News in brief - Oct. 20, 2008

Fla. Medicare Advantage plan in receivership

The 16,000 members of MD Medicare Choice, a Tampa, Fla.-based Medicare Advantage plan placed into receivership in September, will be able to choose a new plan, return to traditional Medicare or be enrolled with Humana.

A Leon County judge ordered MD Medicare Choice into receivership Sept. 30 for purposes of liquidation, and giving Humana the approval to provide replacement coverage.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services ended its contract with the plan and announced a special enrollment period from Oct. 1, 2008, through Jan. 31, 2009, for members who do not wish to move to a Humana plan.

A Humana news release said the company will offer members the same benefits they had under the MD Medicare Choice plan.

CMS announced that members should have received a letter around Oct. 1 explaining their options. According to CMS, former MD Medicare Choice members will be allowed to see their regular physicians at network rates through Dec. 31.

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Cigna expands Medicare business

Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna said it will offer Medicare Advantage private fee-for-service plans to beneficiaries in 15 additional states in 2009.

Cigna offered individual Medicare drug plans to enrollees in 13 states in 2008 and will expand to more counties in its existing states as well as adding portions of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia, a news release from the company said. It will continue to offer group plans nationally.

In the face of mounting criticism of the higher payments to the companies administering Medicare Advantage private fee-for-service compared with traditional Medicare, other large health plans have chosen to focus their growth on Medicare plans that include a network.

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Health IT grows

While other industries are scaling back on information technology investments, health IT is forecasted to grow, according to a report recently published by Datamonitor, an international research group.

The company's research found that for the fourth straight year, the number of non-health enterprises planning to increase their IT budgets has fallen. More than 50% said they expect to keep their IT budgets the same in 2009 as it was in 2008, while 13% are expecting budget cuts. The only exception is health care where budgets are expected to increase significantly over the next year.

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