Report: UnitedHealth pulls out of Athenahealth bid
UnitedHealthcare and Cerner have pulled out of the bidding process for EHR vendor Athenahealth, sources told the New York Post Thursday.
The insurer was reportedly among those that were in the second round of bidding to acquire the company. Their departure leaves activist investor Elliot Management and Bain Capital as the likely winners, according to the Post. Elliot pressured Athenahealth to go private beginning late last year and ramped up the pressure in May with public letters to the company. Athenahealth CEO and founder Jonathan Bush was forced out in June.
UnitedHealth declined to comment to FierceHealthcare. A Cerner spokesperson said the company has “nothing to share about this matter.” (New York Post)
AHIP backs criminal penalties for illegal sober home payments
The nation’s largest insurer lobbying group is throwing its weight behind a bill that would establish criminal penalties for anyone that refers substance abuse patients to fraudulent sober homes for financial gain.
Some areas of the country—like Florida—have seen a rapid increase of “body brokers” that target vulnerable patients and steer them to sober homes. In a letter to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., America’s Health Insurance Plans backed a bill sponsored by the two senators that would create criminal penalties for body brokers.
“These ‘sober homes’ are often associated with clinicians or treatment centers that do not provide evidence-based addiction treatment, frequently bill excessively and unnecessarily for urine drug screening tests, and may be fraudulently billing multiple insurers for a single patient’s services,” President Matt Eyles wrote. (AHIP)
BCBS Tennessee halts OxyContin coverage
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee will stop covering OxyContin prescriptions beginning next year, according to the Tennessean.
Instead, the insurer will cover two other opioid pain relievers: Xtampza and Morphabond. BCBS Tennessee disclosed the change to insurance brokers on Thursday.
“We are not telling our physicians you cannot prescribe this. We are not telling our members you cannot receive this,” said Natalie Tate, BlueCross vice president of pharmacy. “We are just drawing a line that we will not continue to pay for this and we have alternatives we have now put into place.” (Tennessean)