Here’s how much insurers are cutting Medicare Advantage plans for 2027

The Latest

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  Healthcare workers battle persistent long COVID: study

  Long COVID represents another blow to a healthcare workforce already grappling with burnout and staffing shortages, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

  Hospitals

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  Sponsored by R1

  Why utilization management is one of healthcare AI’s hardest problems

  Inside healthcare AI's toughest challenge: Predicting reimbursement before denials occur.

  Health IT

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  340B hospitals lag behind peers in charity care spending: report

  The findings add new fodder for critics who say 340B has ballooned out of control with no corresponding benefit to patients. One hospital group called the report “another in a long line of misleading studies.”

  Hospitals

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  Threat groups ramp up social-engineering attacks against healthcare sector

  Hackers linked to high-profile cybercrime groups have used voice-phishing tactics to trick workers into giving up their credentials.

  Health IT

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  FDA nominee Overton parries vaccine questions at Senate hearing

  Pressed by lawmakers on Thursday, Trump’s pick as the next FDA chief said she’d “follow the law” on key decisions and work to speed early drug research.

  Government

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  AI will inflate healthcare costs before lowering them, Oz says

  AI will “turbocharge” medical billing and drive up costs in the short term, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz warned Wednesday. But he said the pain is worth it for long-term savings.

  Payer

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  Health execs want strong returns on IT investments

  Tools that target revenue cycle management are attracting attention — and investment dollars — from providers, while payers are buying tech focused on utilization management, according to a new survey.

  Health IT

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  MedPAC chair defends Medicare Advantage overpayment analysis at insurer lobby event

  Amid growing public debate over how best to analyze spending in MA versus traditional Medicare, Dr. Amol Navathe, the leader of the group behind the most-cited estimate, stepped into the lion’s den to support its work.

  Payer

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  UnitedHealth names first chief administrative officer

  Jodee Kozlak, a veteran of major multinational corporations, will join UnitedHealth this coming Monday to modernize and align the healthcare behemoth’s operations across its various businesses.

  Payer

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  Deep Dive

  Telerobotic surgery is advancing around the world. Will the US embrace it?

  Medtech companies are preparing for a day when telesurgery, performed by a surgeon often hundreds of miles from the patient, could become a viable option for more people.

  Health IT

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  Oz: Medicare Advantage a garden ‘vulnerable to weeds and overgrowth’

  The CMS administrator’s comments Tuesday at an MA industry event suggest that the Trump regime remains interested in tougher oversight of the program, despite watering down or scrapping some of its biggest proposed reforms.

  Payer

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  Colorado judge: Doctor’s burnout wasn’t a disability

  The Americans with Disabilities Act and related federal laws define disability broadly, but recent federal court decisions demonstrate the statute’s limits.

  Hospitals

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  Trump administration sets preliminary cuts to Medicare lab reimbursement rates

  The American Clinical Laboratory Association warned the steep annual payment cuts threaten patient access to critical lab testing services.

  Government

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  CMS freezes new ACA broker registrations for 2027, culls ‘unauthorized’ enrollees

  The agency said the pause would help crack down on fraud among new brokers on the exchanges. It also announced on Tuesday it would cancel the enrollments of more than 760,000 people.

  Payer

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  New lawsuit targets Medicaid work requirements’ medical frailty rules

  The new lawsuit, filed on behalf of five Medicaid enrollees and a swath of provider groups, says the CMS narrowed exemptions for those too sick to fulfill upcoming work requirements in the safety-net insurance program.

  Payer

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  Hackensack Meridian Health CEO to retire next year

  The board of New Jersey's largest health system will begin a national search for its next CEO, with plans to name a successor by the end of the first quarter of 2027.

  Hospitals

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  Texas hospitals sue Independence Blue Cross over denied claims

  Despite a $2.8 billion settlement over BlueCard program disputes, five HCA-affiliated hospitals say the program still traps them in red tape.

  Payer

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  A hidden tradeoff in Trump’s MFN drug deals

  The government has announced pricing agreements with 26 pharma companies. But the deals could stymie other plans to lower the country’s drug spend.

  Government

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  Judge approves CVS unit Omnicare’s bankruptcy plan

  The plan should make all Omnicare creditors, including the Department of Justice, whole.

  Payer

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  Mayo Clinic, Thermo Fisher partner to create biomedical database

  The health system and Thermo Fisher will create a company called Precure to generate population-scale molecular data to inform development of diagnostics, therapies and other healthcare products.

  Hospitals

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  Ascension sells ownership in Arizona Medicaid plan to Aetna

  The sale lets Ascension shed insurance risk while Aetna gains a stake in a profitable plan serving high-margin dual-eligible members.

  Hospitals

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  Q&A

  Why HaloMD became a target — and what its top lobbyist says critics get wrong

  Patrick Velliky is confident the No Surprises Act is lowering out-of-network spending, despite research to the contrary. HaloMD’s chief external affairs officer responds to criticisms of his analysis, and of his company.

  Hospitals

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  CVS Aetna streamlines cancer prior authorizations

  The insurer is bundling preapprovals for all types of cancer care into one upfront request in a bid to cut back on paperwork for doctors.

  Payer

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  Broadband still a barrier to telehealth adoption, study finds

  About 12 million Americans can’t access telehealth because broadband is unavailable or slow, according to new research. Most live in rural areas, which experts say could benefit heavily from better access to virtual care.

  Telehealth

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  Insurance doesn’t protect US adults from medical debt, Commonwealth Fund finds

  One-third of privately insured adults have unpaid debt to a healthcare provider, illustrating how medical debt isn't limited to uninsured people or those facing major medical emergencies.

  Payer

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  Healthcare’s agentic AI boom is outpacing governance: report

  Patient safety could be at risk if agentic AI tools are rolled out without proper guardrails, Imprivata’s chief medical and growth officer warns.

  Health IT

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