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Based on their fourth quarter earnings reports, Becker’s Hospital Review has ranked the nation’s payers by their 2025 net income.  Here are their rankings: UnitedHealth Group, with $12.1 billion in profits Cigna, with $6 billion in profits Elevance Health, with $5.7 billion in profits CVS Health, with $1.8 billion in profits Humana, with $1.2 billion […]

An online article posted on Axios Vitals highlights the problems patients and providers face with obtaining prior authorizations from Medicare Advantage plans. The article cites a KFF finding that there were 53 million prior authorization requests made to Medicare Advantage plans in 2024, of which 8% were fully or partially denied. As stated by Representative

So-called “ghost networks” have emerged as a significant problem in today’s health insurance landscape, particularly in the area of mental health and substance use disorder treatment. A ghost network exists when a health plan’s provider directory lists health professionals who are unavailable, not accepting new patients, no longer in network, or otherwise inaccessible in practice.

CMS awarded grants to all fifty states under the Rural Health Transformation Program. Now states have until January 30, 2026 to resubmit budgets showing how they intend to use their grant money to implement their proposed projects and CMS has 30 days to respond. These next steps will be critical in showing whether rural hospitals

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has awarded grants to all fifty states under the Rural Health Transformation Program. The average grant for 2026 is $200,000, with grants ranging from $147 million to $281 million. The states receiving the highest amount of grants were Texas at $218 million, Alaska at $272 million, and California

Becker’s Hospital Review has published an article detailing the myriad policy changes to be implemented in 2026 that will impact hospitals and other medical providers. Among the most significant policy changes are: The expiration of the enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that allowed households earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level

CMS is scheduled to award grants to states under the Rural Health Transformation Program on or before December 31, 2025. Although the award of half of the funds was specified by Congress, Congress provided CMS with significant discretion over the remainder – discretion that CMS is using to reward states whose current or future policies

The New York State Department of Health has issued new rules governing the temporary or permanent closures of healthcare facilities. The new rules updated and clarified previous rules governing facility closures. Under the new rules, healthcare facilities may not close, discontinue services or reduce beds without prior approval of the facility’s Closure Plan. Temporary closures

The Settlement Claims Administrator for the BCBS Provider Antitrust Settlement has updated the claims website with the following information: “The claim submission deadline for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Provider Settlement passed on July 29, 2025.  The Settlement Administrator is no longer accepting new claims or changes to existing claims absent a showing of good

The Alabama Hospital Investment Program provides a dollar-for-dollar tax credit against state income and other taxes for individuals and businesses that donate to eligible rural hospitals in Alabama. The Program was established by statute and is available for the tax years from 2026 – 2028. It is intended to help eligible rural hospitals receive additional