Clik here to view.
Advocate-Aurora merger would create 10th largest nonprofit health system in US
Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Heath Care and Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care announced plans to merge systems which are already the largest in their respective states into a 27-hospital system...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moody’s: CVS-Aetna merger has ‘negative implications’ for other healthcare...
If the merger between CVS Health and Aetna is completed, other healthcare companies, especially pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), will see some negative effects such as pressuring the utilization and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
UnitedHealth’s Optum to acquire DaVita Medical Group for $4.9B
Optum, the consulting and services arm of health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, has continued a series of major acquisitions with the announcement it will buy DaVita Medical Group, a division of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 things to know about slower health spending growth
CMS reported national health spending grew at a slower rate in 2016, increasing by 4.3 percent with slower growth across almost all spending categories, including private health insurance, Medicare,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dignity Health, Catholic Health Initiatives agree to merger
More than a year after first announcing they were negotiating a merger, Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) have a definitive agreement to create a massive nonprofit health system...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ascension, Providence St. Joseph reportedly in talks to merge
St. Louis-based Ascension Health and Renton, Washington-based Providence St. Joseph Health are discussing a merger, according to the Wall Street Journal, which would create a massive nonprofit health...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Traditional billing processes’ won’t work with millennial patients
Millennial patients know less about their health benefits, are less likely to pay their medical bills in full and often don’t save for medical expenses, according to a survey published by TransUnion...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clinicial labs sue CMS over cuts to reimbursement
The American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) has filed a lawsuit alleging the new Medicare reimbursement system for lab tests goes against what Congress intended in the Protecting Access to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AMGA: 60% of members ready to take on downside risk within 2 years
Providers represented by the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) expect more of their business to come from risk-based products in 2019, with government revenues moving from Medicare...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Teva Pharmaceuticals to cut 25% of its global workforce
Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, the largest generic drugmaker in the world, will be laying off 14,000 employees, a quarter of its workforce worldwide, including “significant” cuts to its 7,000 U.S....
View ArticleClik here to view.
CMS to end federal Medicaid funding for ‘designated state health programs’
In a letter to state Medicaid directors, CMS said it will no longer accept Medicaid waiver proposals that ask for federal funding for Designated State Health Programs (DSHPs), saying states aren’t...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Humana takes 40% stake in Kindred as part of $4B deal
Health insurer Humana and two private equity firms have announced a $4 billion acquisition of the largest home health and hospice operator in the U.S., Kindred Healthcare, splitting the company into...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tenet exploring sale of Conifer unit as cost-cutting goals expand
Tenet Healthcare announced it’s looking to sell its business services subsidiary, Conifer Health Solutions, and will aim to cut an additional $100 million in costs by the end of 2018.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ring in 2018: 5 stories you may have missed during the holidays
While some of you, like us here at HealthExec, may have been enjoying a holiday break, healthcare news didn’t get a vacation. Here are five of the biggest stories you may have missed since clocking out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kindred shareholder calls $4B Humana deal ‘grossly inadequate’
One of the major shareholders in home health and hospice operator Kindred Healthcare has come out in opposition to its proposed sale to health insurer Humana and two private equity firms, arguing the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hackensack Meridian, JFK Health complete merger
Eight months after a signing a definitive agreement to merge, Edison, New Jersey-based systems Hackensack Meridian Health and JFK Health have finalized their combination into the largest health system...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Insurers’ financial outlook upgraded to ‘stable’
Analysts at A.M. Best have revised their outlook for the health insurance industry from negative to stable for 2018, saying the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange business that dragged down profits in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tenet divestment continues by scaling back Texas joint venture
Tenet Healthcare has reached an agreement with Baylor Scott & White Health to restructure their two-year-old joint venture involving five North Texas hospitals.
View ArticleClik here to view.
AMA: Physicians generate $2.3T in economic activity
In a report touting the contributions physicians make to the U.S. economy, the American Medical Association said physicians were supporting more jobs, tax revenues, wages and generating more economic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More rural hospitals would close if Medicaid expansion scaled back
The expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) made hospitals less likely to close, especially in rural markets, according to study published in the January edition of Health...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Safety-net hospitals push for 2-year delay in DSH cuts
America’s Essential Hospitals has announced a new advocacy and advertising campaign seeking a delay in cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments, which are set to be reduced by $2...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Penn Medicine completes acquisition of Princeton HealthCare
The University of Pennsylvania Health System, also known as Penn Medicine, has finalized its acquisition of the Plainsboro, New Jersey-based Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) extending its reach into...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New voluntary bundled payment model announced by CMS
Later this year, providers wanting to take advantage of the 5 percent bonus for participating in an Advanced Alternative Payment Model (AAPM) can join the new Bundled Payments For Care...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hospital groups to appeal dismissal of 340B lawsuit
The American Hospital Association, America’s Essential Hospitals, the Association of American Medical Colleges and three health systems will appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit seeking to block $1.6...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More ACOs taking on downside risk in MSSP in 2018
The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) will have 561 accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in 2018, including 124 new entrants into the program, covering a total of 10.5 million...
View ArticleClik here to view.
No risk, no reward: ACOs would've made $966M more in downside risk model
If accountable care organizations (ACOs) had moved from the upside-only Track 1 of the Medicare Shared Savings Program and assumed downside risk, they would’ve earned an additional $966 million if they...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rising prices, not utilization, driving up healthcare spending
Increased prices for many healthcare services were almost entirely responsible for driving up healthcare spending by 15 percent between 2012 and 2016, according to a report by the Health Care Cost...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Partners, Care New England merger moving ahead
Boston’s Partners HealthCare and Providence, R.I.-based Care New England have agreed to enter into a definitive merger agreement, though one has not yet been signed nine months after the systems began...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘Staggering’ increase seen in scale of healthcare mergers in 2017
2017 will go down as the year mergers and acquisitions activity “shook the healthcare landscape,” according to a report from Kaufman Hall, with more deals worth $1 billion or more being announced than...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Increased Part B reimbursement will offset 340B cuts for most hospitals
Hospital groups have sued CMS to reverse $1.6 billion in cuts to Medicare payments made under the 340B drug discount program, but a new study from Avalere said only 15 percent of facilities will see a...
View Article
