Payer: Page 19


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    Deep Dive

    Humana and CVS are downsizing their Medicare Advantage plans for 2025. Which insurers could benefit?

    Hundreds of thousands of seniors could switch plans during next year’s open enrollment, depending on how drastically the MA market giants slash benefits in an attempt to improve profits.

    By Updated June 10, 2024
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    Scan Health Plan wins Medicare Advantage star ratings lawsuit

    The insurer argued the CMS didn’t follow its stated methodology for calculating quality scores, causing its rating to drop and risking millions of dollars in payments.

    By June 4, 2024
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    Yujin Kim/Healthcare Dive
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    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
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    Medicare Advantage sales middleman sues HHS over rule capping broker compensation

    AmeriLife’s suit joins at least two others from MA sales groups seeking revisions to the rule for threatening their business model. It also comes with a clock, given a looming deadline for marketing contract negotiations.

    By June 3, 2024
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    Move over, Medicare Advantage — UnitedHealth, Centene flag higher Medicaid utilization concerns

    Worries about higher-than-expected medical spending have reached Medicaid, as redeterminations spark turbulence in the program.

    By May 30, 2024
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    Minnesota’s Medicaid program to block for-profit insurers from participation

    The ban initially only affects UnitedHealthcare, which is the sole for-profit managed care organization with a Medicaid contract in the state.

    By May 29, 2024
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    Express Scripts’ new partnership is an olive branch to independent pharmacies

    Cigna’s massive pharmacy benefit manager has unveiled a new collaboration with a network of independent pharmacies at a time of rising tension between PBMs and the pharmacies they pay.

    By May 23, 2024
  • Congressmen Brendan Boyle and Jodey Arrington lean toward one another while having a seated discussion.
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    House committee takes aim at healthcare consolidation, eyes site-neutral payments

    Equalizing Medicare payment between sites of service to cut down on provider consolidation is a “no brainer,” one witness testified during the hearing.

    By May 23, 2024
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    Courtesy of Tandem Diabetes Care
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    Medicare adviser sets recommendations for diabetes device evidence

    The panel found time in range was an “extremely important” metric, but members were divided on whether quality of life measures should influence coverage.

    By Elise Reuter • May 22, 2024
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    Latest 340B ruling delivers blow to providers

    Drugmakers are allowed to impose conditions on which pharmacies they dispense discounted drugs to in the 340B program, according to an appellate court.

    By May 22, 2024
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    Courtesy of UnitedHealth Group
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    UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx unveils new drug pricing model

    Major pharmacy benefit managers are rolling out a flurry of ostensibly transparent and cost-effective models to retain clients and placate scrutiny over their role in rising drug costs.

    By May 21, 2024
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    Senate Finance Committee tackles Medicare physician pay reform

    On Friday, the committee released a white paper proposing Medicare adjust doctor reimbursement to account for inflation, a key goal for physician lobbies.

    By May 20, 2024
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    Kansas jilts CVS in new Medicaid contract awards

    Kansas kicked CVS to the curb in favor of an Elevance plan, while awarding contracts to incumbents UnitedHealth and Centene. The contracts are worth roughly $4 billion annually.

    By May 15, 2024
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    Hospitals charged employers and insurers 254% more than Medicare in 2022: study

    Hospitals with larger market shares were among the worst offenders, the Rand Corporation found.

    By May 14, 2024
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    Humana CEO Bruce Broussard to depart July 1

    At that time, current Chief Operating Officer Jim Rechtin will take the reins of the health insurer, which is struggling with challenges in Medicare Advantage.

    By May 14, 2024
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    Deep Dive

    Medicare Advantage unrest, Change Healthcare fallout and more big takeaways from insurers’ Q1

    All major payers saw elevated utilization but only an unprepared few struggled with the trend, the Change Healthcare cyberattack caused minimal financial fallout and a new D-SNP rule opens the door to a Medicare growth opportunity.

    By May 13, 2024
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    CHS sues MultiPlan for allegedly colluding to lower provider reimbursement

    It’s the third lawsuit filed against MultiPlan by a health system in under a year.

    By May 10, 2024
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    CMS proposes mandatory kidney care model with financial risk for hospitals

    The model, if finalized, will test whether putting hospitals on the hook for kidney transplant access and quality might improve the nation’s shoddy system of organ procurement and transplantation.

    By May 9, 2024
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    MA health assessments contribute to inflated coding intensity: study

    Some limits on how the assessments are used might be justified to ensure Medicare Advantage plans aren’t overpaid, researchers wrote. 

    By May 8, 2024
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    Medicare go-broke date extended to 2036, but warning bells continue ringing

    The Medicare trustees’ new projection for insolvency is five years later than previous forecasts, but budget hawks warned action is still needed to shore up the insurance program’s finances.

    By May 7, 2024
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    Julia Rendleman via Getty Images
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    Cigna writes down VillageMD investment amid shrinking value

    Walgreens’ decision to slash VillageMD’s clinical footprint has reverberated to the financial accounts of the primary care chain’s minority owner — Cigna.

    By May 2, 2024
  • A view from below of the CVS sign on the center of a building, with a vertical blue HealthHub sign to its right.
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    CVS acquires Medicare Advantage broker Hella Health

    The acquisition comes amid rising regulatory scrutiny of insurance brokers and notable turbulence in MA.

    By , May 1, 2024
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    Mario Tama via Getty Images
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    CVS slashes 2024 outlook — again — as Medicare seniors drive spending

    Runaway inpatient spending in particular caused CVS’ insurance costs to snowball after returning “to patterns we have not seen since the start of the pandemic,” its CFO said.

    By May 1, 2024
  • Andrew Witty attends the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 19, 2017.
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    Ruben Sprich/Reuters

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    Change Healthcare cyberattack

    Change Healthcare, compromised by stolen credentials, did not have MFA turned on

    Failing to turn on multifactor authentication, a common cybersecurity safeguard, “underscores pure negligence on the part of UnitedHealth,” one expert said.

    By Matt Kapko • April 30, 2024
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    Sponsored by CorroHealth

    Empowering healthcare providers against rising payer denials

    The rise in denial rates is more than a mere statistic; it's a symptom of a broader systemic challenge that calls for strategic foresight and robust expertise.

    April 29, 2024
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    Kaiser exposed up to 13.4M plan member records to third parties

    The largest data breach reported so far this year comes as regulators reconsider healthcare’s use of tracking technologies.

    By April 26, 2024