elv-20221231
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
(Mark One)
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022
OR
For the transition period from to
Commission file number: 001-16751
ELEVANCE HEALTH, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
220 Virginia Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana46204
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (833)401-1577
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, Par Value $0.01 ELV New York Stock Exchange
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yesx No ̈
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ̈Nox
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yesx No ̈
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yesx No ̈
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ̈
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. x
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ̈
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrants’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b) ̈
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No x
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant (assuming solely for the purposes of this calculation that all directors and executive officers of the registrant are “affiliates”) as of June 30, 2022 was approximately $115,691,972,993.
As of February 1, 2023, 237,457,776 shares of the registrant’s common stock were outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporates by reference information from the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held May 10, 2023.
Elevance Health, Inc.
Annual Report on Form 10-K
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022
Table of Contents
PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS 3
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS 22
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS 36
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES 36
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS 36
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES 36
PART II
ITEM 6. [RESERVED] 38
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK 64
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 66
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES 136
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION 139
ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS 139
PART III
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 139
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION 139
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT FEES AND SERVICES 140
PART IV
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES 141
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On May 18, 2022, our shareholders approved a proposal to amend our amended and restated articles of incorporation to change our name from Anthem, Inc. to Elevance Health, Inc. This amendment and name change went into effect on June 27, 2022. We began operating as Elevance Health, Inc. and trading under our new ticker symbol “ELV” on June 28, 2022. References in this Annual Report on Form 10-K to the terms “we,” “our,” “us,” “Elevance Health” or the “Company” refer to Elevance Health, Inc., an Indiana corporation, and, unless the context otherwise requires, its direct and indirect subsidiaries. References to the term “states” include the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, unless the context otherwise requires.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This document contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect our views about future events and financial performance and are generally not historical facts. Words such as “expect,” “feel,” “believe,” “will,” “may,” “should,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” “plan” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to: financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions; statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, products and services; and statements regarding future performance. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof. You are also urged to carefully review and consider the various risks and other disclosures discussed in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, which attempt to advise interested parties of the factors that affect our business. Except to the extent required by law, we do not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date hereof. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: trends in healthcare costs and utilization rates; reduced enrollment; our ability to secure and implement sufficient premium rates; the impact of large scale medical emergencies, such as public health epidemics and pandemics, including COVID-19, and other catastrophes; the impact of new or changes in existing federal, state and international laws or regulations, including healthcare laws and regulations, or their enforcement or application; the impact of cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents or breaches or our failure to comply with any privacy or security laws or regulations, including any investigations, claims or litigation related thereto; information technology disruptions; changes in economic and market conditions, as well as regulations that may negatively affect our liquidity and investment portfolios; competitive pressures and our ability to adapt to changes in the industry and develop and implement strategic growth opportunities; risks and uncertainties regarding Medicare and Medicaid programs, including those related to non-compliance with the complex regulations imposed thereon; our ability to maintain and achieve improvement in Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Star ratings and other quality scores and funding risks with respect to revenue received from participation therein; a negative change in our healthcare product mix; costs and other liabilities associated with litigation, government investigations, audits or reviews; our ability to contract with providers on cost-effective and competitive terms; failure to effectively maintain and modernize our information systems; risks associated with providing pharmacy benefit management (“PBM”), healthcare and other diversified products and services, including medical malpractice or professional liability claims and non-compliance by any party with the PBM services agreement between us and CaremarkPCS Health, L.L.C.; risks associated with mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances; possible impairment of the value of our intangible assets if future results do not adequately support goodwill and other intangible assets; possible restrictions in the payment of dividends from our subsidiaries and increases in required minimum levels of capital; our ability to repurchase shares of our common stock and pay dividends on our common stock due to the adequacy of our cash flow and earnings and other considerations; the potential negative effect from our substantial amount of outstanding indebtedness and the risk that increased interest rates or market volatility could impact our access to or further increase the cost of financing; a downgrade in our financial strength ratings; the effects of any negative publicity related to the health benefits industry in general or us in particular; events that may negatively affect our licenses with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; intense competition to attract and retain employees; risks associated with our international operations; and various laws and provisions in our governing documents that may prevent or discourage takeovers and business combinations.
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PART I
ITEM 1. BUSINESS.
General
At Elevance Health, our purpose – to improve the health of humanity – is central to who we are. It inspires all we do and is the driving force behind our unique approach to health. We know to meaningfully improve health we must take a broader view. That is why our foundational approach looks at whole health and its most critical drivers: social, behavioral and physical. We believe in working together to achieve our mission of improving lives and communities, simplifying healthcare and expecting more. We strive to deliver on our mission by maximizing the power of partnerships, innovating to fuel growth and health equity, and having a high-performance culture. Our strategy is to become a lifetime, trusted health partner through the following four core focus areas:
•Whole Health – Partner to address physical, behavioral, social, and pharmacy needs to improve health, affordability, quality, equity, and access for individuals and communities.
•Exceptional Experiences – Put the people we serve at the center of all that we do, to exceed expectations and optimize health outcomes.
•Care Provider Enablement – Be the easiest payer to work with by supporting care provider partners with data, insights, and tools they need to deliver exceptional care for our consumers.
•Digital Platform – Use digital technologies to improve efficiency and experiences, convert data into insights, and create a platform that connects stakeholders from across the health ecosystem.
With an unyielding commitment to meeting the needs of our diverse customers, we are guided by the following values:
•Leadership – Redefine what is possible
•Community – Committed, connected, invested
•Integrity – Do the right thing, with a spirit of excellence
•Agility – Delivery today, transform tomorrow
•Diversity – Open our hearts and minds
We are one of the largest health insurers in the United States in terms of medical membership, serving approximately 47.5 million medical members through our affiliated health plans as of December 31, 2022. We offer a broad spectrum of network-based managed care risk-based plans to Individual, Group, Medicaid and Medicare markets. In addition, we provide a broad array of managed care services to fee-based customers, including claims processing, stop loss insurance, provider network access, medical management, care management and wellness programs, actuarial services and other administrative services. We provide services to the federal government in connection with our Federal Health Products & Services business, which administers the Federal Employees Health Benefits (“FEHB”) Program. We provide an array of specialty services both to customers of our subsidiary health plans and also unaffiliated health plans, including pharmacy benefit management (“PBM”) services and dental, vision, life, disability and supplemental health insurance benefits, as well as integrated health services.
We are an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (“BCBSA”), an association of independent health benefit plans. We serve our members as the Blue Cross licensee for California and as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield (“BCBS”) licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (in the New York City metropolitan area and upstate New York), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.) and Wisconsin. In a majority of these service areas, we do business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield or Empire Blue Cross. In addition, we conduct business through arrangements with other BCBS licensees as well as other strategic partners. Through our subsidiaries, we also serve customers in numerous states as AIM Specialty Health, Amerigroup, Aspire Health, Beacon, CareMore, Freedom Health, HealthLink, HealthSun, MMM, Optimum Healthcare, Simply Healthcare, UniCare and/or Wellpoint. We offer PBM services through our CarelonRx, Inc. (“CarelonRx”) subsidiary, which was named IngenioRx, Inc. prior to January 1, 2023. We are licensed to conduct insurance operations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico through our subsidiaries.
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As part of our name change to Elevance Health, in June 2022, we announced that over the next several years we will organize our brand portfolio into the following core go-to-market brands:
•Anthem Blue Cross/Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield — represents our existing Anthem-branded and affiliated Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield licensed plans;
•Wellpoint — we intend to unite select non-BCBSA licensed Medicare, Medicaid and Commercial plans under the Wellpoint name; and
•Carelon — this brand brings together our healthcare-related services and capabilities, including our formerly named Diversified Business Group and IngenioRx businesses, under a single brand name.
In 2022, we managed our operations by customer type through four reportable segments: Commercial & Specialty Business, Government Business, CarelonRx (formerly known as IngenioRx) and Other. As we continue our journey to evolve our business from a traditional health insurance company into a lifetime, trusted health partner, we are evaluating and making changes to how we manage our business. This included a review of the products in each of our operating segments, which resulted in restructurings between some of our operating segments. Therefore, our reportable segment presentation in 2023 and its composition will reflect how we began managing our operations and monitoring performance, aligning strategies and allocating resources on January 1, 2023. For additional discussion, see “Reportable Segments” below in this “Business” section and Note 20, “Segment Information,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We believe healthcare is local and that we have the strong local presence required to understand and meet local customer needs with regard to any product they are enrolled in with us. Further, we believe we are well-positioned to deliver what customers want: innovative, choice-based and affordable products; distinctive service; simplified transactions; and better access to information for quality care. Our local presence, combined with our national expertise, has created opportunities for collaborative programs that reward physicians and hospitals for clinical quality and excellence. We feel that our commitment to health improvement and care management provides added value to customers and healthcare professionals. Ultimately, we believe that practical and sustainable improvements in healthcare must focus on improving healthcare quality while managing costs for total affordability. We have implemented initiatives driving payment innovation and partnered with providers to lower cost and improve the quality of healthcare for our members, and we continue to develop new and innovative ways to effectively manage risk and engage our members. Further, we continue to expand our financial arrangements with providers to implement payment models that advance value-based care. We believe focusing on quality of care rather than volume of care is the foundation for improving patient outcomes. Our value-based payment model supports patient-centered care by improving collaboration between providers and health partners and delivering to our patients the right care, at the right time, in the right place. In addition, we are focused on achieving efficiencies from our national scale while optimizing service performance for our customers. Finally, we expect to continue to rationalize our portfolio of businesses and products and align our investments to optimize our core businesses, invest in high-growth opportunities, and accelerate capabilities and services.
Impact on Our Results of Operations
Our results of operations depend in large part on our ability to accurately predict and effectively manage healthcare costs through effective contracting with providers of care to our members, product pricing, medical management and health and wellness programs, including service coordination and case management for addressing complex and specialized healthcare needs, innovative product design and our ability to maintain or achieve improvement in our Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) Star ratings. CMS Star ratings affect Medicare Advantage plan reimbursements as well as our eligibility to earn quality-based bonus payments for those plans. See “Regulation” below in this “Business” section for additional information on our CMS Star ratings. For additional information on our networks and provider relations, product pricing and healthcare cost management programs, see “Pricing and Underwriting of Our Products,” “Networks and Provider Relations,” “Medical Management Programs,” “Care Management and Wellness Products and Programs” and “Healthcare Quality Initiatives” below in this “Business” section.
Advances in medical technology, including new specialty drugs, the aging population, other demographic characteristics and the COVID-19 pandemic continue to contribute to rising healthcare costs. Our managed care plans and products are designed to encourage providers and members to participate in quality, cost-effective health benefit programs by using the full range of our innovative medical management services, health-outcomes based initiatives and health quality-based
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financial incentives. We believe our market position and high business retention rates will enable us to realize the long-term benefits of investing in preventive and early detection programs. Our ability to provide cost-effective health benefits products and services is enhanced through a disciplined approach to internal cost containment, prudent management of our risk exposure and successful integration of acquired businesses. In addition, our ability to manage general and administrative costs continues to be a driver of our overall profitability.
Our future results of operations will also be impacted by certain external forces and resulting changes in our business model and strategy. Changes to our business environment will continue as elected officials at the national and state levels enact, and both elected officials and candidates for election propose, modifications to existing laws and regulations, including changes to taxes and fees. For additional discussion, see “Regulation” below in this “Business” section and Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our results of operations are also impacted by levels and mix of membership, which can change as a result of the quality and pricing of our health benefits products and services, an aging population, economic conditions, changes in unemployment, the continued and future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, acquisitions, entry into new markets and expansions in or exits from existing markets. These membership trends could be negatively impacted by various factors that could have a material adverse effect on our future results of operations such as general economic downturns that result in business failures, failure to obtain new customers or retain existing customers, premium increases, benefit changes, membership impacts caused by COVID-19, including how our members access healthcare services, or our exit from a specific market. See Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” and Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We continue to enhance interactions with customers, providers, brokers, agents, employees and other stakeholders through digital technology and improvements to internal operations. Our approach includes not only the sales and distribution of health benefits products through digital technology, but also implementing advanced capabilities that improve services benefiting customers, agents, brokers and providers while optimizing administrative costs. These enhancements can also help improve the quality, coordination and safety of healthcare through increased communications between patients and their physicians.
Through our participation in various federal government programs, we generated approximately 28% of our total consolidated revenues from agencies of the U.S. government for each of the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020. The majority of these revenues are contained in our Government Business segment as described below. An immaterial amount of our total consolidated revenues is derived from activities outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Reportable Segments
We regularly evaluate the appropriateness of our reportable segments, particularly in light of organizational changes, merger and acquisition activity and changing laws and regulations. As discussed in the “General” section above, we are in the process of organizing our brand portfolio into three core go-to-market brands, and are reviewing and modifying how we will manage our businesses in the future. In 2022, we managed our operations by customer type through four reportable segments: Commercial & Specialty Business, Government Business, CarelonRx (formerly known as IngenioRx) and Other.
Our Commercial & Specialty Business segment offers plans and services to our Individual, Group risk-based, Group fee-based and BlueCard® members. The Commercial & Specialty Business segment offers health products on a full-risk basis; provides a broad array of administrative managed care services to our fee-based customers; and provides a variety of specialty and other insurance products and services such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability and supplemental health insurance benefits as described below.
Our Government Business segment includes our Medicare and Medicaid businesses, National Government Services (“NGS”) and services provided to the federal government in connection with the FEHB business.
Our CarelonRx (formerly IngenioRx) segment includes our PBM business. CarelonRx markets and offers PBM services to our affiliated health plan customers, as well as to external customers outside of the health plans we own. CarelonRx has a comprehensive PBM services portfolio, which includes services such as formulary management, pharmacy networks, a prescription drug database, member services and mail order capabilities.
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Our Other segment includes our Diversified Business Group, now known as Carelon Services, which is our health services business focused on lowering the cost and improving the quality of healthcare by enabling and creating new care delivery and payment models, with a special emphasis on serving those with complex and chronic conditions. This segment also includes certain intercompany eliminations and corporate expenses not allocated to our other reportable segments.
As we continue our journey to evolve our business from a traditional health insurance company into a lifetime, trusted health partner, we are evaluating and making changes to how we manage our business. This included a review of the products in each of our operating segments, which resulted in restructurings between some of our operating segments. Therefore, our reportable segment presentation in 2023 and its composition will reflect how we began managing our operations and monitoring performance, aligning strategies and allocating resources on January 1, 2023. As a result of these changes, beginning with our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2023, we will report our results in the following four reportable segments: (i) Health Benefits, which will combine our existing Commercial & Specialty Business and Government Business segments; (ii) our existing CarelonRx segment; (iii) Carelon Services (our former Diversified Business Group), which will be carved out from our existing Other segment; and (iv) Corporate and Other, which will include businesses that do not individually meet the quantitative thresholds for an operating segment, as well as corporate expenses not allocated to our other reportable segments. We expect to reclassify previously reported information to conform to the new presentation.
For additional information, see Note 20, “Segment Information,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Membership
Our medical membership includes seven different customer types: Individual, Group risk-based, Group fee-based, BlueCard®,Medicare, Medicaid and FEHB. In addition, we also serve customers who purchase one or more of our other products or services that are often ancillary to our health business.
Our products are generally developed and marketed with an emphasis on the differing needs of our customers. In particular, our product development and marketing efforts take into account the differing characteristics between the various customers served by us, as well as the unique needs of educational and public entities, labor groups, the FEHB program, national employers and state-run programs servicing low-income, high-risk and underserved markets. Overall, we seek to establish pricing and product designs to provide value for our customers while achieving an appropriate level of profitability for each of our customer categories balanced with the competitive objective to grow market share. We believe that one of the keys to our success has been our focus on these distinct customer types, which better enables us to develop benefit plans and services that meet our customers’ unique needs. Further, CarelonRx was built to simplify pharmacy care and focus on the whole person, and we expect it will make it easier for our customers to achieve better health outcomes at a lower total cost of care.
We market our Individual, Medicare and certain Group products with a smaller employee base through direct marketing activities and an extensive network of independent agents, brokers and retail partnerships. Products for Commercial customers with a larger employee base are generally sold through independent brokers or consultants retained by the customer who work with industry specialists from our in-house sales force. In the Individual markets, we offer on-exchange products through state- or federally-facilitated marketplaces (the “Public Exchange”) in compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, as amended (collectively, the “ACA”) and off-exchange products. Federal subsidies are available for certain members, subject to income and family size, who purchase Public Exchange products.
In 2022, we made the decision to expand our participation in the Public Exchange market for 2023 after also expanding in 2022.As a result, for 2023 we are offering Individual Public Exchange products in 138 of the 143 rating regions in which we operate, in comparison to 122 of 143 rating regions in 2022.Our strategy has been, and will continue to be, to only participate in rating regions where we have an appropriate level of confidence that these markets are on a path toward sustainability, including, but not limited to, factors such as expected financial performance, regulatory environment and underlying market characteristics.
Being a licensee of the BCBS association of companies, of which there were 34 independent primary licensees including us as of December 31, 2022, provides significant market value, especially when competing for very large multi-state
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employer groups. For example, each BCBS member company is able to utilize other BCBS licensees’ substantial provider networks and discounts when any BCBS member works or travels outside of the state in which their policy is written. This program is referred to as BlueCard®. BlueCard® host members are generally members who reside in or travel to a state in which an Elevance Health subsidiary is the Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield licensee and who are covered under an employer-sponsored health plan serviced by a non-Elevance Health controlled BCBS licensee, which is the “home” plan. We perform certain administrative functions for BlueCard® host members, including claims pricing and administration, for which we receive administrative fees from the BlueCard® members’ home plan. Other administrative functions, including maintenance of enrollment information and customer services, are performed by the home plan. See “BCBSA Licenses” below in this “Business” section for additional information on our BCBSA licenses. We refer to members in our service areas licensed by the BCBSA as our BCBS-branded, or Anthem BCBS, business. Non-BCBS-branded business refers to members in our non-BCBS-branded, or Wellpoint plans, which include Amerigroup, Freedom Health, HealthSun, MMM, Optimum Healthcare and Simply Healthcare plans, as well as HealthLink and UniCare members.
For additional information describing each of our customer types and changes in medical membership over the last three years, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Membership” included in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Product and Service Descriptions
Various forms of managed care products have been developed to contain the cost of healthcare by negotiating contracts with hospitals, physicians and other providers to deliver high-quality healthcare to members at favorable rates. These products usually feature medical management and other quality and cost optimization measures such as pre-admission review and approval for certain non-emergency services, pre-authorization of outpatient surgical procedures, network credentialing to determine that network physicians and hospitals have the required certifications and expertise, and various levels of care management programs to help members better understand and navigate the healthcare system. In addition, providers may have incentives to achieve certain quality measures, may share medical cost risk or may have other incentives to deliver quality medical services in a cost-effective manner. Also, certain plans offer members incentives for healthy behaviors, such as smoking cessation and weight management. Members are charged periodic, prepaid premiums and generally pay copayments, coinsurance and/or deductibles when they receive services.
Commercial & Specialty Business
•Commercial Risk-Based Products.Our Commercial & Specialty Business offers employer groups a diversified mix of managed care risk-based products including: Preferred Provider Organization (“PPO”), Health Maintenance Organization (“HMO”), Consumer-Driven Health Plans (“CDHP”), Traditional Indemnity and Point-of-Service (“POS”) plans. PPO plans generally provide members the freedom to choose any healthcare provider, but require the member to pay a greater portion of the provider’s fee in the event the member chooses not to use a provider participating in the PPO’s network. HMOs include comprehensive managed care benefits generally through a participating network of physicians, hospitals and other providers. CDHPs generally combine a high-deductible PPO plan with an employer-funded and/or employee-funded personal care account, which may result in tax benefits to the employee and allow some or all of the dollars remaining in the personal care account at year-end to be rolled over to the next year for future healthcare needs. Traditional indemnity plans offer the member an option to select any healthcare provider for covered services, with coverage subject to deductibles and coinsurance and with member cost-sharing usually limited by out-of-pocket maximums. POS products blend the characteristics of HMO, PPO and indemnity plans. In general, POS plans allow members to choose to seek care from a provider within the plan’s network or outside the network, subject to, among other things, certain deductibles and coinsurance.
We also offer Individual risk-based products on and off the Public Exchange, covering essential health benefits (as defined in the ACA) along with many other requirements and cost-sharing features.
•Commercial Fee-Based Products. Our Commercial & Specialty Business provides a broad array of managed care services to fee-based groups, including claims processing, provider network access, medical management, care management and wellness programs, actuarial services and other administrative services. Fee-based health plans are also able to use our provider networks and to realize savings through our negotiated provider arrangements, while allowing employers the ability to design certain health benefit plans in accordance with their own requirements and objectives. We
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also charge a premium to underwrite stop loss insurance for employers that maintain fee-based plans but want to limit their retained risk.
In addition, we perform certain administrative functions for BlueCard® host members, discussed under “Membership” above, including claims pricing and administration, for which we receive administrative fees from the BlueCard® members’ home plans. Other administrative functions, including maintenance of enrollment information and customer service, are performed by the home plan.
•Specialty Products.We offer an array of products and services to both risk-based and fee-based customers in conjunction with our health plans as well as to unaffiliated healthcare plans that are not Elevance Health subsidiaries.
◦Stop Loss Insurance. Our stop loss insurance arrangements are built around our clients’ needs while assuming 100% of the risk. We offer specific and aggregate plans that will provide options to meet our clients’ coverage terms, budget and risk tolerance; active claims management to help avoid errors and missing claims; as well as cost containment to assist our clients with claims and cost control.
◦Dental.Our dental plans include networks in certain states in which we operate and are offered on both a risk-based and fee-based basis. Our members also have access to additional dental providers through our participation in the National Dental GRID, a national dental network developed by and for BCBS plans that offers in-network discounts across the country.
◦Vision.Our vision plans include networks within the states in which we operate and are offered on both a risk-based and fee-based basis.
◦Life.We offer an array of competitive individual and group term life insurance benefit products. The life insurance products include term life and accidental death and dismemberment.
◦Disability.We offer short-term and long-term disability and leave of absence products.
◦Supplemental Health.We offer supplemental health products, including accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity, which provide coverage for specific conditions or circumstances.
Government Business
•Medicare Plans. We offer a wide variety of plans, products and options to individuals age 65 and older such as Medicare Advantage, including Special Needs Plans (“SNPs”), dual-eligible programs through Medicare-Medicaid Plans (“MMPs”), Medicare Supplement plans and Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans (“Medicare Part D”).
Medicare Advantage plans provide Medicare beneficiaries with a managed care alternative to traditional Medicare and often include a Medicare Part D benefit. In addition, our Medicare Advantage SNPs provide tailored benefits to special needs individuals who are institutionalized or have severe or disabling chronic conditions and to dual-eligible customers, who are low-income seniors and persons under age 65 with disabilities. Medicare Advantage SNPs are coordinated care plans specifically designed to provide targeted care, covering all the healthcare services considered medically necessary for members and often providing professional care coordination services, with personal guidance and programs that help members maintain their health. Medicare Advantage membership also includes Medicare Advantage members in our Group Retiree Solutions business who are retired members of Commercial accounts or groups who are not affiliated with our Commercial accounts that have selected a Medicare Advantage product through us. MMP is a demonstration program focused on serving members who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Medicare Supplement plans typically pay the difference between healthcare costs incurred by a beneficiary and amounts paid by the traditional Medicare Fee-For-Service program. Medicare Part D offers a prescription drug plan to Medicare and MMP beneficiaries.
•Medicaid Plans and Other State-Sponsored Programs. Our Medicaid business includes our managed care alternatives through public-funded healthcare programs, including Medicaid; Medicaid expansion programs; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (“TANF”); programs for seniors and people with disabilities (“SPD”); Children’s Health Insurance Programs (“CHIP”); and specialty programs such as those focused on long-term services and support (“LTSS”), HIV/AIDS, children living in foster care, behavioral health and/or substance abuse disorders, and intellectual disabilities and/or developmental disabilities. The Medicaid program makes federal matching funds available to all states for the delivery of healthcare benefits for low income and/or high medical risk individuals. These programs are managed by the individual states based on broad federal guidelines. Our Medicaid plans also cover certain dual-eligible customers, as previously described above, who also receive Medicare benefits. As of December 31, 2022, we provide Medicaid and
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other state sponsored services, such as administrative services, in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
•Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. FEHB members consist of United States government employees and their dependents within our geographic markets through our participation in the national contract between the BCBSA and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
•Medicare Administrative Operations.Through our NGS subsidiary, we serve as a fiscal intermediary, carrier and Medicare administrative contractor for the federal government by providing administrative services for the Medicare program, Parts A and B, which generally provides coverage for persons who are 65 or older and for persons who are under 65 and disabled or with end-stage renal disease. Part A of the Medicare program provides coverage for services provided by hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other healthcare facilities. Part B of the Medicare program provides coverage for services provided by physicians, physical and occupational therapists and other professional providers, as well as certain durable medical equipment and medical supplies.
CarelonRx
Our subsidiary CarelonRx markets and offers PBM services to our affiliated health plan customers throughout the country in both our Commercial & Specialty and our Government business segments, as well as to customers outside of the health plans we own. Our comprehensive PBM services portfolio includes features such as formulary management, pharmacy networks, a prescription drug database, member services and mail order capabilities.
CarelonRx delegates certain PBM administrative functions, such as claims processing and prescription fulfillment, to CaremarkPCS Health, L.L.C., which is a subsidiary of CVS Health Corporation (“CVS Health”), pursuant to a five-year agreement (the “CVS PBM Agreement”) that is set to terminate on December 31, 2024. With CarelonRx, we retain the responsibilities for clinical and formulary strategy and development, member and employer experiences, operations, sales, marketing, account management and retail network strategy. From December 2009 through December 2019, we delegated certain PBM functions and administrative services to Express Scripts Inc. (“Express Scripts”). We transitioned existing members from Express Scripts to CarelonRx by January 1, 2020.
Other
Our Other segment includes our Diversified Business Group, now known as Carelon Services. Business units in Carelon Services offer a broad array of healthcare related services and capabilities to internal and external customers including integrated care delivery, behavioral health, palliative care, utilization management, payment integrity services and subrogation services, as well as health and wellness programs. Key services offered include:
•Behavioral Health. We provide comprehensive behavioral health management services through clinical and network administration. In a limited capacity, we also provide high-quality, evidence-based behavioral healthcare and counseling services through licensed clinicians in convenient and accessible locations.
•Care Delivery. We provide highly integrated, personalized care to patients with chronic and complex conditions, whether in their home, care centers, mobile units, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, or virtually. Additionally, we provide non-hospice, community based palliative care to deliver an extra layer of personalized support and whole-person care.
•Advanced Analytics and Services. We leverage data, analytics, and insights to help improve outcomes and lower the cost of care, by working to ensure that our members receive safe, appropriate, high-quality, cost-effective care and that our providers are reimbursed accurately and timely.
Competition
The managed care industry is highly competitive, both nationally and in our local markets. Competition continues to be intense due to aggressive marketing, pricing, bid activity for government-sponsored programs, business consolidations, new strategic alliances, new competitors in the market, a proliferation of new products, technological advancements, the impact of legislative reform, increased quality awareness and price sensitivity among customers and changing market practices, such as increased usage of telehealth.
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We believe that participants in the managed care industry compete for customers based on quality of service, price, access to provider networks, access to care management and wellness programs (including health information), innovation, effective use of digital technology, breadth and flexibility of products and benefits, expertise and reputation (including National Committee on Quality Assurance (“NCQA”) accreditation status as well as CMS Star ratings), brand recognition and financial stability. Our ability to attract and retain customers is substantially tied to our ability to distinguish ourselves from our competitors in these areas.
