Payer

California is embarking on a five-year initiative to see if it can curb its Medicaid costs by having managed care insurers deliver social services, Kaiser Health News reported June 1. 

The Los Angeles Department of Mental Health is pushing to end a more than 50-year-old rule that excludes mental health facilities with more than 16 beds from receiving Medicaid payments, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported May 28. 

The Labor Department is suing Atlanta-based Aliera Companies and its CEO, Shelley Steele, for allegedly violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by paying themselves and affiliated companies with health plan assets.

Providers in Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Washington, D.C. will no longer be mailed paper providers remittance advice for UnitedHealthcare Community Health Plans, according to a June 1 bulletin from the payer. 

Senior healthcare provider CareMax is acquiring Dallas-based Steward Health Care's Medicare value-based care business in a cash and stock deal.  

Medicaid expansion under the ACA was associated with an increase in two-year overall survival rates among newly diagnosed cancer patients, according to a recent study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania approved a class-action lawsuit against Aetna on May 25 for allegedly violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by forcing disability benefits recipients to return their personal injury payments.

Maryland's all-payer hospital system can provide valuable insights for other states' healthcare systems, but moving other states to a similar system likely would be difficult, according to an article published May 31 by Troyen Brennan, MD, PhD, in Health Affairs.

After receiving a review from CMS, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said May 27 that Medicare Part B premiums won't be adjusted downward until next year. 

UnitedHealth has until June 16 to respond to a petition seeking a retrial of its win in a mental health coverage case, according to a May 26 order from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals