Category: Healthcare Finance News

Intermountain Healthcare and SCL Health announce merger plans

Pending approvals, the merger will form a 33-hospital system that employs 58,000 caregivers and provides insurance to roughly 1 million people. 
 

Report claims 340B hospitals are leveraging discounts to increase profits from cancer drugs

Certain safety net hospitals are charging insurers an average of 3.8 times more than the acquisition costs for oncology drugs, although depending on the drug, the markup can be much higher — up to 11 times the purchase price, a new report has found.

Managed Medicaid plans and health systems hampered from texting consumers by 30-year-old law

A 30-year-old federal law is preventing many managed Medicaid plans from communicating with their members in the way most consumers prefer to get information: by text.

Aetna updates fertility coverage following claims of LGBTQ+ discrimination

Aetna says it wrongly denied requests to cover fertility treatments for certain individuals and that it would rectify its mistake.

DOJ: Independent Health, DxID allegedly inflated MA reimbursement through unsupported diagnosis codes

Insurer Independent Health and a subsidiary, DxID, are under fire from the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly submitting unsupported diagnosis codes to inflate Medicare Advantage reimbursements.
The alleged violation of the federal False Claims A…

Northwell Health and Walgreens partner on 5-year digital agreement

Northwell Health and Walgreens have announced a five-year strategic affiliation in New York State.
The digital agreement makes Northwell telehealth providers accessible on the Walgreens Find Care platform, expanding community member access to virtual e…

Intermountain postpones all non-urgent surgeries due to COVID-19 surge

Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, Intermountain Healthcare is postponing all non-urgent surgeries and procedures requiring a hospital admission in its trauma and community hospitals.
Staff are needed for the ICUs and acute care units, Intermountain said.

Preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations cost US health system $3.7B in August

Between June and August, unvaccinated COVID-19 patients racked up $5.7 billion worth of preventable hospital care. 

Cityblock Health, Tufts Health Plan offering personalized care to One Care members in Massachusetts

Value-based care provider Cityblock Health, which focuses on Medicaid and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries, has expanded its collaboration with Tufts Health Plan to offer personalized medical, behavioral and social care to Tufts Health Unify members…

Blue Cross NC, UNC Health team on study to improve food security, chronic health

There are numerous issues that can cause food insecurity, ranging from high medical costs to social isolation, and one major insurer has set aside funding for a large-scale clinical study it hopes will help to address food insecurity among its at-risk …