We believe our exclusive right to market products under the most recognized brand in the industry, BCBS, in our most significant markets provides us with greater brand recognition over competitive product offerings. Typically, we are the largest participant in each of our BCBS branded markets, and thus are closely-watched by other health benefits companies.
Product pricing remains competitive and we strive to price our health benefit products and design our Medicare and Medicaid bids consistent with anticipated underlying medical trends. We believe our pricing and bid strategy, based on predictive modeling, proprietary research and data-driven processes, has positioned us to benefit from the potential growth opportunities available through entry into new markets, expansions in existing markets and as a result of any future changes to the current regulatory scheme. We believe that our pricing and bid strategy, brand name and network quality will provide a strong foundation for membership growth opportunities in the future.
Our provider networks give us a highly competitive unit cost position and provide distinctive service levels which allow us to offer a broad range of affordable health benefit products to our customers. To build our provider networks, we compete with other health benefits plans for the best contracts with hospitals, physicians and other providers. We believe that physicians and other providers primarily consider customer volume, reimbursement rates, timeliness of reimbursement and administrative service capabilities along with the reduction of non-value added administrative tasks when deciding whether to contract with a health benefits plan.
At the sales and distribution level, we compete for qualified agents and brokers to recommend and distribute our products. Strong competition exists among insurance companies and health benefits plans for agents and brokers with demonstrated ability to secure new business and maintain existing accounts. We believe that the quality and price of our products, support services, reputation and prior relationships, along with a reasonable commission structure, are the factors agents and brokers consider in choosing whether to market our products. We believe that we have good relationships with our agents and brokers, and that our products, support services and commission structure compare favorably to those of our competitors in all of our markets.
In addition, the PBM industry is highly competitive, and CarelonRx is subject to competition from national, regional and local PBMs, insurers, health plans, large retail pharmacy chains, large retail stores, supermarkets, mail order pharmacies, web pharmacies and specialty pharmacies. Strong competition within the PBM industry has generated greater demand for lower product and service pricing, increased revenue sharing and enhanced product and service offerings.
Pricing and Underwriting of Our Products
We price our products based on our assessment of current healthcare claim costs and emerging healthcare cost trends, combined with charges for administrative expenses, risk and profit. We continually review our product designs and pricing guidelines on a national and regional basis so that our products remain competitive and consistent with our profitability goals and strategies.
Our revenue on Medicare policies is based on annual bids submitted to CMS. We base the Commercial and Medicaid premiums we charge and our Medicare bids on our estimates of future medical costs over the fixed contract period. In applying our pricing to each employer group and customer, we aim to maintain consistent, competitive and disciplined underwriting standards. We employ our proprietary accumulated actuarial and financial data to determine underwriting and pricing parameters for both our risk-based and fee-based businesses.
In most circumstances, our pricing and underwriting decisions follow a prospective rating process in which a fixed premium is determined at the beginning of the contract period. For our risk-based business, any deviation, favorable or unfavorable, from the medical costs assumed in determining the premium is our responsibility. Some of our larger groups employ retrospective rating reviews, where positive experience is partially refunded to the group, and negative experience is charged against a rate stabilization fund established from the group’s favorable experience or charged against future favorable
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experience. In addition, our ACA and government risk-based contracts may include minimum medical loss ratio, risk adjustment, or risk corridor arrangements, which also stabilize premiums based upon claims experience.
Our pharmacy pricing through CarelonRx is presented to market via discounts off the average wholesale price for drugs dispensed through the retail, mail and specialty channels as well as through rebate projections. We utilize group-specific script data, formulary, network and clinical care program selection combined with administrative expense, risk and profit guidance to set market competitive pricing discounts and rebate projections. Pharmacy pricing guidelines guide the underwriting process and undergo an annual external review process to ensure market competitiveness.
Networks and Provider Relations
Our relationships with physicians, hospitals and professionals that render healthcare services to our members are guided by local, regional and national standards for network development, reimbursement and contract methodologies. While following industry standards, we are simultaneously seeking to lead transformation efforts within our healthcare system, moving from a fragmented model premised on episodic intervention to one based on proactive, coordinated care built around the needs of the patient. A key element of this transformation involves a transition from traditional fee-for-service payment models to models where providers are paid based on the value, both in quality and affordability, of the care they deliver.
We establish “market-based” hospital reimbursement payments that we believe are fair, but aggressive, and among the most competitive in the market. We also seek to ensure that physicians in our network are paid in a timely manner at appropriate rates. In many instances, we deploy multi-year contracting strategies, including case rates or fixed rates, to limit our exposure to medical cost inflation and to increase cost predictability. We maintain both broad and narrow provider networks to ensure member choice, based on both price and access needs, while implementing programs designed to improve the quality of care our members receive. Increasingly, we are supplementing our broad-based networks with smaller or more cost-effective networks that are designed to be attractive to a more price-sensitive customer segment, such as Public Exchange customers.
Our reimbursement strategies vary across markets and depend on the degree of consolidation and integration of physician groups and hospitals. Under a fee-for-service reimbursement methodology for physicians, fee schedules are developed at the state level based on an assessment of several factors and conditions, including the CMS resource-based relative value system (“RBRVS”), medical practice cost inflation and physician supply. We utilize CMS RBRVS fee schedules as a reference point for fee schedule development and analysis. The RBRVS structure was developed, maintained, and updated by CMS and is used by the Medicare program and other major health plans. In addition, we have implemented and continue to expand physician incentive contracting, or “pay-for-performance,” which ties physician payment levels to performance on clinical measures.
While we generally do not delegate full financial responsibility to our physician providers in the form of capitation-based reimbursement, we maintain capitation-based arrangements in certain markets where we determine that market dynamics result in it being a useful method to lower costs and reduce underwriting risk. Our provider engagement and contracting strategies have evolved to include value-based contracting arrangements that meet providers where they are in the movement from traditional fee-for-service to value-based care. These programs are designed to support Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid programs and the unique characteristics of these populations. Our value-based contracting programs are designed to reward our contracted providers for improving the overall quality of care they deliver by adhering to evidence-based medicine. In addition, these value-based contracts also share with the providers total cost of care savings that are achieved by adhering to evidence-based medicine over time. For providers who contract in one of our value-based programs, we work with them to share gaps in care information and other important data to assist them in managing the care of their patients. Often providers will also grant us access to data to support the efficient administration of program components. This data can allow us to more efficiently capture information regarding the risk of our membership and the overall adherence to evidence-based medicine, as well as information to more efficiently perform utilization management administration.
Our hospital contracts provide for a variety of reimbursement arrangements depending on local market dynamics and current hospital utilization efficiency. Most hospitals are reimbursed a fixed amount per day or reimbursed a per-case amount, per admission, for inpatient covered services. A small percentage of hospitals, primarily rural, sole community hospitals, are reimbursed on a discount from approved charge basis for covered services. Our “per-case” reimbursement
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methods utilize many of the same attributes contained in Medicare’s Diagnosis Related Groups methodology. Hospital outpatient services are reimbursed by fixed case rates, fee schedules or percent of approved charges. Our hospital contracts recognize unique hospital attributes, such as academic medical centers or community hospitals, and the volume of care performed for our members. To improve predictability of expected costs, we frequently use a multi-year contracting approach with providers. In addition, the majority of our hospital contracts include a pay-for-performance component where reimbursement levels are linked to improved clinical performance, patient safety and medical error reduction.
