Humana faces class action lawsuit for denying claims
Humana faces class action lawsuit for denying claims
Plus: That Cigna / Humana merger is off
Good morning and happy Friday. Welcome to the Friday Pulse Check from Fulcrum Strategies.
In the news:
The Cigna / Humana merger is off
Cigna has ended its attempted negotiations to merge with rival health insurance company Humana. The original news sent both stocks plunging, but Humana’s recovered by the end of the week. Instead Cigna said it is opting for a $10,000,000,000 (billion) stock buyback. Read more in Reuters.
LIVE Cigna stock price: CI 0.00%↑
LIVE Humana stock price: HUM 0.00%↑
Ron and I discussed what a Cigna / Humana merger could mean for patients and practices on the FLATLINING Podcast last week:
Humana faces class action lawsuit over Medicare Advantage denials
Since Humana wasn’t in on the fun yet like Cigna or UnitedHealthcare, a lawsuit was filed against them this week alleging that they used artificial intelligence based tool to wrongfully deny Medicare Advantage claims. Funnily enough, it appears that tool is owned by UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. According to the lawsuit, 90% of denials that are appealed are overturned. Read more in Becker’s Payer Issues.
LIVE UnitedHealth Group stock price: UNH 0.00%↑
Other articles of interest:
Healthcare spending hit $4.5 trillion in 2022 - Axios
New York finalizes removal of medical debt from credit reports - AP
Related:
Poison control centers see 1500% increase in calls related to weight loss drugs - CNN.
California Watch: Rift between CDC and Cal/OSHA widens as the government agencies split over N95 masks - The San Francisco Chronicle via Microsoft Start
HIPAA Violation of the Week: Six recent lawsuits and settlements - Becker’s Hospital Review
You may have noticed that we had no new episode of the FLATLINING Podcast this week. That is because we have entered our winter break for the program.
Have no fear, however. Starting next week we will be sharing the top three of our best and most listened to episodes of 2023.
If you’ve been unsure about which episode to send to a friend, these “best ofs” are a great way to get them hooked on our podcast. Go ahead and share one (or all) of the links below with them. And remember: you can now listen to us on YouTube as well.
Subscribe to the FLATLINING Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the iHeartRadio app, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pandora, TuneIn, and Audible.
Listen on YouTube: Youtube.com/@fulcrumstrategies
This may also be the last Friday Pulse Check of 2023. If it is, I want pre-emptively thank everyone on the Fulcrum Strategies team who has supported this weekly e-newsletter and thank all of you for reading and sharing it. It means a lot to us at Fulcrum Strategies that you are turning to our understanding and expertise of the challenges that practices and physician groups are facing in today’s world. Thank you.
Have a good weekend,
Matthew