Payer

Amazon has shaken up the healthcare industry by launching a line of over-the-counter healthcare products and partnering with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to create an independent healthcare company.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, said the insurer's $69 billion merger with CVS Health will succeed by keeping Americans healthier where they live, according to CBS This Morning.

Anthem rescinded plans to cut reimbursement on certain same-day services following strong opposition from the American Medical Association, according to a letter Anthem sent to the AMA.

Under new legislation, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Iowa's largest health insurer, may offer plans with the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation that skirt certain ACA requirements, the Des Moines Register reports.

Of 300 million prior authorization requests rejected at the pharmacy each year, 36 percent are abandoned, according to a recent report by CoverMyMeds.

Humana's integrated clinical model, furthered by its recent bid for Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare's home health arm, is reviving Humana's medical cost competitive advantage, according to a recent Leerink Partners analysis.

John C. Molina, former CFO of Molina Healthcare, stepped down from the health insurer's board of directors Feb. 26.

The Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management alleged in a Feb. 12 report Health Net of California obstructed a federal IT audit, thereby violating its contract with the OPM.

UnitedHealth Group's Optum arm struck a deal with Reliant Medical Group, a physician group in Worcester, Mass., for at least $80 million, according to Federal Trade Commission filings.

The Justice Department said due to an accounting error, a proposal to fully fund the ACA's risk corridors program made its way into HHS' budget. The proposed funding has since been removed, according to Inside Health Policy.