Seasonality
We experience seasonality in our Commercial & Specialty Business and Government Business segments. While our premium revenues are not seasonal, our benefit costs typically increase during the year as our risk-based members pay their contractual portion of claims responsibility under annual deductibles and reach their out-of-pocket maximum limits.
Medical Management Programs
We have a broad array of medical management activities that facilitate improvements in the quality of care provided to our members and promote cost-effective medical care. These medical management activities and programs are administered and directed by physicians and nurses with the goal of ensuring that the care delivered to our members is supported by appropriate medical and scientific evidence, is received on a timely basis and occurs in the most appropriate setting. The medical management programs available to our members may vary depending on the particular plan or product in which they participate.
Care coordination is one of the strategies we utilize and is based on nationally recognized criteria developed by third-party medical specialists to help coordinate inpatient as well as outpatient care and monitor appropriate utilization of such services. Our case management focuses on identifyingmembership that will require a high level of intervention and providing assistance to manage their healthcare needs. Precertification is utilized to assess appropriateness of certain hospitalizations and other medical services prior to the services being rendered. Our medical policy committee determines our national policies and guidelines for the application of medical technologies, procedures and services and reviews these policies and guidelines at least once a year or as new published clinical evidence becomes available. We are actively engaged with our hospital and physician networks to enable them to improve medical and surgical care and achieve better outcomes for our members. We also work with outside experts through a process of external review to provide our members scientifically and clinically, evidence-based medical care. Our web-based tools allow our members to obtain or compare cost estimates for care, including out-of-pocket costs.
We remain committed to assisting our members in making informed and value-based healthcare decisions, providing for easier navigation of healthcare services and delivering a better healthcare experience.
Care Management and Wellness Products and Programs
We continue to expand our suite of integrated care management programs and tools. Availability of these programs and tools to our members may depend on the particular plan or product in which they participate. Our care management tools and programs are designed to increase quality and reduce medical costs for our members and help them make better decisions about their well-being as they navigate the healthcare system. Our digital engagement platform, Sydney Health, is designed to give our members access to personalized health and wellness resources; medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits details; as well as virtual care services, all in one place. Our care management, infertility services and maternity management programs serve as adjuncts to physician care. Through these programs, medical professionals help to educate participants regarding their care and condition. Our 24/7 NurseLine offers access to qualified, registered nurses to allow our members to make informed decisions about the appropriate level of care and avoid unnecessary worry. Our CareMore subsidiary specializes in whole-person care for members with complex and chronic conditions to improve clinical outcomes and patient wellbeing. Our Aspire Health subsidiary engages with members near-end-of life and/or requiring palliative care to manage serious illnesses and improve quality of life during a difficult time. With our integrated information systems and sophisticated data analytics, we help our members improve their compliance with evidence-based care guidelines, provide personal care notes that alert members to potential gaps in care, enable more prudent healthcare choices and assist in the realization of member out-of-pocket cost savings. Our employee assistance programs provide 24/7 telephonic support for personal and crisis events and provide resources such as counseling and referral assistance with childcare, health and wellness, financial issues, legal issues, adoption and daily living. We have a comprehensive behavioral health case
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management program supporting a wide range of members who are impacted by their behavioral health condition, including specialty areas such as eating disorders, anxiety, depression and substance abuse. The program assists members and their families with obtaining appropriate behavioral health treatment, offering community resources, providing education and telephonic support, and promoting provider collaboration.
Healthcare Quality Initiatives
Increasingly, the healthcare industry is able to define quality healthcare based on effective, safe, equitable and affordable care in preventive health, outcomes of care and optimal care management for chronic disease. A key to our success has been our ability to develop partnerships by working with our network physicians, hospitals, and social resources providers to improve the quality outcomes of the healthcare and social impact services provided to our members, their families, and the community-at-large. Our ability to promote quality medical care, address health-related social risks, and advance health equity has been recognized by NCQA, the largest and most respected national accreditation program for managed care health plans.
Several quality healthcare measures, including the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (“HEDIS®”), have been incorporated into NCQA’s accreditation processes. HEDIS® measures range from preventive services, such as screening mammography and pediatric immunization, to elements of care, including decreasing the complications of diabetes, improving treatment for patients with heart disease, integration of behavioral health, and racial and ethnic stratification measurement to help close healthcare disparities.
Through our AIM Specialty Health (“AIM”) subsidiary, we promote appropriate, safe and affordable member care in the areas of imaging, sleep disorders, cardiac testing, oncology drugs and musculoskeletal procedures. These expanded specialty benefit management solutions leverage clinical expertise and technology to engage provider communities and members in the more effective and efficient use of outpatient services and to promote the most appropriate use of clinical services to improve the quality of overall healthcare delivered to our members and members of other health plans that are covered under AIM’s programs.
Through our myNEXUS, Inc. (“myNEXUS”) subsidiary, we perform management review for home health services provided to Medicare members, with the goal of ensuring they receive appropriate, high-quality care and supporting their transition back into the home. Effective management of these services can help reduce preventable hospital admissions and readmissions, thereby improving healthcare outcomes for patients. Additionally, myNEXUS has developed programs to address healthcare quality by identifying social determinants of health needs of our members and seeking to close gaps in care through an in-home assessment. Both AIM and myNEXUS programs are examples of how we facilitate improvements in the quality of care provided to our members and promote cost-effective medical care.
The physical aspects of health have been traditionally the focus and the priority for healthcare. However, unique life circumstances and experiences impact every individual and their health. We seek to understand our members' health-related social needs to create a healthcare system that synchronizes care delivery for physical, behavioral, social and pharmacy needs. We are advancing our efforts through consistent screening of our members for their social needs by using industry-standard tools such as the Protocol for Responding to & Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks & Experiences, co-creating social action plans with our members, connecting members to related social support services, and evaluating the entire process for continuous quality improvement. We are committed to ensuring that all people, regardless of age, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and geographic or financial access can receive individualized care. Harnessing data gives a more complete picture of each individual and their health needs and can help make healthcare more personalized and equitable. Strengthening communities has a positive effect on health therefore we value and nurture our local ties which are a key component of our whole-health approach and drive us to work closely with community organizations that create support networks. Using our data, we also identify the resources needed to support local residents, including the people who we serve, to ensure those resources can better meet local needs.
