Joyner is looking to the future to right the ship while committing to the diversified portfolio of businesses CVS has that include: drugstores and an array of outpatient services and primary care clinics; the Caremark pharmacy benefit management company; and Aetna, which has more than 27 million medical members including more than 4.4 million enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans.
Two Senate leaders have produced bipartisan policy options for advancing site-neutral payment in Medicare. The framework by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is a physician, and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) goes further than site-neutral payment plans that were passed by the House in late 2023. The newly published framework sets the stage for a more expansive version of site-neutral payment to receive consideration in Congress.
The number of Florida resident deaths linked to COVID-19 this year is nearing 5,500, according to data posted on the state Department of Health website. Meanwhile, cases are the lowest since the pandemic began in 2020. The data showed 5,484 deaths had been reported, a total that has steadily increased during the year.
The transition to new ownership for St. Joseph Medical Center in downtown Houston isn't going very smoothly for some hospital employees, who say they didn't receive their paychecks or the correct amount that they earned. In May, Steward Health Care, who previously owned St. Joseph, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a news release, the company wrote that one of the primary factors included 'challenges created by insufficient reimbursement by government payers as a result of decreasing reimbursement rates.'
UnitedHealth Group Inc. systematically cut what it paid for ER visits and mental healthcare to doctors outside of its network, sparking internal tension over how those changes were handled and the potential effect on members, newly unsealed court documents show. The records open a window into the workings of its UnitedHealthcare unit, the largest U.S. health insurer, and shed light on a bitter battle between financial heavyweights in the $5 trillion U.S. medical system.
This week's oral arguments before the Supreme Court in a case involving billions in Medicare payments to hospitals revealed a split among the justices willing to show their cards. The case, Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Becerra, concerns Medicare DSH payments to safety net hospitals. The more than 200 hospitals who brought the case argue that HHS isn't paying them enough because it takes too narrow a view of which patients should be counted toward their payments.