UnitedHealthcare to eliminate most prior authorizations for rural providers
UnitedHealthcare is building on its work to support rural hospitals, and will now exempt these facilities from most prior authorizations.
Read full article →Drug Coverage
Latest Drug Coverage news from across the web.
CVS, Mass General Brigham primary care deal would increase annual care spending by $40M, report predicts
A "conservative" preliminary estimate from a Massachusetts watchdog agency acknowledged likely access gains from a pending MinuteClinic affiliation deal, but said the major health system's higher prices would substantially boost commercial healthcare spending.
Read full article →Chutes & Ladders—Blue Shield of California names chief pharmacy officer; ChristianaCare CEO to retire
Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Read full article →Physician burnout falls for third year in 2025 to 42%, AMA data shows
Specialties reporting the highest levels of burnout include emergency medicine, urological surgery and radiology while the lowest rates of burnout were reported among infectious diseases, nephrology and dermatology.
Read full article →A look inside Highmark and Spring Health's mental well-being partnership
Just over two years ago, Highmark joined forces with Spring Health to launch a new mental well-being platform that made it far easier for members to access critical services. Now, the partners are offering a look at how that program has worked for members.
Read full article →Amazon One Medical launches GLP-1 program integrated with primary care
Patients can take advantage of the GLP-1 management program through their One Medical primary care clinician. Medications are available for quick delivery to all 50 states, with nearly 3,000 cities having same-day delivery available.
Read full article →RFK Jr. continues congressional hearing appearances to talk White House budget plan
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions, his latest in a string of congressional hearings.
Read full article →Elevance Health seeing shift to bronze tier in ACA plans
Elevance Health is raising its guidance for 2026 even as its Q1 profits declined year-over-year.
Read full article →Community Health Systems attributes Q1 volumes stumble to consumers' macroeconomic fears, payers' prior auth denials
Same-store admissions and adjusted admissions respectively declined 1.3% and 0.5% year over year. Executives pointed to cross-market dropoffs among patients with high-deductible and managed care plans.
Read full article →Why UnitedHealth Group is betting big on doulas
Fierce Senior Writer Paige Minemyer speaks with Catherine Anderson of UnitedHealth Group about why the insurer is expanding doula support nationwide and what that could mean for maternal and infant health outcomes across the U.S.
Read full article →CMS delays Part D GLP-1 model amid skepticism from insurers
The Trump administration is delaying a voluntary model that aimed to expand access to GLP-1s in Part D after pushback from insurers.
Read full article →Oak HC/FT backs Courier Health's $50M series B to build out AI for the biopharma patient experience
Courier Health raised $50 million in series B funding to scale its AI-powered platform purpose-built for biopharma that manages the end-to-end patient journey.
Read full article →