BCBSA Licenses
We are a party to license agreements with the BCBSA that entitle us to the exclusive, and in certain areas, non-exclusive, use of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and marks in assigned geographic territories. BCBSA is a national association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, the primary function of which is to promote and preserve the integrity of the BCBS names and marks, as well as provide certain coordination among the member companies. Each BCBSA licensee
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is an independent legal organization and is not responsible for obligations of other BCBSA member organizations. Although previously we did not have a right to sell products and services using the BCBS names and marks outside of the states in which we are licensed to sell BCBS products, under the terms of the subscriber settlement agreement and release (“Subscriber Settlement Agreement”) among the class of plaintiffs, BCBSA and Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield licensees, including us (the “Blue plans”), some large national employers with self-funded plans (specifically identified in the Subscriber Settlement Agreement) have a right to request a second Blue plan bid in addition to a bid from the local Blue plan. The Subscriber Settlement Agreement received final approval in August 2022. We are required to pay an annual license fee to the BCBSA based on enrollment and also to comply with various requirements and restrictions regarding our operations and our use of the BCBS names and marks. These requirements and restrictions include, among other things: minimum capital and liquidity requirements; enrollment and customer service performance requirements; participation in programs that provide portability of membership between plans; disclosures to the BCBSA relating to enrollment and financial conditions; disclosures as to the structure of the BCBS system in contracts with third parties and in public statements; plan governance requirements; cybersecurity requirements; a requirement that at least 80% (or, in the case of Blue Cross of California, substantially all) of a licensee’s annual combined local net revenue, as defined by the BCBSA, attributable to healthcare plans and related services within its service areas must be sold, marketed, administered or underwritten under the BCBS names and marks; a requirement that neither a plan nor any of its licensed affiliates may permit an entity other than a plan or a licensed affiliate to obtain control of the plan or the licensed affiliate or to acquire a substantial portion of its assets related to licensable services; governance requirements such as a requirement that we divide our Board of Directors into three classes serving staggered three-year terms; a requirement that we guarantee certain contractual and financial obligations of our licensed affiliates; and a requirement that we indemnify the BCBSA against any claims asserted against it resulting from the contractual and financial obligations of any subsidiary that serves as a fiscal intermediary providing administrative services for Medicare Parts A and B. In addition, a change of control or violation of the BCBSA ownership limitations on our capital stock, impending financial insolvency or the appointment of a trustee or receiver or the commencement of any action against us seeking our dissolution could cause a termination of our license agreements.
We believe that we and our licensed affiliates are currently in compliance with these standards. The standards under the license agreements may be modified in certain instances by the BCBSA. See Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional details on the impact if we were not to comply with these license agreements and Note 14, “Commitments and Contingencies –Litigation and Regulatory Proceedings – Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation” of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on the Subscriber Settlement Agreement.
Regulation
General
Our operations are subject to comprehensive and detailed state, federal and international regulation throughout the jurisdictions in which we do business. These laws and regulations, which can vary significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, restrict how we conduct our businesses and result in additional burdens and costs to us. Further, federal and state laws and regulations are subject to amendments and changing interpretations in each jurisdiction. The application of these complex legal and regulatory requirements to the detailed operation of our businesses creates areas of uncertainty. In addition, there are numerous proposed healthcare laws and regulations at the federal and state levels, including single payer, Medicare for All and public option proposals, some of which could materially adversely affect our businesses if they were to be enacted.
Supervisory agencies, including federal and state regulators and departments of health, insurance and corporation, have broad authority to:
•grant, suspend and revoke licenses to transact business;
•regulate our products and services in great detail;
•regulate, limit, or suspend our ability to market products, including participation in Medicare and the Public Exchanges;
•determine through a procurement process our ability to participate in certain programs, including state Medicaid programs;
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•retroactively adjust premium rates;
•monitor our solvency and reserve adequacy;
•audit, and recovery of audit discrepancies, including risk adjustment data validation (“RADV”) audits;
•scrutinize our investment activities on the basis of quality, diversification and other quantitative criteria; and
•impose monetary and criminal sanctions for non-compliance with regulatory requirements.
To carry out these tasks, these government entities periodically examine our operations and accounts.
The health benefits business also may be adversely impacted by court and regulatory decisions that expand or invalidate the interpretations of existing statutes and regulations. It is uncertain whether we could recoup, through higher premiums or other measures, the increased costs of mandated benefits or other increased costs caused by potential legislation, regulation or court rulings. See Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
COVID-19
With the declaration of COVID-19 as a public health emergency (“PHE”), the federal and state governments have enacted, and may continue to enact, legislation and regulations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that have had, and we expect will continue to have, a significant impact on health benefits, consumer eligibility for public programs and our cash flows for all lines of business, and which have introduced increased uncertainty around our cost structure. These actions, which are or have been in effect for various durations, provide, among other things: mandates to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing, vaccines and related services; financial support to healthcare providers; and mandates related to prior authorizations, payment levels to providers, consumer enrollment windows and telehealth services. The Biden administration renewed the PHE on January 11, 2023 and has indicated that they intend for the PHE to expire on May 11, 2023.
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (the “2023 Appropriations Act”), Congress decoupled Medicaid eligibility recertification from the PHE. As a result, states may begin removing ineligible beneficiaries from their Medicaid programs starting April 1, 2023. When recertifications resume, we expect a decline in our Medicaid membership. At the same time, we expect growth in our Commercial risk-based and fee-based plans and Medicare, including through the Public Exchanges, as members exiting Medicaid in our 14 Commercial states seek coverage elsewhere.
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “Inflation Reduction Act”), which was signed into law in August 2022, contains a variety of provisions that impact our business including an extension of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021's enhanced Premium Tax Credits (“PTC”) through 2025; imposing a new corporate alternative minimum tax; providing a one percent excise tax on repurchases of stock made after December 31, 2022; allowing CMS to negotiate prices on a limited set of prescription drugs in Medicare Parts B and D beginning in 2026; instituting caps on insulin cost sharing in Medicare Parts B and D; redesigning of the Medicare Part D benefit; adding a requirement that drug manufacturers pay rebates if prices increase beyond inflation; and delaying the implementation of the Trump Administration Medicare drug rebate rule to 2032. The extension of the enhanced PTC will likely allow for growth in Individual exchange market enrollment as Medicaid eligibility recertifications resume, supporting continuity of coverage for more people.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “2021 Appropriations Act”) has impacted us since passage and in the future may have a material effect upon our business, including procedures and coverage requirements related to surprise medical bills and new mandates for continuity of care for certain patients, price comparison tools, disclosure of broker compensation, mental health parity reporting, and reporting on pharmacy benefits and drug costs. The requirements of the 2021 Appropriations Act applicable to us have varying effective dates, some of which were effective in December 2021 and during 2022, and others of which have been extended into 2023 since the enactment of the 2021 Appropriations Act.
State Regulation of Insurance Companies and HMOs
Our insurance and HMO subsidiaries must obtain a certificate of authority and maintain that license in the jurisdictions in which they conduct business. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) has adopted model regulations that, where adopted by states, require expanded governance practices, risk and solvency assessment reporting and
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the filing of periodic financial and operating reports. Most states have adopted these or similar measures to expand the scope of regulations relating to corporate governance and internal control activities of HMOs and insurance companies. Health insurers and HMOs are subject to state examination and periodic license renewal.
