Latest News by DistilINFO on Medicare, Medicaid Health Plans | Medicaid Contract Updates | Medicare Advantage in the Headlines | EHNAC, CARIN Alliance
Sunil Kumar
Founder Member & Chief Managing Editor at DistilNFO Publications / Managing Editor at Omnitalk Retail
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Here you will find the latest news and updates from DistillINFO, our news and information platform for the Payer, Provider, IT
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1 ) Top 10 Highest Performing Medicare, and Medicaid Health Plans
The top-performing Medicare and Medicaid health plans for the 2020-21 plan year earned exceptional quality scores based on the plans’ customer satisfaction, preventive care, and treatment outcomes of beneficiaries, according to the most recent National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) rankings for Medicare health plans and Medicaid health plans.
Each year, NCQA determines which plans in the public payer sector performed the best by aggregating HEDIS scores, NCQA accreditations, and consumer assessments. NCQA uses a one- to five 10 Highest Performing Medicare, Medicaid Health Plans
2) 3 Payer CEOs Among Fortune’s ’50 Most Powerful Women’
Three payer CEOs were named to Fortune’s 2022 “50 Most Powerful Women” list released Oct. 4.
Karen Lynch, CEO of Aetna’s parent company, CVS Health, was ranked No. 1 on the list for the second consecutive year, according to the report. Ms. Lynch has been CVS Health’s CEO since February 2021.
Elevance Health CEO Gail Boudreaux ranked ninth on the list. She has served in her role since November 2017.
Centene CEO Sarah London ranked 39th on the list. She has been the payer’s CEO since March.
3) 7 Medicaid Contract Updates
Molina Healthcare finalized its acquisition of AgeWell New York’s Medicaid-managed long-term care business for $110 million.
Nebraska’s health and human services department picked Molina Healthcare of Nebraska, Centene subsidiary Nebraska Total Care and UnitedHealthcare of the Midlands to administer its Medicaid program.
Texas awarded Centene subsidiary Superior HealthPlan a six-year contract to continue providing health coverage to foster care youths through the state’s Medicaid program.
4) Aetna in the Headlines: 8 Recent Updates
Here are eight recent stories Becker’s has covered about the insurer and its parent company, CVS Health, since Sept. 20:
Aetna Better Health of Florida and Emcara Health will partner to provide value-based primary care to 240,000 Aetna Medicaid members in the Sunshine State.
Aetna Health of California beat a lab’s proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that the payer evaded its obligations to fully cover COVID-19 diagnostic testing, Bloomberg Law reported Oct. 3.
5) Medicare Advantage in the Headlines: 14 Stories to Know
From premium decreases and study findings to star ratings and plan expansions, here are 14 Medicare Advantage stories Becker’s has reported since Sept. 12.
Monthly premiums for Medicare Advantage plans are expected to decrease around 8 percent next year, CMS said Sept. 29. AHIP President Matt Eyles lauded the decrease in a statement.
Cone Health and Novant Health signed an agreement to co-own HealthTeam Advantage — a Medicare Advantage company owned by Cone Health, which will retain a majority stake, Becker’s reported Sept. 29.
1) EHNAC Releases 2023 Health IT Accreditation Criteria for Public Review
The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit health IT standards development organization, has posted new versions of program criteria for its 19 accreditation programs and 3 beta accreditation programs for public review.
The open process for adopting criteria will end on November 28, 2022.
The updates by the EHNAC Criteria Committee include addressing capacity planning and utilization monitoring criteria, as well as upgrades to some criteria within ePAP-EHN.
2) Texas FQHC Selects eClinicalWorks EHR to Optimize Clinical Workflows
CommuniCare, a 22-site federally qualified health center (FQHC), has implemented an eClinicalWorks EHR to improve operational and clinical workflows.
CommuniCare selected the EHR to integrate front-office, back-office, and patient-treatment features.
The FQHC will now have access to patient engagement tools that aim to improve patient satisfaction and convenience while streamlining front-office workflows.
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3) VA Announces Efforts to Address Oracle Cerner EHR Outages
In a joint effort, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Oracle Cerner will launch a series of investigations to identify and fix frequent Oracle Cerner EHR outages, according to reporting from FedScoop.
Earlier this year, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an inspection to assess a safety concern with the new EHR that resulted in patient harm.
One of the concerns with the highest patient safety risk was described as the “unknown queue.”
4) The Joint Commission Joins White House Coalition for SDOH Data Collection
The Joint Commission has joined the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health’s Sync for Social Needs coalition, which aims to improve social determinants of health (SDOH) data collection.
The coalition of leading healthcare organizations and health IT vendors is working to integrate nutrition information within a patient’s EHR using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) data standard
5) EHNAC, CARIN Alliance Announce New Accreditation Program
The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit health IT data standards development organization, has announced a new accreditation program created in partnership with The CARIN Alliance.
The CARIN Code of Conduct Accreditation Program (CCCAP) will encompass the CARIN Code of Conduct and EHNAC’s criteria review process as an effort to support greater trust related to consumer health data access.
1) This Week in Apps: Google Goes Visual, Twitter Copies TikTok, OG App Drama
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.
Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has diminished. But overall, the app economy is continuing to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports.
2) Amazon Axes Glow Video-Calling Device for Kids
Amazon will no longer sell its video-calling device aimed at kids, the company confirmed to CNBC.
At its annual hardware event last September, the online retail giant unveiled a curious-looking product, called Amazon Glow, that combined video calling with games. Kids could video chat with their loved ones, and the device projected graphics that responded to touch.
3) Hacktivists Seek to Aid Iran Protests with Cyberattacks and Tips on how to Bypass Internet Censorship
Anonymous and other global hacking groups are engaged in a multipronged cyber assault on Iran, joining the fight with protesters on the ground in resistance to the country’s strict hijab laws
Thousands of amateur hackers have organized online to orchestrate cyberattacks on Iranian officials and institutions, as well as share tips on how to get around curbs on internet access by using privacy-enhancing tools.
4) Google Answers Meta’s Video-Generating AI with Its Own, Dubbed Imagen Video
Not to be outdone by Meta’s Make-A-Video, Google today detailed its work on Imagen Video, an AI system that can generate video clips given a text prompt (e.g. “a teddy bear washing dishes”).
While the results aren’t perfect — the looping clips the system generates tend to have artifacts and noise — Google claims that Imagen Video is a step toward a system with a “high degree of controllability” and world knowledge, including the ability to generate footage in a range of artistic styles.
5) The Musk Vs. Twitter Trial is Temporarily on Hold as Proposed Deal Looms
Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled that the Elon Musk vs. Twitter trial will be put on hold so that the two parties can work out a deal.
Earlier this week, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO finally agreed to pay $54.20 per share for Twitter, the same $44 billion deal he proposed in April. This afternoon, Musk’s legal team filed to stay the trial, arguing that there’s no reason for the trial to continue since they agreed to make the deal