The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continues its efforts to curb the use of provider taxes as directed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA, H.R. 1). In a proposed rule issued last week, CMS announced it would go beyond...Arizona News
The Department of Health and Human Services has appealed a federal court ruling that struck down portions of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rule restricting enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans, siding with Pima County and a coalition of cities and advocacy groups.
In addition to the Arizona county, the cities of...Arizona News
AHCCCS has released two grant opportunities through the Arizona Rural Health Transformation Program designed to expand access to care and strengthen the financial and operational stability of rural healthcare organizations.
The Rural Health Innovative Care Pilot Program will support new approaches to delivering preventive, primary and...National News
Beneficiaries of color, disabled beneficiaries and rural beneficiaries are underrepresented in Medicare value-based payment models, according to a new study, raising concerns about health equity impacts projected by the models.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has tested over 50 value-based payment models for their...
In a new report, the Congressional Budget Office projects that Medicare Advantage will cover 57% of eligible beneficiaries by 2036. The shift could be bolstered by Trump administration policies like the implementation of prior authorization in traditional Medicare and the end of subsidies for Medicare Part D plans.
Medicare Advantage...
HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare, the nation’s two largest hospital operators, are revising their forecasts and assumptions as former Marketplace enrollees become uninsured after the expiration of enhanced premium subsidies.
HCA Healthcare said that the rate of people losing ACA Marketplace coverage is much higher than it...
Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP, health) committee voted to advance the "Patients Deserve Price Tags Act," a bipartisan effort to require providers, plans and pharmacy benefit managers to publicly post prices they charge. But industry stakeholders are raising concerns that efforts to advance price...
Skilled nursing facilities will receive an estimated $882.7 million increase in Medicare payments under the fiscal year 2027 payment rule finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
CMS approved a 2.4% increase in Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System rates, reflecting a 3.3% increase in the cost of...News
Like Centene, Molina Healthcare lost members across its major insurance businesses during the second quarter. Unlike Centene, which returned to profitability, Molina reported steep declines in earnings and revenue as medical costs consumed a larger share of premiums.
As of June 30, 2026, Centene reported approximately 4.9 million...News
The improved financial results came despite broad declines in membership. According to Centene, Medicaid enrollment fell 5.5% year over year to 12.1 million, Marketplace enrollment dropped 40% to 3.5 million and Medicare membership declined about 5% to 980,000. Growth in stand-alone Medicare drug plans, up 12% to 8.8 million members,...National News
More than 510,000 Arizona Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans could face higher premiums next year after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ends a temporary premium stabilization program.
According to 24/7 Wall St., an estimated 75% of stand-alone Part D enrollees nationally...Arizona News
Last Thursday, a U.S. District Court sided with a coalition of cities, interest groups and Pima County to issue an injunction against rules finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would disrupt Affordable Care Act (ACA) healthcare marketplaces and lower the quality of available plans.
Pima County joined...National News
UnitedHealth Group has raised its expectations for the year in response to strong improvements in its second-quarter earnings report. The high returns are attributable to strong showings from UnitedHealthcare and Optum.
The report showed that net income jumped 61% year-over-year (YOY) to $5.48 billion, and quarterly revenue modestly...Arizona News
The Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction (WISeR) Model will continue operating in six states, including Arizona, after Senate Democrats failed late last week to end the widely criticized pilot, which uses artificial intelligence to support prior authorization decisions for traditional Medicare claims.
The program uses AI to...Arizona News
Maricopa County has confirmed 25 measles cases among residents in 2026, far exceeding the county’s annual average of one case over the past 30 years, as health officials warn of continued local transmission and new public exposures across the Valley.
The latest exposure alert involves an infected nonresident who visited several...Arizona News
Arizona overtook West Virginia in 2025 to record the highest drug death rate even as overdose deaths continued to decline across much of the country.
Arizona recorded 43.5 drug deaths per 100,000 residents, nearly twice the national rate of 22.1, according to a New York Times analysis of provisional federal mortality data. Arizona and...Arizona News
Arizona health officials are monitoring a nationwide rise in cyclosporiasis as federal investigators examine a multistate outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. Arizona is also not among the states where distribution of recalled lettuce has been confirmed.
Cyclospora is a microscopic intestinal...
A federal judge appointed former Ohio corrections director Annette Chambers-Smith to oversee healthcare services in Arizona state prisons, a sweeping intervention intended to remedy constitutional violations that have persisted through 14 years of litigation.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver appointed Chambers-Smith July 17,...
A federally qualified health clinic (FQHC) reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), seeking approval for a Food Is Medicine-inspired experiment, to test a proposal to either give boxes of food valued at $30 to patients or $20 in food vouchers to buy produce from participating...News
As sales from the 340B Drug Pricing Program reach $100 billion, the Trump administration, Congress and pharmaceutical companies are moving quickly to modify the program and reduce flexibilities.
Total costs of prescription drugs purchased under the 340B discount drug program increased 22.8% year-over-year, according to new data from...Arizona News
Affordable Care Act enrollment numbers are out for the first time since the expiration of tax credit subsidies spiked premiums at the beginning of the year. Arizona ranked as one of the top states in coverage losses.
A new report from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that enrollment has fallen from 22.1 million...Arizona News
After a decade of failed attempts to destroy the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through legal challenges, the Trump administration is changing its approach to applying heavy modifications that favor employers and boosting plans that aren't required to meet ACA criteria. This time, the administration is reaching out to states like Arizona for...National News
This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will target fraud in the Medicaid and Medicare Advantage programs, and more MA insurers filed suit seeking to increase their star ratings bonuses.
The HHS Office of Inspector General announced it had generated $5.6 billion in "monetary impact" from...
The ACO Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH) Model, which is set to sunset at the end of 2026, generated nearly $1 billion in net savings in 2024 according to a new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Last Friday, the agency released the performance results for the model and touted the year...
In May, America's hospitals saw higher net operating revenue and outpatient revenue compared with a year earlier, while inpatient volumes remained comparatively flat. Labor costs continued to rise, although workforce levels have largely stabilized. Drug, supply and purchased service expenses also remained above prior-year...
Arizona News
