News Briefs

News Briefs

✦ Politan Capital Management LP, a new hedge fund led by longtime activist investor Quentin Koffey, plans to use its $900 million stake in Centene Corp. to replace several of the carrier’s board members, the Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 3. Politan hopes to increase margins at the insurer, which have been lower than those at other large carriers. According to the Journal, Politan wants to put former WellCare CEO Kenneth Burdick and former Anthem, Inc. Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt on Centene’s board.

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News Briefs

✦ CMS on Nov. 2 finalized changes intended to boost participation in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) expanded model. In the Calendar Year 2022 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, CMS finalized proposals to waive the Medicare enrollment fee for MDPP suppliers beyond the end of the public health emergency, shorten the program services period to one year by eliminating the second year of maintenance sessions, and redistribute all of the Ongoing Maintenance sessions phase performance payments to certain Core and Core Maintenance Session performance payments.

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News Briefs

✦ During Centene Corp.’s Oct. 26 conference call to discuss third-quarter 2021 financial results, executives said the insurer will issue a request for proposals (RFP) in 2022 for PBM services. The move — which comes as Centene has been settling a spate of lawsuits filed by states over its PBM practices — is “going to be a huge opportunity for an external PBM,” Chief Financial Officer Drew Asher said during the company’s call with analysts.

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News Briefs

✦ UnitedHealth Group will reprocess all of its commercial claims for COVID-19 vaccine administration after a federal investigation found the integrated health care giant paid providers less than 40% of the Medicare reimbursement rate for administering inoculations. Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), chair of the special committee on aging, wrote in a letter to UnitedHealth that it must inform the committee of the number of claims it expects to reprocess by Nov. 5. UnitedHealth will owe about $15 million for every 1 million claims it reprocesses, according to press reports.

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News Briefs

✦ CMS has given itself another year to finalize a proposal to begin using an extrapolation methodology in recovering overpayments from Medicare Advantage organizations. The Trump administration in a November 2018 proposed rule (83 Fed. Reg. 54982, Nov. 1, 2018) said it planned to extrapolate the results of Risk Adjustment Data Validation Audits, starting with 2011 contract-level audits, and not apply a “fee-for-service adjuster” to account for inaccurate diagnosis codes in FFS Medicare data used to calibrate the MA risk adjustment model.

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News Briefs

CMS for the first time on Oct. 12 approved a state’s request to provide gender-affirming care as an essential health benefit (EHB) in the individual and small-group health insurance markets. Colorado’s new EHB-benchmark plan will offer transgender individuals access to a wider range of services than what is currently covered by their health plans, such as eye and lid modifications, face tightening, facial bone remodeling for facial feminization, breast/chest construction and reductions, and laser hair removal. Effective Jan. 1, 2023, Colorado is also adding EHBs in its benchmark plan to include mental wellness exams and expanded coverage for 14 prescription drug classes.

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News Briefs

✦ A pharmacy trade group made a formal request to the Dept. of Justice, asking that the government block UnitedHealth Group’s proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare Inc. “This deal would give UHG a trove of intelligence on its smaller competitors, including thousands of independent pharmacies and their patients.

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News Briefs

✦ CMS issued guidance stipulating employer-sponsored health plans can’t deny benefits to customers who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine. However, self-funded plans can offer premium discounts to customers ...
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News Briefs

✦ The fate of expanded Medicare benefits, drug pricing provisions and other health care measures included in Senate Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package hung in the balance this week, as Pres...
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News Briefs

✦ Centene Corp. settled two more of its PBM-related cases, reaching settlements with Illinois and Arkansas’ attorneys general to pay the states more than $71 million combined. Centene has been sued by dozens of ...
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