Payer

Georgia Republican Gov. Nathan Deal urged the CEOs of Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia to reach a new contract before a fast-approaching deadline, the Athens Banner-Herald reports.

UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group, created a website targeting Envision Healthcare's emergency department billing policies amid an ongoing payment dispute.

UnitedHealthcare, the insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group, endowed $2.5 million to the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Lansing to establish the UnitedHealthcare Professor of Healthcare Management.

Spartanburg (S.C.) Regional Healthcare System may go out of network with Cigna April 1 if the parties don't ink a new agreement.

Cigna CEO David Cordani said the insurer's proposed $67 billion takeover of pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts is more of an expansion of Cigna's portfolio than a routine acquisition, according to CNBC.

Medicare-eligible patients with advanced cancers will have access to genomic tests under a national coverage determination CMS finalized March 16.

An all-payer system, or a system requiring all hospitals to charge the same prices to each payer, would force hospitals to compete over pricing, Boston University health policy professor Austin Frakt, PhD, told BU Today.

Fitch Ratings affirmed UnitedHealth Group's "AA-" insurer financial strength ratings due to the payer's strong financial performance, strong capitalization and leverage profile.

Health Partners Plans selected Barry Volin to serve as executive vice president of Medicare and operations.

About 92 percent of physicians report prior authorization has a negative effect on patient clinical outcomes, according to a new survey from the American Medical Association.