"Health & Medical News"

California insurance regulators ordered the state Blues to stop using “confidentiality agreements” they said deprive physicians and hospitals of their rights to fair representation during contract negotiations. But doctors worry the cease-and-desist order the state Dept. of Managed Health Care issued Nov. 1 does not go far enough.

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An agreement that was struck between a health plan and regulators in New York won’t stop insurers’ use of physician rankings, but it might make them more acceptable to doctors.

Cigna and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office on Oct. 29 struck an agreement that requires the insurer to submit to the state the rating criteria it plans to use to place doctors in tiered networks, in which members pay a lower co-pay or otherwise get discounts for seeing favored physicians. Cigna is one of many health plans that have received letters from Cuomo’s office stating that its physician-rankings plan might be misleading to consumers because, in part, it appeared to focus on cost more than quality.

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Statement of CALPIRG Health Care Advocate Emily Clayton on the prescription drug discount agreement

“CALPIRG is pleased to join a broad coalition of organizations representing consumers, seniors, working families and communities of color in supporting SB 1702 and AB 2911 by Senator Perata and Speaker N??ez. This legislation is a crucial step forward in the ongoing fight to bring affordable medicine to all Californians.

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Popularity: 5% [?]