Payer

Employers estimate health benefits payments will increase an average 4.3 percent per employee in 2018, after accounting for payer switches and increased deductibles, according to a recent Mercer report.

Warby Parker will begin accepting UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored and individual vision plans next year, which marks the first time the New York City-based eyeglass and sunglass retailer is accepting vision insurance.

Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network, a Nashville, Tenn.-based organization of physicians, health systems and employers, rolled out an accountable care product with Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna.

Board members of Idaho's individual health insurance exchange, Your Health Idaho, flagged Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System's contract to counsel exchange enrollees as a possible conflict of interest, KIVI-TV reports.

Albuquerque, N.M.-based Lovelace Medical Group/Southwest Medical Associates will end its evergreen contract with Presbyterian Health Plan, also in Albuquerque, Jan. 1, according to an Albuquerque Journal report.

President and CEO of Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health System Ron Paulus, MD, told Citizen-Times negotiations between the health system and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in Durham are nonexistent.

More than six months after proposed Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergers collapsed, four economists testifying in the cases met in Chicago to discuss the deals' sticking points and implications.

Five years after Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke's Health System began pursuing value-based payment agreements, projected premium savings remain absent, according to an Idaho Statesman report.

Three major commercial payers saw their stock prices fall last week.

Medical Group of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg will participate in Camp Hill, Pa.-based Highmark Blue Shield's value-based reimbursement model.