Economics

This channel highlights factors that impact hospital and healthcare economics and revenue. This includes news on healthcare policies, reimbursement, marketing, business plans, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain, salaries, staffing, and the implementation of a cost-effective environment for patients and providers.

Barriers to utilizing diabetes devices

With the growing number of diabetes devices on the market, including insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, patients are taking control of their diabetes. Just how interested patients are and what barriers these devices must overcome to reach patients is unknown. A recent study, published in Diabetes Care, identifies the barriers diabetes devices face and which patients use them.

UnitedHealth being sued for Medicare Advantage fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice has joined a whistleblower lawsuit against UnitedHealth, alleging the insurer improperly received billions of dollars through Medicare Advantage.

Monitoring physical activity gives patients a pep in their step

Maintaining a level of physical activity is key in not only preventing the rise of obesity but also many chronic diseases. A recent study led by researcher from the American Cancer Society, and published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, showed that continuously assessments of physical activity during visits to the physician could lower rates of chronic diseases.

Healthcare spending projected to make up almost 20% of U.S. economy by 2026

Health expenditures in the U.S. are expected to grow by an average of 5.6 percent annually through 2025, driven by rising medical prices that won’t be offset by slower growth in other areas.

Thumbnail

Dueling lawsuits: Cigna wants $15 billion from Anthem; Anthem claims ‘sabotage’ of $54 billion merger

After their proposed merger was blocked by a federal judge, insurers Anthem and Cigna now have new opponents in court: each other.

Thumbnail

Humana exiting ACA exchanges, individual market in 2018

Humana will be leaving all Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges and withdraw all its business from the individual insurance market in 2018, becoming the first major insurer to make a full exit amid uncertainty about the law’s future. 

Anthem files for expedited appeal of decision blocking Cigna merger

Anthem is asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to rush the appeals process as it tries to reverse a lower court’s ruling blocking its $54 million of acquisition of Cigna.

Thumbnail

Aetna, Humana officially kill merger

Health insurers Aetna and Humana have mutually ended their $37 billion merger agreement two weeks after a federal judge blocked the deal on antitrust grounds. 

Around the web

The tirzepatide shortage that first began in 2022 has been resolved. Drug companies distributing compounded versions of the popular drug now have two to three more months to distribute their remaining supply.

The 24 members of the House Task Force on AI—12 reps from each party—have posted a 253-page report detailing their bipartisan vision for encouraging innovation while minimizing risks. 

Merck sent Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, an upfront payment of $112 million to license a new investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist. There could be many more payments to come if certain milestones are met.