Insurers’ Diversity Policies Must Start at Top, Executives Say
Internal equity and diversity programs could be a powerful business strategy for plans that serve under-resourced populations, two experts say.
But to make these programs truly effective, organizations must start...
News Briefs
✦ On Dec. 22, Congress voted to repeal health insurers’ exemption from federal antitrust laws by amending the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which expressly delegated health insurance competition questions to states. Th...
New Prior Authorization Proposal Is Likely Here to Stay
Building on previously finalized regulations aimed at advancing data interoperability in health care, CMS on Dec. 10 proposed a new rule that would require certain health plans to make their prior authorization proc...
Murky Estimates of Enrollment, Costs Are Risky for Insurers
With unpredictable risk caused by the intensifying COVID-19 pandemic, estimating claims and enrollment will be more difficult than ever for health insurance companies in 2021, and the task has particularly high stak...
BMA, Avalere Research Illustrates MA Outperformance on Multiple Care Measures
A new study from Avalere Health comparing quality outcomes for Medicare Advantage enrollees vs. traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries found that high-need, high-cost populations enrolled in MA had...
News Briefs
✦ The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation on Dec. 17 rolled out a new demonstration model aimed at incentivizing Medicaid managed care organizations to coordinate and improve care for the population that...
HHS Nominee Becerra Is Known for ACA Support, M&A Scrutiny
Health care insiders praised President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, to be the next HHS secretary. Though he is not a specialist in health care, exp...
Feds, Insurers Will Pick Up Tab for First Round of Vaccines
With Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine on the cusp of FDA authorization, Moderna Inc.’s offering not far behind and AstraZeneca plc also touting promising results from its vaccine, in the coming mon...
COVID-19 Causes Unprecedented Drop in Health Care Spending
So far in 2020, spending on health care services is down 2.4% compared to 2019, marking the first time that patient care expenditures have dropped since records became available in the 1960s, according to a recent a...