Revenue Cycle and Payer News 8-5-2020

Collaboration News:

Humana and Heal Announce National Partnership to Transform Home Care for Medicare Advantage Members and Others
Humana Inc. (@humana) and Heal, a company offering in-home, comprehensive primary care, announced a broad strategic partnership including a $100 million investment from Humana, bringing primary care to the home through house calls and one-touch telemedicine.

Big Blue Cross Plan And Epic In Deal To Improve Doctor-Insurer Information Exchange
Health Care Service, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield (@BCBSAssociation) plans in five states, said the health insurer and Epic have signed an agreement that will “create a secure, interconnected and efficient health system and information exchange between insurers, providers, and patients.”

Contract News:

Doctors HealthCare Plans, Inc. Selects Edifecs Hosted Encounter Management Solution
Edifecs, Inc. (@Edifecs), a global health information technology solutions company, announced that it has been selected by Doctors HealthCare Plans, Inc. to implement its hosted Encounter Management for SMB (small and mid-tier) solution designed specifically for managed care plans operating in Medicare Advantage and/or within managed Medicaid lines of business.

Financial News:

Cohere Health raises $10MM in Series A funding to drive adoption of highly collaborative approach with the patient as the focal point
Cohere Health (@CohereHealth) has announced its company launch, with the mission of aligning the relationship between physicians and health plans around the care journey in a way that is appropriate for each patient. By leveraging its innovative technology platform that encourages transparent, high-value care alignment across an entire patient journey instead of individual service transactions, Cohere Health aims to improve the quality of care delivered, lower total cost of care, and transform the patient and physician experience.

UnitedHealth Group Continues Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Reports Second Quarter Performance
During the second quarter of 2020, UnitedHealth Group (@uhc) expanded its COVID-19 response efforts, proactively supporting patients, customers, care providers and communities, including investing in outreach programs and clinical innovations to address the urgent needs of underserved communities disproportionately impacted by the disease.

Rapid Growing Agent Force Joins Integrity Marketing Group to Accelerate Expansion
Integrity Marketing Group, LLC , a distributor of life and health insurance products, announced the acquisition of Agent Force, an insurance marketing organization (IMO) headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia. Agent Force is an independently owned affiliate and longtime marketing partner of Family First Life (“FFL”), an Integrity platform partner. As part of the acquisition, John Wetmore, President of Agent Force and a Family First Life Board Member, will become an owner in Integrity. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cigna Expands Stakeholder and Community Support, Reports Second Quarter 2020 Performance
Global health service company Cigna Corporation (@cigna) continues to expand stakeholder and community support and today reported second quarter 2020 performance.

Aetna Medicare waives out-of-pocket costs for telehealth services
Aetna, a CVS Health company (@cvshealth), will waive out-of-pocket costs for in-network primary care and specialist telehealth visits for all Individual and Group Medicare Advantage plan members through September 30, 2020.

Anthem Reports Second Quarter Results, Reaffirms Commitment to Stakeholders During COVID-19 Pandemic
Against the backdrop of the ongoing pandemic, Anthem, Inc. (@AnthemInc) has continued to take bold steps to directly support its health plan members, customers, care providers, associates, and local communities.

Product News:

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Specialty Business Announces New Voluntary Virtual Support Tools to Help Employers and Brokers with Remote Open Enrollment Process
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) announced the launch of a comprehensive, member-focused open enrollment option for Voluntary products during a time of limited face-to-face meeting. Dedicated Voluntary virtual support tools are now available to help employers and brokers customize and coordinate enrollment in Voluntary products through new no-contact options as more employees are working remotely.

Oscar Launches New $0 Virtual Primary Care as Part of 2021 Expansion Plans
Oscar (@OscarHealth), the first tech-driven health insurance company, announced plans to launch its new $0 Virtual Primary Care product and expand to a total of 19 states and 47 markets in 2021. The company will offer health insurance to individuals and families in four new states and 19 new markets during the upcoming Open Enrollment period, pending regulatory approvals.

Walmart forms insurance agency
Walmart Inc. has formed an insurance agency in Texas that will sell Medicare-related products and services, broadening its foray into the health care business.

To Read:

Trump Administration’s Rebate Rule Will Raise Drug Costs for Seniors and Taxpayers
Matt Eyles, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (@ahipcoverage), issued this statement following the Administration’s release of an Executive Order that would direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary to finalize the drug pricing “rebate rule.” Additionally, Eyles discusses how AHIP and some of the organization’s members are addressing systemic racism.

Making the Cut:

CareSource Recognized as One of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare in 2020
CareSource (@caresource) has been selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the 2020 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. This marks the fifth time the organization has been recognized with this award. The complete list of this year’s winners, in alphabetical order, is available at ModernHealthcare.com/bestplaceslist. Modern Healthcare will publish a special supplement featuring a ranked list of all the winners along with the October 12 issue.