Category: News

February 19, 2026

Hayley DeSilva

It’s been two years since a cyberattack against Change Healthcare roiled healthcare, exposing data on 190 million consumers and demonstrating the vulnerabilities of an industry so reliant on one vendor.

The Feb. 21, 2024, attack by ransomware group BlackCat forced UnitedHealth Group, Change Healthcare’s parent company, to disable functions including claims processing, prescription management, payment, prior authorization and insurance verification. Chaos ensued as critical functions ground to a halt.

February 10, 2026

Bridget Early

Doctors want more money from Medicare and more ways to get it, medical societies told House members developing plans to overhaul the payment system.

In December, the GOP Doctors Caucus and the Congressional Doctors Caucus, a Democratic group, invited organizations representing physicians to weigh in on a potential successor to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS.

February 03, 2026

Michael McAuliff

After more than two years of trying, Congress finally passed significant healthcare legislation Tuesday featuring new rules on pharmacy benefit managers and a measure of certainty for telehealth and hospital-at-home providers.

The legislation funds most of the federal government, including the Health and Human Services Department, and provides $4.6 billion for community health centers this year.

January 28, 2026

Nona Tepper

The hill Medicare Advantage insurers have been climbing to regain peak profitability just turned into a mountain.

Leading carriers such as UnitedHealth Group subsidiary UnitedHealthcare and Humana got a shock Monday when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed virtually flat Medicare Advantage payments next year — not the bigger raise Wall Street expected — along with limits on tactics that have boosted revenue at taxpayer expense.

December 30, 2025

Joyce Famakinwa
Lauren Dubinsky

The Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday temporarily extended a rule allowing clinicians to prescribe controlled medications remotely through the end of 2026.

The rule, which will take effect Thursday, gives clinicians the ability to remotely prescribe Schedule II-V controlled medications to patients. This latest extension marks the fourth time the rule has been renewed since it was implemented at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Noah Tong

December 17, 2025

Some very big health insurance companies and a bevy of startups are striving to win over employers vexed by rising health benefit costs with new plan designs.

Alternative health plans such as variable copayment plans that favor certain in-network providers and individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements, better known as ICHRAs, may appeal to businesses that expect healthcare costs to continue accelerating and are reconsidering their employee benefits. A significant share of employers has adopted these models already.

Alex Kacik

December 10, 2025

The Federal Trade Commission sent a letter this fall to some of the largest for-profit health systems and staffing firms, including HCA Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Universal Health Services, warning them to ensure any employment contracts aren’t restricting competition and access to care.

In September, the FTC said it sent warning letters to several large healthcare employers and staffing firms but did not specify the number or the recipients. The agency recently disclosed the 19 companies to Modern Healthcare in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

November 20, 2025

By Nona Tepper

Promising signs for “public option” health plans sold on state health insurance exchanges spell bad news for providers, who say they’re squeezed by low reimbursements.

Colorado and Washington are the only states that have government-sponsored — but privately administered — public options on their marketplaces. Nevada is set to join them soon and other states may follow. Public option enrollment climbed on Connect for Health Colorado and Washington Healthplanfinder during the open enrollment period that ended Jan. 15, the states reported.

October 31, 2025

Bridget Early

Doctors who treat Medicare beneficiaries are getting a 2.5% raise next year under a regulation the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued Friday.

The 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule implements provisions from the tax law President Donald Trump enacted in July, which mandated a pay hike and reversed a multiyear trend of reimbursement cuts. CMS also spells out its plans for an “efficiency adjuster” that will reduce some payments, a lower back pain and heart failure payment model, and new flexibilities for telehealth coverage.

“The actions we are taking will improve seniors’ access to high-quality, preventive care that will help them to live longer, healthier lives,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a news release.

October 24, 2025

Nona Tepper

Elevance Health has notified healthcare facilities they face penalties for assigning out-of-network clinicians to its members.

Starting Jan. 1, hospitals and other inpatient and outpatient facilities must ensure that all providers involved in care for members of Elevance Health’s Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial plans in 11 states are under contract with the insurer, Anthem said in a notice.

Facilities that don’t comply may be assessed administrative penalties equivalent to 10% of the allowed amounts payable under the claims in question, and may be terminated from Anthem networks. Facilities are not permitted to pass the cost of administrative penalties on to patients.