Payer

Aetna is expanding both its Medicare Advantage plan offerings and markets as it approaches the 2022 open enrollment period. 

Cigna is charting its third year in a row of Medicare Advantage plan expansion, entering three new states and 108 new counties. 

UnitedHealthcare shared its plans to expand Medicare Advantage plans in 2022 to 276 counties, continuing its dominant market control. 

New York City-based startup Oscar Health announced Sept. 30 a pair of partnerships that tie into market expansions.

Aetna is bringing Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Array AtHome, the largest telepsychiatry practice in the country, into its provider network.

A new partnership among Michigan Medicine, St. Joseph Mercy Health System — both based in Ann Arbor — and Lansing-based Physicians Health Plan is expanding Medicare Advantage options in two Michigan counties. 

A study from NORC at the University of Chicago revealed that just over 1 percent of Medicare beneficiaries had their social needs tracked in 2018 healthcare claims.

Negotiations are coming down to the wire as UnitedHealthcare and Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System have yet to reup a contract ahead of an Oct. 3 deadline. 

UnitedHealthcare is among the payers involved in a legal battle over New York City's decision to shift retirees' healthcare coverage off of Medicare and onto a new contract with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield and EmblemHealth's joint venture, the Alliance.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has named Katie Wilson McBreen its new vice president of communications.