News
In a change of course that left a city and its healthcare community stunned, West Penn Allegheny Health System in late September announced it would look for a new buyer for the financially strapped health system saying insurer Highmark had breached its 2011 agreement to acquire it for $475 million.
During the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) annual conference in Bethesda, Md. in September, the agency announced its preliminary findings of its nationwide patient safety project to reduce the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs).
As it looks to both reduce out-of-pockets costs for employees, while also lowering its total healthcare costs, global retailer Walmart announced last month a new program that will pay 100 percent of the costs for certain spine and cardiac surgeries plus travel expenses at six selected healthcare systems across the country.
Massachusetts has tentatively selected six organizations to participate in a three-year, capitated payment model demonstration for dual eligible patients.
The global market for the genetic testing that precedes in vitro fertilization is estimated to be worth $31.9 million in 2011 and is expected to reach $47.4 million in 2018, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.2 percent from 2013 to 2018, said a recent report from Transparency Market Research.
Humana Inc.'s third quarter earnings call was filled with more than just financial results Monday, as it also announced the acquisition of three companies as the company looks to continue building its clinical delivery infrastructure.
Humana Inc. on Monday announced third quarter 2012 earnings of $2.62 per share that were slightly lower than its earnings for $2.67 for the same period last year. Nonetheless, the company's third quarter performance beat both the company's internal guidance and bettered by a sizable margin Wall Street analyst estimates of $2.05 for the quarter.
Kaiser Permanente has named Bernard J. Tyson as its new CEO and chairman. Tyson will take the reins from current CEO and chairman George Halvorson when he retires in December 2013.
With 20 percent of the state uninsured, Nevada's state exchange is aiming to offer affordable coverage and be financially self-sustaining, while neighboring California takes bids for its HIX, and insurers and state officials await a post-election rule-making flood from Washington.
A RAND Corporation study, released Monday in the November issue of Health Affairs, found that physicians with less than 10 years of experience had 13.2 percent higher overall costs than physicians with 40 or more years of experience.