Payer

Fitch Ratings assigned the health insurance and managed care sector a stable outlook for 2019.

Harrisburg, Pa.-based UPMC Pinnacle and Aetna extended an existing accountable care agreement to include hospitals recently acquired by the hospital system, according to the Central Penn Business Journal.

Twenty-seven percent of uninsured Americans, or 4.2 million people, are eligible to purchase a bronze plan with a $0 monthly premium off the ACA marketplace for 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The federal government altered the application page for health coverage on the ACA's HealthCare.gov a few weeks after the 2019 open enrollment period began, according to an analysis from the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization.

With CMS payments for clinical testing in decline, and continued pressure to shift from volume to value payment models, healthcare leaders looking to maintain fiscal health at their organizations should to take steps to optimize the value generated by labs.

Aetna reached an agreement to improve its provider directories after a Massachusetts attorney general investigation uncovered inaccuracies in its network information, according to The Boston Globe.

New York City-based health insurer EmblemHealth agreed to pay New Jersey $100,000 to resolve allegations it disclosed the personal information, including Social Security numbers, of more than 6,000 residents, according to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.

The prospect of paying higher health insurance premiums is more of a concern to Americans than paying medical bills or being denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition, according to a recent Gallup poll.

UnitedHealthcare and Nashville, Tenn.-based Envision Healthcare, one of the country's largest providers of emergency room services, agreed to extend their contract, effective Jan. 1.

Nearly three-fourths, or 72 percent, of health plans sold on the 2019 ACA marketplace have narrow physician networks, according to an Avalere study.