In an opinion piece published by the Houston Chronicle, the president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas wrote that healthcare delivery systems in rural parts of the state are "on life-support or nonexistent."
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Pennsylvania senators and representatives have written to CMS to see if the agency can give more information to patients who will be affected in six months by a split between Pittsburgh-based Highmark and UPMC, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Two Duke LifePoint hospitals are no longer in UnitedHealthcare's network and three other hospitals owned by the Brentwood, Tenn.-based health system are at risk of being out of the insurer's network Jan. 1, according to North Carolina Health News.
Nearly 17,000 Arkansas residents have lost Medicaid coverage due to new work requirements, according to a court filing obtained by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
The federal judge reviewing approval of CVS Health's acquisition of Aetna said he will not require the companies to stop integrating most of their operations, according to CNBC.
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ProMedica Physician Group and Aetna resolved disagreements over their contract, allowing thousands of Aetna members to retain in-network access to 950 ProMedica physicians in 2019, according to The Blade.
Walgreens executives said the early results of a primary care joint venture with Humana are promising after six months of operation, according to Forbes contributor Bruce Japsen.
Horizon Healthcare, New Jersey's largest health insurer, and Envision Healthcare have reached a statewide multiyear agreement opening Envision's physician network to Horizon patients.
The uninsured rate among children increased between 2016 and 2017, representing 276,000 more uninsured children across the U.S. and the first observed increase in uninsured children since 2008, according to a recent report by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
After receiving final regulatory approval, Cigna closed its $67 billion acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Dec. 20.