Payer

Edgewood, Ky.-based St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Lexington, Ky.-based WellCare, a Medicaid and Medicare managed care insurer, entered into a value-based care contract to improve health outcomes of Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries.

The following payers made headlines this week, beginning with the most recent. 

The failure of Senate Republicans' healthcare bill creates greater uncertainty for insurers, especially in regard to the future of cost-sharing reductions that help insurers subsidize the cost of coverage for low-income Americans, according to Fitch Ratings.

Sacramento, Calif.-based Western Health Advantage will extend its coverage to counties in the San Francisco Bay Area after inking an agreement with provider network Canopy Health, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The health insurance industry's largest companies saw stocks fall Tuesday after the Senate GOP healthcare bill faltered, CNBC reports.

Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group requested a whistle-blower case alleging the payer inflated Medicare reimbursements by providing false information on members' health statuses be dismissed, Star Tribune reports.

Hartford Conn.-based Aetna added behavior-based security measures to its customer-facing Aetna Mobile app, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The majority of analytics professionals employed by health plans — 77 percent — expect spending on analytics to increase during the next year, according to a report by accounting and consulting firm Deloitte.

Here are four health systems on the verge of ending in-network agreements with payers.

Annapolis, Md.-based Anne Arundel Medical Center and Baltimore-based CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield may end their in-network agreement due to reimbursement disputes, according to a Baltimore Business Journal report.