As momentum for healthcare reform builds on Capitol Hill, every segment of the $2.3 trillion industry is looking at how it might potentially be affected. Insurance companies hope that an expansion of private coverage will prop up their sagging customer base; on the other hand, they know that Congress is likely to reduce payments to private Medicare plans. The pharmaceutical companies are...
Health Care Industry Archive
November 2008
Health-insurance companies like Cigna are busy ramping up warm-and-fuzzy PR efforts to deflect the loathing of their members, but their intentions go well beyond spiffing up their corporate images. In the case of Cigna’s “Cigna University” — part of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign expected to run for several years — the goal is simple, if not exactly subtle:...
Political momentum for a major overhaul of the dysfunctional $2 trillion U.S. healthcare system isn’t limited to recently released congressional white papers, it turns out. Check out today’s portents that suggest President-elect Barack Obama will make an early and significant push to enact sweeping healthcare reforms: Obama’s incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told business...
Healthcare Roundup: Express Scripts Extortion Redux, WellCare Bags Financials, Go Cigna U., and More
Express Scripts clients also face extortion — The big pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts, which warned last week that it faces an extortion attempt from an alleged data thief, isn’t the only one under the gun. Now it says a “small number” of its clients — pharmacies, presumably — have also received letters that threaten the exposure of...
U.S. hospitals posted record profits of 6.9 percent in 2007, continuing a trend that extends back to 2004. In aggregate, the 4,897 community hospitals took in $43 billion more in revenue than they paid out in expenses. So why are they in such bad economic shape today that Moody’s recently lowered its outlook on hospitals to “negative”? First, it’s important to remember that nearly a...
Just one month ago, the conventional wisdom in Washington — here personified by inside-the-Beltway health guru Bob Laszewski — was that the economic crisis and a vast federal bailout package had effectively killed any chance for an overhaul of the nation’s creaky healthcare system. Don’t count on it. Democrats plan to use their control of Congress and the presidency to...
Feds crack down on Medicare Advantage sales commissions — With open enrollment season for Medicare plans about to open on Nov. 15, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have issued new rules governing sales commissions for Medicare Advantage plans. The rules are designed to curb excessive compensation that has allegedly tempted some brokers to “churn” seniors in and...
BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, a new venture-capital arm of several Blue Cross and Blue Shield managed-care organizations, has made its first investment, funneling $5 million into Initiate Systems, which provides a key application for health information exchange. Eleven Blues plans formed the VC fund with the help of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Chicago-based Sandbox...
Healthcare providers aren’t yet jumping onto the bandwagon of personal health records, despite new offerings from the like of Google and Microsoft. Six months ago, when those PHR ventures were being treated like the Second Coming of health care, their executives promised that consumers would eventually be able to upload their medical information from hospitals, physician offices,...
In our final data-snapshot installment for the third quarter, we’ll take a quick look at medical-cost trends among the major health-insurance providers. (Previous Q3 data snapshots include market capitalization and overall membership and membership trends in key segments.) I’d love to be able to report premium trends as well, but most managed-care providers don’t break down...
- Healthcare Industry Has an Amazing Decade
- MGMA Calls For Careful Design and Testing of Meaningful Use
- Healthcare Roundup: Aetna Layoffs, Lakeside Absorbed, ASCs Rake in Profits, Retail Clinics Forecast to Grow, and More
- The House Busts The Budget By Passing a "Doc Fix"
- Grassley's Attack on Reform Belies Some Earlier Stands
- Senate's Unified Reform Bill Owes Much to Finance Committee
- White House Puts Focus On Medicare and Medicaid Fraud
- Hospitals Recovering From Recession Woes
- Doctor Shortage Is Worsening, Say Hospital CEOs
- Interest Groups Redouble Fight on Healthcare Reform
- Kerry Bill Would Help Physicians Borrow Money For EHRs
- Provider Cost Reports Have Little Impact on Consumer Choice
- Hospital Mergers Are A Major Health Cost Driver
- Comparison of Health Reform Bills Reveals Key issues
- New Mexico Information Exchange Shows Potential of Obama HIT Campaign
- More Insurance Competition Will Not Reduce Costs
- Some Health Reform Questions for The President
- Interest Groups Redouble Fight on Healthcare Reform
- NEJM Roundtable on Health Cost Control Offers Insights
- House Health-Care Reform Bill Deserves Public Support
- House Health Reform Bill Does Not Please Many in Health Care
- White House Puts Focus On Medicare and Medicaid Fraud
- No Rationing, Say Experts, But Public Doesn't Hear
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- Healthcare Roundup: Medical Office Space in Demand, Blues Companies See Lower Income, Two Sides of Health Insurance, and More
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- Healthcare Is Still Adding Jobs, Despite Recession
- The Rationing Debate Starts To Heat Up
- Right-Sizing The Physician Workforce
- Physicians Finally Getting Help to Become Medical Homes
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BNET Healthcare provides daily industry trends and news coverage with insights for managers and executives, focusing on major health care providers, hospitals and facilities, insurance companies, and medical device manufacturers. In addition to detailed company profiles, you will find detailed industry analysis on new alliances and partnerships, healthcare products, medical patents, health care cost control, lawsuits, management and board changes, and all other important business issues.