Cigna Subsidiary Evernorth Acquires MDLIVE as Demand for Telehealth Grows Among Insurers and Healthcare Consumers

COVID-19 pandemic has elevated virtual care into the mainstream, creating opportunities to increase access to care, including clinical laboratory testing, and drive down healthcare costs As the COVID-19 pandemic fuels demand for virtual healthcare, Cigna is acquiring telehealth provider MDLIVE in a move that may indicate the insurance giant anticipates virtual visits playing a major role in healthcare delivery going forward. And, with each acquisition within the telehealth space, the need for...

Clinical Lab 2.0 Workshop to Gather Healthcare Stakeholders for a Discussion of COVID-19 and How Medical Laboratories Can Add More Value

This fourth edition of the annual event will be held virtually with free registration for pathologists and clinical laboratory professionals In its fourth year, stakeholders in the clinical laboratory community have promoted thought leadership around the Lab Industry at the Project Santa Fe Foundation’s Clinical Lab 2.0 Workshop. Clinical Lab 2.0 (CL 2.0) which identifies new opportunities for medical labs to add value as the healthcare industry transitions from fee-for-service to value-based...

Whistleblower Lawsuit Alleges Massive Fraud in Cigna Medicare Advantage Plans

A former officer of a Cigna contractor claims the insurer hatched a scheme to submit invalid diagnostic codes and filed the now-unsealed qui tam action in 2017 In a case that could provide a cautionary tale for clinical laboratories, a federal whistleblower lawsuit alleges that Cigna, through its HealthSpring subsidiary, “received billions in overpayments from the federal government” in a scheme involving the insurer’s Medicare Advantage plans. The Qui tam (whistleblower) lawsuit was filed by...

XPRIZE Founder Diamandis Predicts Tech Giants Amazon, Apple, and Google Will Be Doctors of The Future

Strategists agree that big tech is disrupting healthcare, so how will clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups serve virtual healthcare customers? Visionary XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis, MD, sees big tech as “the doctor of the future.” In an interview with Fast Company promoting his new book, “The Future Is Faster Than You Think,” Diamandis, who is the Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, said that the healthcare industry is “phenomenally broken” and that Apple, Amazon,...

Humana’s New Oncology Value-based Care Program Includes Quality and Cost Measurements of Provider Performance, Clinical Laboratories, and Pathology Groups

“Pathologists and medical laboratories may have to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness to stay in the insurer’s networks and get paid for their services In recent years, Medicare officials have regularly introduced new care models that include quality metrics for providers involved in a patient’s treatment. Now comes news that a national health insurer is launching an innovative cancer-care model that includes quality metrics for medical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups...
;