Highlights of the important and interesting from the world of healthcare:Health insurance battle in Mass. heats up: In what’s become a bit of a poker game in Massachusetts, health insurers have just pushed a bunch of their chips into the center of the table. Most insurers in the state have stopped offering new policies to [...]

NovoLogix Inc. is not the easiest company to understand. But it does have a colorful past and an intriguing future.Once a $400 million force in the home-health care market, the former Ancillary Care Management has remade itself into a software-as-a-service company that focuses on helping payers manage claims relating to fast growing demand for expensive [...]

Medica Encore is targeted at the pre-retirement boomer generation ages 50 to 64 who lack traditional health coverage through employers or other group sponsors, the company says.

Judging from HealthPartners’ annual pay-for-performance figures, Americans seem to have received considerably less quality care in 2009. While the company’s overall pool of incentive pay rose nearly 19 percent to $24.9 million, its Partners in Excellence program, performance bonuses given to primary care and specialty groups, doled out 45 percent less money this year than 2008, when it paid out $670,000.

In an effort to keep control of the health care reform debate, President Barack Obama on Tuesday ridiculed critics of his government-run health care plan saying private insurers have nothing to fear if they are efficient and consumer-friendly. Insurers write back: Public plan would devastate the industry.

Initiate’s strength is gathering data across multiple systems. The new Initiate Payer Data Management product hopes to cut administrative costs for insurance companies and other payers by gathering all patient information for every medical transaction.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan plans soon to designate about 1,000 doctors in primary-care practices as part of its medical homes program. It’s likely the largest medical homes effort nationwide and one of hte first to go beyond the pilot stage.