Blue Cross and Blue Shield news from FierceHealthcare
News
BCBS companies take aggregate 41 percent loss for 2008
It looks like last year was a serious downer for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, which lost a collective 40.9 percent in income for 2008, as compared with the previous year, struggling with... Read more...
RBMs can cause problems for patients
Being a middleman has never been popular. But it appears that radiology benefits managers, or RBMs, really have their work cut out for them. According to a Wall Street Journal article, RBMs, which... Read more...
MI Blues sued by state over acquisition
Michigan's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan over allegations tied to its acquisition of a for-profit worker's compensation firm. In the suit,... Read more...
Deep Medicare cuts expected as Senate fails to rally support
Doctors throughout the country already limit the number of Medicare enrollees they treat because of low reimbursements. Short of a miracle, the cuts likely to go into effect next week will further... Read more...
Blue plans see 18 percent drop in operating earnings for '07
A new analysis by healthcare research and consulting firm the Sherlock Co. found that last year was not a good one for the nation's Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, which lost money despite... Read more...
MA Blue plan, state ban payment for medical errors
In another major blow for this approach, the state of Massachusetts' Medicaid program and the largest health insurer there each announced that they won't pay for a list of "never events." This week,... Read more...
OH plans, providers share pricing and quality information
This week seems to be a big one for transparency. Not only did Cigna roll out its nationwide physician and hospital rankings program nationwide, central Ohio got into the action, too. Anthem Blue... Read more...
ALSO NOTED: Health IT standards progressing; VCs and researchers teaming up to build biotech firms; and much more...
> It's looking like the health IT industry should make significant progress this year in establishing clinical data standards. Read more...
Blue Cross plans push wellness
The nation's fourth largest health insurance company has kicked off an initiative that focuses on using its resources more on patient wellness. Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp., whose... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Remaking the health system, the BCBS way
This week, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association has come out with its own proposal for remaking the healthcare system. Their new report says reforming the system depends on five principles,... Read more...
