Healthcare plans

The highest-priced hospitals in 13 cities studied are typically paid 60% more for inpatient services and almost double for outpatient care than the lowest-priced hospitals in the same communities.

A recent delay on out-of-pocket spending could be complicated for those who think they have a single-vendor system, should their health care provider and pharmacy be considered separate internally.

Guest blogger Linda K. Riddell warns employers not to be wowed by vendors' "whiz-bang" options and the quantity of their reporting.

A recent delay on out-of-pocket spending could be complicated for those who think they have a single-vendor system, should their health care provider and pharmacy be considered separate internally.

Despite the modest increase “rising health care costs remain a serious concern for U.S. employers,” said Helen Darling, the group’s president and CEO.

The number of Fortune 500 companies offering health care benefits to same-sex partners has surged in a decade, to about 62% last year from 34% in 2002, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign.

The bill passed Monday would require pharmacies to notify doctors and sometimes patients when a cheaper biosimilar drug is substituted for a brand-name medicine. It also would forbid a pharmacist from substituting the biosimilar drug if the physician says no.

Only 9% of companies, meanwhile, indicate they are very prepared to implement required changes to their business based on the health care reform law at this time.

Employer mandate delay puts pressure on Congress.

But health plans need to improve in other areas if they want to keep group business.

Consumers will want choices like they get on popular sites such as Amazon and Expedia.

The impact that flexible spending accounts on modifying health care spending habits.

Five misconceptions about the role of continued health coverage and the ACA

Cyndy Nayer previews an upcoming obstacle in health care — the outcomes-based boomerang.

Experts from Aon Hewitt and Digital Insurance who have private exchanges say communicating early and

“Health care reform is a shift to value-based care, rather than quantity of care,” one analyst says. “Any way Medtronic can help improve outcomes is generally the way health care is moving. The trick for them is to capitalize on that in the right areas.”

United Parcel Service Inc.’s decision to drop health benefits for 15,000 of its workers’ spouses may be a sign of the future, as U.S. businesses grapple with rising medical bills and the added burdens of the ACA.

By helping employees understand how their benefits work and how payment was applied to a particular claim, it’s hoped the tool will ease the administrative burden for employers, as well.

Employers reported modest premium increases in 2013, according to an annual Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Education Trust study published today in the journal Health Affairs.

Less than two months before health exchanges open to the public, hospitals are asking to change a part of the Affordable Care Act that leaves them at financial risk for patients who fall behind on their insurance premiums.