Payer

CMS issued an insurance standards bulletin Thursday, which gives another extension to non-ACA-compliant health plans.

UnitedHealth Group's plan to lay off 119 employees at its Optum offices in Colorado struck a chord with Becker's Hospital Review payer issues readers this week.

Thomas McCarthy, CFO of Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna, will retire this summer.

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

One of Farmington, Conn.-based ConnectiCare's two headquarters buildings is up for sale at $18.85 million, the Hartford Business Journal reports.

Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna and HealthCare Partners in El Segundo, Calif. — a division of DaVita Medical Group — will jointly offer Los Angeles-area employers health plans beginning April 1.

Eleven health systems in North Carolina are teaming up to establish a Medicaid managed care company, The Fayetteville Observer reports.

Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealthcare sold about 3.5 acres of land in Eden Prairie, Minn., for $1.4 million, according to a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal report.

Pittsburgh-based Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and New York City-based Quartet, a mission-driven technology company that integrates mental health into primary care, expanded their services to two Pennsylvania counties — Butler and Westmoreland.

Aetna entered into agreements Wednesday for the accelerated repurchase of $3.3 billion of the company's outstanding common stock after the Hartford, Conn.-based insurer's board authorized the repurchase of an additional $4 billion worth of the company's stock last week.