New Futures Exchange Offers Hedge Against Health-Care Costs

Hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other health-care industry participants will have a new way to manage risks and spiraling costs through a futures and options exchange set to launch in the first half of 2024.

Intelligent Medicine Exchange, which received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday, is offering a way to hedge bets and protect against wild price moves in the industry using derivatives.

“These tools get to the core of the business,” James Plante, IMX’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview. “It’s a very efficient way to solve for cost transparency, the biggest problem ...