Here are seven Medicare Advantage updates Becker’s has reported since July 17.
- Medicare Advantage plans available in the most socially-vulnerable counties in the U.S. tend to have lower star ratings than those in less vulnerable counties, a study published in JAMA Network Open found.
- Centene will exit a handful of state Medicare Advantage markets in 2025, CEO Sarah London said. On an investor call, Ms. London said the exits are designed to align with the company’s longer-term strategy to focus on individuals eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
- Medicare Advantage enrollees were less likely to receive burdensome treatments or transfers in the last months of life compared to their peers in traditional Medicare, a study published in JAMA Health Forum found.
- Bloomington, Minn.-based HealthPartners plans to split with UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans at the end of 2024. In a letter to patients, the system’s co-executive medical directors alleged that UnitedHealthcare denies and delays payments “at a rate unlike any other insurer in our market.”
- Humana CEO Jim Rechtin is putting his support behind federal legislation aimed at reforming the Medicare Advantage prior authorization process.
- Humana acquired a minority stake in Healthpilot, an AI-powered Medicare enrollment platform.
- UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty touted the company’s home healthcare visits for its Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. The comments from the largest MA insurer came shortly after a July Wall Street Journal investigation found that between 2018 and 2021, insurers received $50 billion for diagnoses they added to members’ charts. Many of these diagnoses were “questionable,” according to the investigation.
