Amazon Cuts Hundreds of Jobs in Their Healthcare Division Amazon Health Services Senior Vice President Neil Lindsay shared in a memo that the company is reallocating resources to focus on innovation and improving customer experiences in its healthcare division. As a result, the corporate giant is eliminating to the several hundred jobs at Amazon Pharmacy […]

Achieving Savings Exceeding $5 Million Through a Self-Funded Health Plan In a time of increasing healthcare costs, Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) managed to save $5 million in health plan costs in 2022 by partnering with Centivo, a health plan provider for self-funded employers. NFM moved away from the traditional care model for its 5,000 employees […]

Cigna Humana Merger Talks Cancelled Cigna and Humana, two major players in the health insurance industry, were in talks for a massive merger that would have created a $140 billion company. However, the negotiations ended prematurely due to a disagreement over the price. Despite both companies recognizing the strategic value of merging and anticipating regulatory […]

Is AI Wrongly Denying UnitedHealthcare Claims? A class-action lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare has been issued for allegedly using an artificial intelligence algorithm, nH Predict, to wrongfully deny coverage under Medicare Advantage health policies. The lawsuit claims that the algorithm was used to override physician recommendations and deny claims for extended-care facility stays for elderly patients. The […]

Indiana Employers Fight High Healthcare Costs A group of employers wanted to learn more about the cost of healthcare and compare it to other states. What they found was that the data wasn’t accessible to them. The group then combined their claims data and sent it to an outside think tank, Rand Corp. which then […]

Employer-Sponsored Insurance Costs to Rise 8.5% Although inflation has influenced other industries, healthcare has remained steady due to multi-year contracts. However, according to a study by consulting firm Aon, medical providers are pushing payers to cover more costs that increased due to the pandemic. This means that employer-sponsored insurance is rising. Employers are expected to […]

Outsourcing to Optum – One Healthcare System’s View Health systems across the country are seeking to reduce costs and increase efficiencies by outsourcing administrative work to UnitedHealth Group’s organization, Optum. Bassett Healthcare Network in rural New York has partnered with Optum for two years and relays the benefits of working with Optum. After an honest […]

Healthcare Cost Increase Projected to Grow 7% Next Year A study conducted by PwC showed that a healthcare cost increase is expected to rise 7% next year due to inflation which is causing providers to seek rate increases from insurers and as pharmaceutical costs increase. As in other industries, labor shortages and high labor costs […]

Rising Medical Costs Raise Flags and Drop Stocks for Health Plans Patients who put off elective surgeries during Covid such as joint replacements are returning for care at a much higher rate than insurers had predicted. This jump has led to a jump in medical costs and a drop in stock prices for groups such […]

Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) Under Fire in Washington For years lawmakers have aimed criticism at pharmaceutical companies for the increasing costs of medications in the United States. However, the cost of prescriptions lies in the lap of three of the largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), OptumRx, Caremark, and Express Scripts. These PBMs also happen to […]