Payer

Premera Blue Cross signed a multi-year agreement with Seattle-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, the insurer announced Aug. 19. 

Providers in 12 Western states will no longer be mailed paper remittance advice, or proof that an invoice has been paid, for medical claims to network healthcare professionals and facilities, UnitedHealthcare said in a bulletin.

General Motors allowed 24,000 employees to opt in to a direct contracting agreement with Henry Ford Health System in 2019, and that experiment is showing cost savings promise for Michigan's second largest employer. 

The American Dental Association implored congressional leadership to support Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., and the Medicaid Dental Benefit Act, which would loop dental coverage into Medicaid. 

The employer-based health insurance landscape has seen constant readjustment over the past decade, putting firms at a decisive crossroads. 

One of the developing insurance battlefields are members who are forced to choose between paying for healthcare needs or basic needs, such as groceries, said Paul Hain, MD, CMO of GoHealth.

Texas health officials refused an offer by CMS to continue Medicaid funding for providers, according to an Aug. 16 letter obtained by Politico Pulse.

A bankrupt self-insured health plan for 2,500 physician practices and other small businesses says it doesn't have enough money to pay out medical claims, NJ.com reported Aug. 19. 

Seventy-two percent of the country's largest health plans are no longer waiving out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 treatment, according to research released Aug. 19 by the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.

As employees and contractors leave their homes to work, Humana is requiring them to get vaccinated.