For those of you who know me, I like to have fun with my Zoom backgrounds – choosing photos of interesting scenery or changing them mid-call to reflect my mood or negotiating strategy. Sitting in front of my computer this...more
Sitting in the dark before 6 am in my Los Angeles house with my face lit up by yet another Zoom screen, wearing a stylish combination of sweatpants, dress shirt and last year’s JPM conference badge dangling around my neck for...more
Health Plans’ Use of Policies and Guidelines to Reduce Coverage and Reimbursement - A technique we have seen payers use more commonly in recent months than in the past is to unilaterally implement policies or “clinical...more
The District of Columbia federal court recently ruled that a proposed $37 billion merger between health insurance giants Aetna and Humana cannot proceed, granting the US Department of Justice’s bid to block the combination on...more
Judge John Bates of the US District Court for DC has blocked a proposed $37 billion mega-health-care-merger between Aetna and Humana, one of 2 major deals before the courts opposed by the Obama-era DOJ over antitrust...more
Humana Medical Plan, Inc. v. Western Heritage Insurance Co., case number 15-11436. Liability insurers beware, as the 11th Circuit held that Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAO) are entitled to the same rights...more
On August 8, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided an issue of first impression in the circuit under the Medicare Secondary Payer (MSP) Act. In sum, the Eleventh Circuit held that a Medicare Advantage Organization...more
Consolidation in health insurance markets can injure hospitals and doctors by creating buyer-side market power that can force providers to accept below-market prices, limit patients’ access to care, and reduce innovation in...more
While the Department of Justice Antitrust Division is responsible for reviewing the proposed Anthem/Cigna and Aetna/Humana mergers for any potential competitive concerns, Congress jumped into the process with both feet in...more
In the wake of Anthem’s proposed acquisition of Cigna and Aetna’s proposed acquisition of Humana, providers are lining up to be heard. Take the American Medical Association (AMA), for example, which is urging federal and...more
In the last few months, several of the largest commercial health insurers in the nation have announced their intentions to merge. First, Aetna (currently the nation’s third largest health insurer by revenue) announced its...more
Since the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) was enacted in 2010, the health care industry has been on the edge of its proverbial seat waiting to see which care delivery models are best suited to sustain all the changes: to...more
When one big industry sues another we learn a lot about how business as usual is conducted. In this case Humana, a giant health insurer, has sued the medical device company Medtronic, maker of the Infuse bone graft. ...more
On July 22, 2013, the Administrative Review Board (ARB) of the Department of Labor (DOL) held that a network participation agreement entered into by Florida Hospital with Humana Military Health Services (HMHS) for the...more