Patient Outcomes

UPMC Partners with Meal Delivery Service, Improves Health Outcomes

by Victoria Bailey

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Health Plan partnered with a meal delivery service to improve patient outcomes, decrease healthcare costs, and reduce emergency department visits for...

Anthem Offers Virtual Care Platform To Facilitate Second Opinions

by Kelsey Waddill

Anthem has partnered with The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic to improve members’ access to second opinions on their healthcare needs, Anthem revealed in a statement emailed to...

Payer Expands Value-Based Care Footprint for Clinical Procedures

by Victoria Bailey

Regence BlueShield (Regence) is welcoming new providers to its value-based care program and offering coverage for additional services to lower costs and improve patient health outcomes. The payer...

Payer Moves to Increase Member Access to Acute Home Healthcare

by Victoria Bailey

Regence BlueShield (Regence) has partnered with a home healthcare provider to increase member access to acute home healthcare services. Regence members in Pierce County, Washington will have access to...

Aetna Prior Authorization Policy Takes Effect, Providers Protest

by Kelsey Waddill

Updated 7/08/2021: This article has been updated to include a comment from an Aetna spokesperson. Ophthalmologists are responding in opposition to Aetna’s new prior authorization policy for...

Wellness Programs May Not Significantly Impact Healthcare Spending

by Kelsey Waddill

Wellness programs may influence health behaviors, but demonstrated little impact on healthcare spending, health outcomes, or employment outcomes, a study published in Health Affairs uncovered. It has...

Payer Partners with Nonprofit to Improve Prenatal Care Access

by Victoria Bailey

The United Health Foundation has announced a partnership with the nonprofit organization CAMBA, Inc. to improve health outcomes and increase prenatal care access for women in Brooklyn. The United...

Cancer Patient Outcomes Significantly Worse for the Uninsured

by Victoria Bailey

Patient outcomes are significantly worse in cancer patients who do not have insurance compared to insured patients, according to Gerard Silvestri, MD, professor of medicine and a lung cancer...

Bold Goal Saw Better Medicare Advantage Health Outcomes in 2020

by Kelsey Waddill

In 2020, Humana’s Bold Goal program saw better Medicare Advantage health outcomes in physical and mental healthcare than the payer's Medicare Advantage community overall, Humana’s most...

Wellness Programs Are A Win-Win For Cost Saving, Member Outcomes

by Hannah Nelson

A digital therapeutic weight loss program led to major medical cost savings, according to a Rally Health Inc. study that points to wellness programs as cost-effective strategies to tackle the obesity...

Payer Boosts MA Chronic Kidney Management Access, Patient Outcomes

by Hannah Nelson

To increase access to chronic disease management and improve patient outcomes, Cigna has announced that an in-home kidney care program will be available to Medicare Advantage members in 11 additional...

Creating Strategies to Expand Transgender Healthcare Coverage

by Kelsey Waddill

For the nearly 1.4 million Americans who identify as transgender, transgender healthcare coverage is lined with hurdles. One in five transgender individuals reported being uninsured at some point during 2017 to 2018, according to the...

BCBS Introduces Value-Based, Patient-Centered Kidney Care Model

by Hannah Nelson

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) has introduced a value-based care program that focuses on improving health outcomes for members with kidney disease through coordinated and...

Ambulatory Surgery Centers Could Save Private Payers $3B

by Kelsey Waddill

Payers may consider promoting ambulatory surgery centers as the ideal site of care for joint replacement surgeries, UnitedHealth Group’s recent research findings suggested. “Findings from...

Medicaid Expansion Improves Key Prenatal, Postpartum Indicators

by Kelsey Waddill

Poor maternal and infant care access can have deadly implications for new mothers and their babies, but Medicaid expansion efforts can improve three key prenatal and postpartum health indicators, a...

Special Needs Plans Improve ESRD Patient Outcomes, Lower Mortality

by Kelsey Waddill

Chronic condition special needs plans were created to serve the complex needs of patients with conditions such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and a new study published in JAMA Network Open...

Health Literacy Improves Medicare Spending, Member Outcomes

by Kelsey Waddill

Health literacy is key to improving member health outcomes, particularly among Medicare beneficiaries, a UnitedHealth Group research report emphasized. “Health literacy represents the ability of...

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...

Employers Unaware of How to Compare Health Plan Quality Measures

by Kelsey Waddill

Employers find the health plan selection process cumbersome and are not aware of how to compare health plan quality measures using the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) tools, two NCQA...

Recent Articles