Maine became the first state to approve Medicaid expansion at the ballot box. Despite 59 percent of voters approved of expansion, Gov. Paul LePage has taken several steps which have stalled its implementation.

Envision had sued the insurer in March, alleging UnitedHealthcare “unilaterally” negotiated payment rates and failed to add Envision physicians to its network after the acquisition of AmSurg in 2016. UnitedHealthcare argued Envision’s emergency room billing practices were “egregious,” but also said the lawsuit itself was a violation of the arbitration provision in their contract.

CMS published several of its annual proposed Medicare payment rules on Friday afternoon, covering a slew of facilities like nursing homes, hospices, inpatient rehabilitation and psychiatric hospitals. As predicted, the proposed rule also included regulatory changes in line with CMS initiatives on reducing administrative burden and granting patients easier access to their own data.

In states that choose to utilize federal grants for the pilot program, those who don’t want coverage would have to actively opt out of plans within 60 days.

If the first quarter of the year is any indication, the frantic pace of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among hospitals won’t be slowing down in 2018. Thirty transactions were announced between January 1 and March 31, an 11 percent increase over the same period in 2017, according to Kaufman Hall.

In 1999, Amazon bought a 46 percent stake in Drugstore.com and began marketing its products on the Amazon site. Once hailed as “a likely gold mine,” the venture never turned a profit after running into problems with regulations, logistics and the existing pharmacy benefit managers that already dominated the market.

Fewer quality measures, a shorter reporting period for Meaningful Use requirements and an increase in uncompensated rate payments were all positives in the eyes of hospitals in their initial reaction to the proposed 2019 Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) rule.

Healthcare real estate investor Welltower has announced it will acquire the outstanding shares of Quality Care Properties and form a joint venture with Toledo, Ohio-based health system ProMedica for the real estate holdings of QCP tenants HCR ManorCare and Arden Courts.