CVS Health Corp.'s Caremark will exclude 57 medications from its 2021 formulary and add six back. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx subsidiary will exclude 19 medications and products while adding back five and implementing restrictions on others, AIS Health reported.

Still, only a handful of products excluded by either PBM are likely to impact many members adversely, says Marc Guieb, a pharmacist and consultant with Milliman Inc. That also applies to the exclusions announced earlier by Cigna Corp.-owned PBM Express Scripts, he adds.

Health insurers are conducting outreach to people who may have been left without coverage as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, but experts say they may be partially stymied in their efforts to get people enrolled in new plans by the difficulties of operating within a pandemic environment, AIS Health reported.

AmeriHealth Caritas, which is run by Independence Blue Cross in partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, says it has launched a series of videos designed to help potential Medicaid enrollees learn how they can apply.

Both UnitedHealthcare and Humana Inc. are rolling out new disease-specific care management programs aimed at providing patients with the tools they need to help control their chronic conditions, AIS Health reported.

The new initiatives highlight new digital and time-tested interpersonal ways of managing chronic conditions, observers say.

As more employers turn to COVID-19 testing to see if employees are safe to return to the workplace, the Trump administration has clarified that insurers must cover only physician-ordered "medically necessary" diagnostic and antibody tests, AIS Health reported.

The guidance, released jointly on June 23 by HHS, the Dept. of Labor and the Dept. of the Treasury, also says self-funded employer plans must pay for COVID-19 testing that’s medically appropriate.

Major PBMs reported strong results for the first quarter of 2020 as members rushed to fill prescriptions in March ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, financial analysts warn the pandemic could have unpredictable effects on PBMs' finances for the rest of 2020 and moving into 2021, AIS Health reported.

The 2021 PBM selling season could be disrupted in still-unknown ways, analysts said, and members are cutting back on routine physician visits and elective procedures, resulting in lower script volume overall.

Anthem, Inc., and Cigna Corp. both reported slightly better-than-expected medical loss ratios (MLRs) as part of their first-quarter 2020 earnings, in part due to delays in elective procedures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Both insurers also reaffirmed their overall earnings-per-share (EPS) guidance for 2020, AIS Health reported.

But the insurers warned that MLRs may tick up later this year. In addition, they predicted that the impact of COVID-19 may lead to significant shifts in enrollment, as workers who are laid off shift to Medicaid or to the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Florida's health insurers remain highly profitable as the overall market has grown significantly more concentrated, with companies such as Anthem, Inc. and Florida Blue snapping up numerous smaller HMOs over the past several years, particularly in the Medicare Advantage (MA) space, says the author of a new report on the Florida market.

Independent analyst and consultant Allan Baumgarten, who studies state health care markets, tells AIS Health that he expects consolidation to continue.

Sanofi S.A. is cutting its losses on its PCSK9 inhibitor, exiting the U.S. market for the drug completely after various tactics, including slashing prices and promoting value-based contracts to payers, failed to spark sales for the high cholesterol treatment. But at the same time, Novartis International AG is betting big on the PCSK9 market by acquiring the manufacturer of an investigational PCSK9 that has strong Phase 3 results, AIS Health reported.

Sanofi, which had partnered with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on Praluent (alirocumab), will turn the U.S. marketing of Praluent over to Regeneron beginning in the first quarter of 2020, and availability of the drug is not expected to be affected.