Industry Updates
This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.
The nation's most distinguished health agencies fired thousands of probationary workers, starting Feb. 13 and extending into the holiday weekend, in what is becoming informally known among federal workers as the Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was officially sworn in as leader of the nation’s leading public health department, in a ceremony at the White House Thursday. The newly minted Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy has long been a vocal advocate for tackling rising rates of chronic illness in the country. “For 20 years,” he ...
Efforts to improve quality and patient safety have historically focused on the inpatient setting. But as more care moves outside of hospital walls, health systems are beginning to craft structures and processes to better measure and improve safety in ambulatory settings. “We have to focus on outpatient safety because it’s just going to come up ...
CVS Health has named Ed DeVaney as president of its pharmacy benefit manager, CVS Caremark. DeVaney has served as interim president of Caremark since December 2024. The president’s role was vacated when David Joyner took over as CEO of CVS Health in October. CVS said that DeVaney joined the company in 2005 and held roles ...
President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order to establish a Make America Healthy Again Commission, just hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary. Kennedy will chair the task force, focused on investigating the “root causes of America’s escalating health crisis.” First, the commission will ...
As obesity rates rise across the U.S., a new study from UnitedHealthcare and the Health Action Council examines the financial costs that this growing “epidemic” may cause for employers. The report (PDF) notes that 75% of adults in U.S. are either overweight or obese, up from 50% in 1990. Obesity rates grew fastest among younger adults, according ...
Employers and benefits advisors could use a new database to find places where kidney care or diabetes care costs a lot more than it should.
In 2023, U.S. health expenditures surged by 7.5%, reaching $4.9 trillion, or an average of $14,570 per person, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The Trump administration has tasked two top political appointees with monitoring the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to key systems inside the health agency responsible for managing Medicare and Medicaid, according to internal emails obtained by POLITICO. The appointees, Kim Brandt and John Brooks, are leading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ “collaboration” with ...
A lawmaker has brought back a frequently introduced bill that could help workers use their health savings accounts to pay for direct primary care — and this time it might have a decent chance to become law. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., has introduced a version of the Primary Care Enhancement Act for the 119th Congress. Workers can ...