From Health Plan Week - It’s no surprise that health insurers are becoming more consumer-centric as 2014 and the launch of state health exchanges near. But an analysis performed exclusively for HPW of advertising spend shows that insurers not only are boosting their overall advertising budgets, but also are shifting their messaging to the Internet and television with less emphasis on outdoor and radio. Five of the nation’s largest publicly traded health insurers collectively spent $366.8… Read more

From Medicare Advantage News - The Government Accountability Office (GAO), in an April 23 report that drew support from two prominent Republican congressmen, slammed CMS’s star quality bonus demonstration, alleging that it is wasting billions of dollars and is unlikely to yield useful results. Read more

From Report on Medicare Compliance - Some admissions for procedures on the Medicare inpatient-only list are being rejected as medically unnecessary by recovery audit contractors (RACs). That may seem like an oxymoron because Medicare doesn’t pay for procedures on the list unless they are performed on an inpatient basis. Read more