ACA increased primary care usage, but also some risky behaviors, report finds

All of the gains in preventive care were driven by expansions in private insurance, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research paper.

By Meg Bryant • April 17, 2018

New APM seeks to improve opioid disorder treatment

The AMA and the American Society of Addiction Medicine have unveiled the Patient-Centered Opioid Addiction Treatment advanced payment model, which looks to improve care coordination.

By Les Masterson • April 17, 2018

Explore the Trendline➔

Payer/provider relationships

As M&A intensifies and companies embrace more holistic and value-based care models, partnerships have become more closely intertwined.

By Healthcare Dive staff

UnitedHealth sees membership, revenue up in Q1

David Wichmann, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, predicted half of Americans will get care from a physician with a value-based contract within a decade.

By Les Masterson • April 17, 2018

Amazon reportedly drops plan to distribute pharmaceuticals to hospitals

The report is not entirely unexpected. Amazon in December canceled its pharmaceutical wholesaler application in Maine and told state regulators it did not intend to sell drugs.

By David Lim • April 17, 2018

CVS hires Iora Health's CMO to run MinuteClinic

The CVS-brand clinics will likely play a key role if the company's proposed $69 billion merger with Aetna gets regulatory approval.

By Les Masterson • April 16, 2018

Pricey cholesterol drugs appear to meet less payer resistance

A new report finds the nation's largest health plans ultimately denied 26% of claims for the cholesterol-lowering drugs in 2017 — a lower rate than before.

By Jacob Bell • April 16, 2018

New Jersey moves closer to its own individual mandate

The state legislature also approved a reinsurance program to help payers cover the sickest members. Both moves look to stabilize the individual market and ACA exchange.

By Les Masterson • April 16, 2018

Short-term plan expansion will hike individual market premiums, lower enrollment

The Trump administration wants to expand short-term plans, also known as catastrophic plans, to anyone and increase their duration from three months to one year.

By Les Masterson • April 13, 2018

Payer execs most concerned about member satisfaction

A new Healthedge survey found insurers are paying less attention to regulatory issues and moving to value-based payment models.

By Les Masterson • April 12, 2018

Optum a step ahead in vertical integration frenzy

UnitedHealth's healthcare services arm is the elephant in the room as media darlings Amazon and Walmart look to enter the market. 

By Jeff Byers • April 12, 2018

JAMA report finds wide health variations by state

Hawaii had the highest life expectancy at birth in 2016 (81.3 years) while Mississippi had the lowest (74.7 years).

By Les Masterson • April 12, 2018

CVS gives pharmacists, doctors tools to cut drug spending

The pharmacy giant is working with EHR vendors like Epic to give providers real time patient formulary information to keep costs down.

By Ned Pagliarulo , David Lim • April 12, 2018

The VA privatization debate: 5 things to know

As the nominee for VA secretary awaits his confirmation hearing, debate is heating up over how involved healthcare's private sector should be in the second-largest federal agency.

By Tony Abraham • April 11, 2018

UnitedHealthcare seeks arbitration to resolve Envision contract dispute

The payer has taken aim at Envision and even added a page to its website that names the company as a reason for "outsourced ERs" and higher ER costs.

By Les Masterson • April 11, 2018

Medicaid improves access, preventive services, AHIP report says

The study comes as Virginia considers becoming the 34th state to expand Medicaid under the ACA.

By Les Masterson • April 11, 2018

Medicare Advantage gets supplemental benefits flexibility, including for transport

The change opens the door to benefits not directly related to healthcare, such as meal delivery and ride-hailing services like Lyft.

By Meg Bryant • April 10, 2018

Pop health programs not seeing expected growth, survey finds

The third annual report from Numerof & Associates calls into question whether healthcare organizations are ready to take on risk.

By Les Masterson • April 10, 2018

California bill would create healthcare price controls

The proposal would authorize an independent commission to set private health plan prices based on what Medicare pays for those services.

By Meg Bryant • April 10, 2018

States get more power over ACA essential health benefits with final rule

The sweeping rule is the latest in the Trump administration’s steady chipping away at the landmark health law, which has been coupled with a move to give states more control over their healthcare regulations.

By Jeff Byers • April 9, 2018

Medicare to pay hundreds of thousands for CAR-T therapies

CMS will give hospitals outpatient reimbursements of about $400,000 for Gilead's Yescarta and $500,000 for Novartis' Kymriah.

By Jacob Bell • April 6, 2018

Opioid prescriptions down while addiction, overdose costs rise

The Kaiser Family Foundation looked at claims data for large employers between 2004 and 2016 to examine treatment costs from the opioid crisis.  

By Les Masterson • April 6, 2018

MedPAC approves plan to cut payments for some stand-alone EDs

AHA said the proposal is "unfounded" and would exacerbate Medicare's "record underpayment of outpatient departments."

By Tony Abraham • April 6, 2018

BCBS of Massachusetts cherry picks digital health tools for new platform

Two diabetes management apps and a fertility and pregnancy tool will be included.

By Meg Bryant • April 5, 2018

Surgeon General: More people should carry naloxone

The advisory comes a week before Congress is set to consider two competing packages aimed at curbing the opioid crisis.

By David Lim • April 5, 2018

Lafayette General threatens to shutter hospital amid budget impasse

LGH said that without funding either Louisiana State University will have to take over University Hospitals & Clinics again or the health system will close the hospital and lay off its employees on July 1.  

By Les Masterson • April 5, 2018