Patrick Conway, MD, the former CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, was found guilty of driving while impaired and misdemeanor child abuse after a car crash in June, according to The News & Observer.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas and global primary care provider Sanitas Medical Center debuted their first of 10 advanced primary care centers set to open in the Dallas and Houston regions, the companies said Oct. 4.

Medicare overpaid hospitals about $1.3 billion in 2015 for the government's Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

West Virginia University Health System, a nine-hospital system in Morgantown, will launch a Medicare Advantage product with a health plan it's in the process of acquiring, according to The Intelligencer.

UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance arm of UnitedHealth Group, laid off an undisclosed number of employees in Duluth, Minn., according to the Duluth News Tribune.

A UnitedHealth Group subsidiary bought a Medicare Advantage plan in Virginia for an undisclosed amount, according to The News and Advance. 

A recent Medicare executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Oct. 3 aims to expand beneficiaries' access to medical savings accounts, according to CNBC.

Errors to Aetna's claim processing system booted 42 Medicaid beneficiaries off their plans in Kansas, according to The Garden City Telegram.

Minnesota paid managed care organizations $3.7 million in unallowable capitation payments for dead beneficiaries from 2014-16, according to an audit from the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Outcomes-based contracts are gaining traction among health plans, as new Avalere research finds 59 percent of payers have used the payment model.

Here are four recent articles posted by Becker's Hospital Review that concern payer-provider relationships:

Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare finalized a new contract with Aetna five months ahead of deadline, the organizations said Oct. 3.

Anthem named Ryan Schneider, a former president at Capital One with experience in digital transformation in financial services, to its board of directors.

Negotiations between Anthem and Gainesville-based Northeast Georgia Health System fell through before a new contract could be reached by an Oct. 1 deadline, according to The Georgia Sun.

Humana promoted Jennifer Bazante to chief marketing officer, the insurance company said Oct. 1.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and its board of trustees may face difficulty restoring the company's reputation in the wake of the arrest and resignation of its CEO Patrick Conway, MD, analysts told the Winston-Salem Journal.

Investment banking firm BMO Capital Markets downgraded health insurers UnitedHealth Group and Humana due to uncertainty surrounding the 2020 presidential election, according to The Street.

The following payer executives changed their positions in September.

Several health insurers recently announced plans to expand their Medicare Advantage businesses ahead of the 2020 open enrollment period, which begins Oct. 15.

WellCare Health Plans will sell its Medicaid business in Missouri and Nebraska to Anthem.