Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Clear Poised To Break Into Health Care Industry With Facial Recognition Tech
Modern Healthcare: Clear Aims To Speed Up Prior Authorizations Amid Privacy Concerns
Clear, the digital identity verification company best known for helping travelers speed through airports, has set its sights on healthcare as the next market for its facial recognition technology. The company is working with a handful of hospitals and plans to pitch insurers to use the technology to expedite claim approvals and prior authorizations. It will have to get past skeptics' concerns about the data privacy of its program, which requires users to take a live photo that is matched against government-issued identification stored by the user on Clear's platform. (DeSilva, 10/22)
Stat: Fines For HIPAA Violations Max Out At $2 Million. That Could Change
Linda Barbour thought she was more interested in the Change Healthcare cyberattack than most. Having worked as a medical director for several large health insurance companies and having suffered through the Change fiasco herself as a rehab doctor with a private practice in Kansas City, she figured that if her data had been exposed in that February breach, she would have been notified by now. (Trang, 10/23)
Also —
Reuters: Insurer Centene Sues US Over Downgrade In Medicare 'Star' Rating
Health insurance company Centene accused U.S. regulators of unfairly downgrading the star ratings for its government-funded Medicare plans in a lawsuit on Tuesday. The company alleged in its complaint, filed in St. Louis, Missouri, federal court, that the lower ratings would cause it to lose customers and up to $73 million in gross revenue, which could be used to reduce premiums and increase benefits for its members. (Pierson, 10/22)
The Boston Globe: Children’s, UMass, Tenet Patients May Be Forced To Find New Doctors Or Insurance Plans
At least 22,000 Massachusetts residents will soon lose access to their primary care doctors and specialists at Boston Children’s Hospital and UMass Memorial Health in Worcester because their insurer, Point32Health, was unable to negotiate a new contract with the health systems. And the number of patients scrambling could grow soon to nearly 40,000 because Point32Health, the state’s second-largest insurer, is also at an impasse with a third health system, Tenet Healthcare, the for-profit owner of three hospitals in the Worcester and Framingham areas. (Saltzman and Gerber, 10/22)
Crain's New York Business: CarePoint Health, Hudson Regional Hospital Move Forward On Merger
CarePoint Health in Jersey City is advancing a planned merger with other hospitals in a bid to save its struggling finances, despite a legal battle that almost severed its lifeline, according to reports. CarePoint Health’s board of trustees greenlit its planned affiliation with Hudson Regional Hospital in a meeting last week, according to a report published in Becker’s Hospital Review on Monday. (D'Ambrosio, 10/22)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Mercy Unveils New Partnership With Health Plan Centivo
Mercy, one of the largest health systems in St. Louis region and in the U.S., announced Tuesday it has teamed up with health insurance plan Centivo as its contract with Anthem Blue Cross is set to expire at the end of the year. (Munz, 10/22)
Modern Healthcare: Providence, Compassus Form Home Care Joint Venture
Home care provider Compassus will take over management of Providence’s home-based care services through a joint venture the two companies announced Tuesday. Under the arrangement, Brentwood, Texas-based Compassus would manage and jointly own Providence’s home health, hospice, community-based palliative care and private duty nursing services under the name Providence at Home with Compassus, the companies said in a news release. (Eastabrook, 10/22)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada’s First Stand-Alone Children’s Hospital Coming To Las Vegas
Nevada’s first stand-alone children’s hospital is coming to the Las Vegas Valley. Intermountain Health unveiled the site of its future stand-alone children’s hospital on Wednesday at UNLV’s Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in the southwest valley, according to a news release. (Lane, 10/22)
