Friday, December 16, 2022: Payers

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced new value-based agreements with the state’s largest health systems to link financial incentives to equity improvements. Collectively, the four health systems – Steward Healthcare Network, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Mass...

Thursday, December 15, 2022: D.C. News

The House of Representatives voted to pass a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown at the end of this week. The vote was 224 to 201, with nine Republicans joining Democrats to vote in favor. The bill must now go to the Senate to be approved before it can go to...

Thursday, December 15, 2022: D.C. News

The White House and the U.S. Postal Service relaunched a website that allows people to order free COVID-19 tests and have the tests mailed to their homes. The move is part of the Biden administration’s larger winter preparedness plan to manage another potential...

Thursday, December 15, 2022: Payers

New data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) show that national health care spending grew by 2.7 percent to $4.3 trillion in 2021. Annual spending growth slowed last year compared with a 10.3 percent increase in 2020 when the federal government...

Thursday, December 15, 2022: Payers

CMS released a proposed rule to improve prior authorization processes for Medicare Advantage (MA) and implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug price provisions. The rule clarifies when and how MA plans can use prior authorization and that once approved, the prior...