health insurance plans news from FierceHealthcare

This week the country's power players in the health plan, hospital, physician and union world--among others--have come together to propose what could turn out to be an astonishing change. The groups... Read more...

The venerable organization behind the popular Consumer Reports magazine has announced that it's getting into the hospital ratings act. The publisher, Consumers Union, already offers assessments of... Read more...

In theory, physician ratings and rankings aren't as scary as they used to be a few years ago. With activists like New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo helping to spark systematic changes in such... Read more...

The Massachusetts Medical Society has filed suit to stop a scheme under which doctors are ranked using cost and quality metrics by health plans working with an agency overseeing health insurance... Read more...

Increasingly, consumer premiums are going up, along with deductibles. In an effort to fight this trend, some consumers are enrolling in faith-based alternatives to health insurance, under which... Read more...

Hoping to get some control of a situation that is rapidly deteriorating into a series of regulatory fines, lawsuits and heinously bad PR, the health-insurance industry is mounting an initiative to... Read more...

Particularly in California, where denials of coverage have become almost a cottage industry, the individual health insurance market is in trouble. Now, leading health industry trade America's Health... Read more...

A coalition of influential healthcare groups including the National Quality Forum and America's Health Insurance Plans have come together to create a single, consistent national approach to quality... Read more...

> Congress has begun considering a bill giving employers tax credits for providing employee wellness programs. Article

> Coventry Health Care has agreed to pick up Hollywood, Fla.-based Vista Healthplans for $685 million. Article

> A former IT manager with health plan …

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A maverick California cardiologist continues to expand his burgeoning hospital empire, which now stands to challenge some of the biggest chains in the state. While the rapid pace of his acquisition is drawing attention--he's acquired six hospitals during the past year alone--what's really got the industry buzzing is the fact he's canceling all of the hospitals' contracts with health insurance plans.

Dr. Prem Reddy's Prime Healthcare Services now owns eight hospitals in California, …

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