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In an article entitled “Hospitals’ Medicare Advantage problem hits an inflection point,” Becker’s Healthcare reports on hospitals’ increasing problems with collecting payments from Medicare Advantage plans, to the extent that many hospitals are planning or considering terminating their Medicare Advantage contracts. Chip Kahn, President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, was quoted in …

BECKER’S HEALTHCARE REPORTS THAT HOSPITALS ARE INCREASINGLY HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS Read More »

In a front-page investigative report headlined “Patients Hit with Big Bills While Insurers Reap Fees,” the New York Times shows how health insurers use MultiPlan to reduce payments to medical providers, which increases the fees employers pay the insurers and MultiPlan, but which frequently results in higher medical bills for patients. Here’s how it works:  …

NYT INVESTIGATION SHOWS HOW HEALTH INSURERS USE MULTIPLAN TO REDUCE PAYMENTS TO MEDICAL PROVIDERS TO IINCREASE THEIR FEES AND PROFITS AT THE EXPENSE OF PATIENTS Read More »

On March 19, 2024, New York-based Mount Sinai Health System and UnitedHealthcare announced that they had resolved their disputes and reached agreement on a four-year contract for Mount Sinai’s hospitals and physicians to be in-network with the health insurer. In a statement, Mount Sinai CEO Brendan Carr stated: We are pleased to have reached an …

MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM AND UNITEDHEALTHCARE REACH AN AGREEMENT TO RESOLVE THEIR DISPUTES Read More »

The New York Times has published a video opinion entitled “What’s My Life Worth? The Big Business of Denying Medical Care,” which illustrates how “profit-seeking insurance companies” use the prior authorization process “to create intentional barriers between patients and the healthcare they need.”  As stated in the video: “At best, it’s just a minor bureaucratic …

NYT VIDEO OPINION DEMONSTRATES HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES USE PRIOR AUTHORIZATION TO CAUSE DANGEROUS DELAYS IN PATIENT CARE Read More »

Health care providers nationwide have been impacted with substantial disruptions to the health care services they provide following a February 2024 data breach by Change Healthcare (https://www.changehealthcare.com/), a technology-based subsidiary of United HealthCare. Change serves as an intermediary between health insurance companies, providers and patients, and claims on its website to be “a trusted partner …

HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS IMPACTED BY CHANGE DATA BREACH Read More »

A study recently published in JAMA Health Forum found “significant differences in home health service intensity” between patients enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans and patients enrolled in traditional Medicare. The study was entitled “Differences in Home Health Services and Outcome between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage.” Some of its key findings were: Medicare Advantage patients …

STUDY FINDS THAT MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PATIENTS RECEIVE LESS HOME HEALTH CARE THAN PATIENTS WITH TRADITIONAL MEDICARE Read More »

The United States Department of Justice has issued a report listing the settlements and judgments it reached under the False Claims Act for Fiscal Year 2023.  The report includes settlements with Medicare Advantage plans in cases alleging that the plans for knowingly submitting inaccurate information regarding the health status of their beneficiaries to increase their …

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORTS FALSE CLAIMS ACT RECOVERIES AGAINST MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLANS IN FISCAL YEAR 2023 Read More »

The Federation of American Hospitals (“FAH”) proposal that CMS add a quality measure to its Medicare Advantage star rating system that would require these plans to report their level 1 prior authorization denial rates has been recommended for approval by an expert panel. The “Level 1 Upheld Denial Rate” proposal is intended to add transparency …

PANEL RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF FEDERATION OF AMERICAN HOSPITALS’ PROPOSAL THAT HEALTH INSURERS REPORT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION DENIAL RATES Read More »

Beating analysts’ expectations, the Cigna Group reported strong profits of $1 billion and revenues of $51.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2023. Fourth quarter revenues were up 12% from $45.8 billion in the prior year quarter. Growth was particularly strong at Cigna Healthcare.  Cigna also reported full year 2023 profits of $5.2 billion and …

THE CIGNA GROUP REPORTS STRONG PROFITS FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL YEAR 2023, BEATING ANALYSTS’ EXPECTATIONS Read More »

Elevance Health, Inc. (formerly known as Anthem) reported strong fourth quarter 2023 profits of $856 million and strong fourth quarter revenues of $2.6 billion in revenue, beating analysts’ expectations. Its revenues were up nearly 7% from the prior year quarter. As a result of these strong earnings, Elevance raised its quarterly dividend by 10.1% to …

ELEVANCE HEALTH (ANTHEM) POSTS STRONG FOURTH QUARTER REVENUES AND PROFITS, BEATING ANALYSTS’ EXPECTATIONS Read More »