Care Disparities

Top 5 Common Conditions Driving Employer Healthcare Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

If five specific health conditions did not exist, large employers' healthcare spending per member per month could be declining instead of growing, according to a Health Action Council and...

Aetna Updates Policies to Cover Transgender Feminizing Surgeries

by Kelsey Waddill

Aetna has updated its coverage policies to correct care disparities and to include gender-affirming surgeries for transgender women in most of its commercial plans, CVS Health announced. Aetna worked...

Payer Diversity Program Contributes $375M to Economy, Creates Jobs

by Kelsey Waddill

Independence Health Group’s (Independence) supplier diversity program had a $375 million impact on the national economy in 2018, the company recently discovered. Independence is an independent...

Payers Will Improve Virtual Care, Forecasting, Growth in 2021

by Kelsey Waddill

Payers and stakeholder collaborators have the opportunity to rebuild the healthcare system into a more effective and consumer-centric system in 2021 by honing virtual care and other strategies,...

Multiple Chronic Conditions, Race Impact Diabetes Medicare Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicare spending on diabetes is in part a result of whether or not the beneficiary has multiple chronic conditions, but there are other factors that strongly influence costs as well, researchers found...

Medicaid Expansion Produces Mixed Results on Health Disparities

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicaid expansion has had mixed results in reducing health disparities and advancing coverage, utilization, and quality of care equity, an issue brief from Kaiser Family Foundation revealed. The...

COVID-19 Has Negative Impact on Stalling ACA Marketplaces

by Kelsey Waddill

Healthcare improvements through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces had stalled before the coronavirus pandemic struck the US and COVID-19 has only further exposed the system’s weaknesses, the...

COVID-19 Amplifies Racial Health Disparities for Coverage

by Kelsey Waddill

Minorities may see a sharper loss in employer-sponsored health insurance than White populations in America, which would drive racial coverage and health disparities even deeper, a recent report from...

Humana Calls for Social Determinants of Health in Risk Adjustment

by Kelsey Waddill

In a recent joint article with the National Quality Forum (NQF), Humana called for a new risk adjustment model that accounts for both clinical factors and social determinants of health. “We...

Using Value-Based Care to Tackle Maternal Health Disparities

by Kelsey Waddill

Priority Health, the second largest health plan in the state of Michigan, will financially offset the cost to providers who use the Centering Healthcare Institute’s (CHI) CenteringPregnancy...

In 2020 Consumerism Will Steer Payer Decisions in Deals, Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

Consumerism in healthcare will steer many payer decisions in 2020, perhaps more obviously than in the past. “There are a lot of pressures out there in 2020. It’s the time to step up and...

Medicaid Expansions Improve Coverage, Quality of Care, Economy

by Kelsey Waddill

Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have improved coverage, access to care and coverage, and the economy, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation report. “The...

Medicaid Expansion May Close Racial Health Disparities, Care Gaps

by Sara Heath

Medicaid expansion may have closed racial health disparities in timely cancer care access, according to a group of researchers from the Yale Cancer Center. The research, presented recently at the...

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