News From Around the Web:
> Cigna has signed a multiyear contract extension with Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, allowing its members to access all of Tenet's 77 hospitals and 190 outpatient centers at in-network costs, reported the San Antonio Business Journal. Article
> Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City has started notifying more than 2,500 of its members that a former employee may have stolen their financial information, including names, addresses and credit card or bank account information, eSecurity Planet reported. Article
> UnitedHealthcare is dropping up to 4 percent of doctors from its Medicare Advantage network in Virginia, effective Aug. 1, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Article
Health Provider News:
> As the Department of Veterans Affairs' inspector general's investigation delves deeper into the alleged wait time cover-up within VA hospitals, the scandal continues to grow to even more facilities and veteran groups across the country. Article
> Sepsis contributes to as many as 50 percent of all U.S. hospital deaths, despite only being present in one in 10 patients, research presented at the American Thoracic Society's annual conference found. Article
Health IT News:
> Healthcare leaders are so caught up in an overwhelming number of federal regulatory mandates that IT leaders "can't do anything else," says Randy McCleese, CIO of St. Claire Regional Medical Center. Article
> Privacy protections aren't keeping up with fitness-tracking apps and devices that collect personal health information and the developers who store and sell the lucrative data. Article
And Finally... Dogs are going to the chapel. Article