BCBS of Ohio plans to charge beneficiaries the total cost of their emergency department visits if a diagnosis suggests the visit wasn’t emergency-based, a policy which has been met with...
The vast majority of patients living with chronic diseases would support legislation to limit a payer’s ability to switch their prescriptions without medical necessity, according to a new series...
Aetna will be the first national payer to waive Narcan co-pays for fully-insured members as part of a larger effort to address the nation’s opioid crisis, the payer announced in a press release....
AHIP launched the Safe, Transparent Opioid Prescribing (STOP) Initiative to support health plans’ widespread adoption of clinical guidelines for pain care and opioid prescribing, and combat the...
High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) may reduce spending, but are also prone to preventing health care consumers from accessing necessary services and recommended preventive care, according to a study...
A Medicaid drug pricing rule which safeguards deep discounts for the public program can potentially inhibit value-based contracts agreements between payers and pharmaceutical companies, according to...
Adding medical device data and unique device identifiers (UDIs) to insurance claims could have a significant positive impact on healthcare spending and patient safety, according to reports from Pew...
Anthem BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) organizations across the country collectively pledged to lower opioid abuse by 30 percent, and the company as a whole reached that goal two years ahead of schedule...
The Blue Shield of California Health Plan, an independent member of Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), successfully lowered overall opioid use by 32 percent during the first two years of its Narcotic...
Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program (CBP) may increase the risk of negative patient safety events or medication nonadherence for diabetics by limiting the variety of available diabetes testing...
A new 64-page report from the Healthcare Fraud Prevention Partnership (HFPP), a public-private partnership which includes CMS, gives payers resources that treat, educate, and develop improvements for...
This week, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act. President Obama signed the legislation into law on Tuesday, December 13. The 21st Century Cures Act passed with bipartisan support 94-5 in the...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center was created in order to develop more revolutionary healthcare payment strategies that could reduce the cost of Medicare,...
