500,000 in revenue a year, while a three-doctor dermatology practice loses roughly $175,000, according to IntelePeer's analysis of healthcare phone access.

The figures exclude the lifetime value of patients who switch providers after a failed call, the company says.

29% of healthcare calls go unanswered, and 85% of held patients do not call back

Across healthcare, the average unanswered call rate is 29%, based on 2023 Accenture and Dental Intelligence data cited by IntelePeer. In dental practices the rate reaches 37%. When patients are put on hold, 60% hang up within a minute, and 85% of those do not call back.

Texas – October 29, 2026 -- 42 North Dental recovered more than $7 million in patient accounts receivable in seven months using IntelePeer's AI agents, including $1.8 million from balances older than 180 days, according to the vendor's customer data. The figures come as dental support organizations (DSOs) with 20 to 200 locations face no-show rates of 30% to 40% and a front-desk hiring shortage.

No-shows and unanswered calls drain production before patients reach the chair

IntelePeer identifies no-show rates of 30% to 40% for new-patient appointments as the leading driver of lost production in multi-site dental groups. It also reports that 85% of patients who cannot reach a practice do not call back and go to a competitor. Calls go unanswered at peak hours, during lunch and whenever front-desk staff turn over.