Payer

Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Healthcare is no longer in UnitedHealthcare's provider network after the organizations couldn't agree on reimbursement rates.

Centene completed its purchase of Pantherx, a Pittsburgh-based pharmacy specializing in drugs to treat rare diseases, the insurer said Dec. 30.

Here are four recent contract agreements or conflicts between payers and providers:

Aetna Better Health of Illinois excluded Walgreens from its pharmacy network Dec. 1, a change that affected roughly 400,000 Medicaid members in Illinois, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Here are the 10 most popular payer issues stories published by Becker's Hospital Review in 2020:

The following payer executives changed their positions in December:

Contract negotiations between New York City-based Montefiore Medical Center and UnitedHealthcare have stalled ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline, according to News 12 The Bronx.

Pharmacy benefits manager Prime Therapeutics notified Boeing group health plan members in Washington of a privacy breach that involved incorrect mailings of medical information, according to a Dec. 28 news release.

Cobalt Ventures, a subsidiary of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, picked up a minority stake in Cedar Gate Technology. Cedar Gate helps providers and payers manage their value-based care programs. 

An email hack at EyeMed, a company that health plans contract with to provide vision benefits, led to a data breach that affected at least 484,157 Aetna members and more than a thousand BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee members.