Payer

Two Michigan health plans — Priority Health and Total Health Care — received approval from Michigan regulators to combine, the organizations said Nov. 21.

Six recent articles posted by Becker's Hospital Review that concern payer-provider relationships:

Florida Blue may drop Health First, a Rockledge, Fla.-based hospital system and insurer, from its network due to rate disagreements, according to Florida Today.

Employees are reporting higher stress and less satisfaction when it comes to their health insurance benefits, according to a survey conducted by Aflac.

Disparities between coverage for behavioral health services and medical/surgical services are widening, according to a research report from consulting firm Milliman.

Aetna's Medicaid contract in Kansas is still at risk, but state regulators said the insurer is turning around its operations for the better, NPR affiliate KCUR reports.

Tennessee formally requested permission from the Trump administration Nov. 20 to fund its Medicaid program through a block grant, according to The Hill.

Sixty-seven percent of Humana's individual Medicare members were connected with primary care physicians in value-based payment models in 2018 — a shift from fee-for-service that has lowered the health insurer's costs and improved outcomes, Humana said Nov. 21.

In 2018, employees in Maine faced the highest average deductibles for single-person plans in the nation, according to an analysis from left-leaning think tank The Commonwealth Fund.

Walmart's expanded telehealth pilot, announced in October, will use services owned by UnitedHealth Group, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.