In addition, we are regulated as an insurance holding company and are subject to the insurance holding company acts of the states in which our insurance company and HMO subsidiaries are domiciled. These acts contain certain reporting requirements, as well as restrictions on transactions between an insurer or HMO and its affiliates, and may restrict the ability of our regulated subsidiaries to pay dividends to our holding companies. These holding company laws and regulations generally require registration with applicable state departments of insurance and the filing of reports describing capital structure, ownership, financial condition, certain intercompany transactions, enterprise risks, corporate governance and general business operations. State insurance holding company laws and regulations require notice or prior regulatory approval of transactions including acquisitions, material intercompany transfers of assets, guarantees and other transactions between the regulated companies and their affiliates, including parent holding companies. Applicable state insurance holding company acts also restrict the ability of any person to obtain control of an insurance company or HMO without prior regulatory approval. “Control” is generally defined as the direct or indirect power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person and is presumed to exist if a person directly or indirectly owns or controls 10% or more of the voting securities of another person. Dispositions of control generally are also regulated under the state insurance holding company acts.
The states of domicile of our regulated subsidiaries have statutory risk-based capital (“RBC”) requirements for health and other insurance companies and HMOs based on the Risk-Based Capital (RBC) For Health Organizations Model Act. These RBC requirements are intended to assess the capital adequacy of life and health insurers and HMOs, taking into account the risk characteristics of a company’s investments and products. In general, under these laws, an insurance company or HMO must submit a report of its RBC level to the insurance department or insurance commissioner of its state of domicile for each calendar year. The law requires increasing degrees of regulatory oversight and intervention as a company’s RBC declines. As of December 31, 2022, the RBC levels of our insurance and HMO subsidiaries exceeded all applicable mandatory RBC requirements. For more information on RBC capital and additional liquidity and capital requirements for a licensee of the BCBSA, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations–Liquidity and Capital Resources–Capital Resources,” included in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Ongoing Requirements and Changes Stemming from the ACA
Since its enactment in 2010, the ACA has introduced new risks, regulatory challenges and uncertainties, has impacted our business model and strategy and has required changes in the way our products are designed, underwritten, priced, distributed and administered. We expect the ACA will continue to significantly impact our business and results of operations, including pricing, minimum medical loss ratios (“MLRs”) and the geographies in which our products are available. We also expect further and ongoing regulatory guidance on a number of issues related to Medicare, including evolving methodology for ratings and quality bonus payments. CMS also frequently proposes changes to its program that audits data submitted under the risk adjustment programs in ways that could increase financial recoveries from plans. We will continue to evaluate the impact of the ACA as any further developments occur.
Certain significant provisions of the ACA include, among others:
•The creation of Public Exchanges for individuals and small group customers.
•The establishment of minimum MLR thresholds by line of business for the Commercial market (which may be subject to more restrictive MLR thresholds under state regulations, such as those in New York). Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D prescription drug plans that do not meet the mandated threshold will have to pay a minimum MLR rebate, will be subject to restricted enrollment if MLR is below the threshold for three consecutive years, and are subject to contract termination if the plan’s MLR is below the threshold for five consecutive years. In addition, state Medicaid programs are required to set managed care capitation rates such that a minimum MLR is projected to be achieved; however, states are not required to collect remittances if the minimum MLR is not achieved.
Approximately 52.3% and 17.5% of our premium revenue and medical membership, respectively, were subject to the minimum MLR regulations as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022. Approximately 53.6% and 18.4%
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of our premium revenue and medical membership, respectively, were subject to the minimum MLR regulations as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021.
•The creation of an incentive payment program for Medicare Advantage plans. CMS developed the Medicare Advantage Star ratings system, which awards between 1.0 and 5.0 Stars to Medicare Advantage plans based on performance in several categories, including quality of care and customer service. The Star ratings are used by CMS to award quality-based bonus payments to plans that receive a rating of 4.0 or higher. The methodology and measures included in the Star ratings system can be modified by CMS annually. For payment year 2023, we expect to have approximately 73% of our Medicare Advantage members in 4.0 or higher rated plans.
•The implementation of a Medicare Advantage payment formula, which prevents reimbursement rates from increasing as much as otherwise would be expected.
We continue to evaluate our experience in the Public Exchange markets. Based on the viability of the Public Exchanges and availability of federal subsidies, we have made adjustments to our premium rates and geographic participation, including a modest expansion in the Public Exchange markets in 2022 and further expansion into a limited number of additional counties in 2023. Any variation from our expectations regarding acuity, enrollment levels, adverse selection, or other assumptions utilized in setting premium rates could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position, and cash flows, and may require further adjustments to our rates and participation going forward. As a result, for 2023 we are offering Individual Public Exchange products in 138 of the 143 rating regions in which we operate, in comparison to 122 of 143 rating regions in 2022.Our strategy has been, and will continue to be, to only participate in rating regions where we have an appropriate level of confidence that these markets are on a path toward sustainability, including, but not limited to, factors such as expected financial performance, regulatory environment and underlying market characteristics.
Drug Benefit and Pharmacy Benefit Manager Regulation
Pharmacy benefit managers are regulated at both the federal and state levels and must comply with federal and state statutes and regulations governing labeling, packaging, advertising and adulteration of prescription drugs, dispensing of controlled substances and licensing. In recent years the federal government has banned certain business practices, including “gag clauses,” which prohibited pharmacists from informing patients when a lower cost drug was available as a substitute, and “clawbacks,” which occurred when pharmacy benefit managers sought to recoup the difference between the reimbursed cost of the drug and the patient’s copay when the drug itself was less expensive than the copay paid by the patient. Regulation in the states varies dramatically and ranges from licensure of PBMs as third-party administrators, licensure specifically as a pharmacy benefit manager, and licensure accompanied by additional disclosures and limitations of business practices to varying degrees. The NAIC finalized a PBM model law that, if adopted widely, could result in a more standardized approach to PBM regulation in the states in the future. Additionally, in December 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand an Arkansas law regulating PBMs, which could be a precursor to greater state regulation of PBMs in the future. In June 2021, the NAIC announced a proposed white paper addressing PBMs and examining the impact of this Supreme Court case on its model law, which could result in expansion of the NAIC model law and additional regulatory oversight, which could materially affect current industry practices and our PBM business.
A number of proposals are being considered at the federal and state levels that would increase regulation of drug benefits and pharmacy benefit managers. Such proposals under consideration include (1) regulation of rebates from drug manufacturers that would require rebate dollars to be applied at the point-of-sale, (2) federal policy changes to set the prices for a subset of drugs covered under the Medicare program, (3) reforms to the Medicare drug benefit, such as beneficiary cost-sharing changes that aim to lower consumer costs, (4) attempts at both the federal and state levels to prohibit the use of spread pricing contracts in both the Commercial and Medicaid markets, and (5) electronic prior authorizations of drugs. These reforms have the potential to have broad impacts on our PBM business and could materially adversely affect our business if they are enacted.
Privacy, Confidentiality and Data Standards Regulation
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and the administrative simplification provisions of HIPAA impose a number of requirements on covered entities (including insurers, HMOs, group health plans, providers and clearinghouses) and their business associates relating to the use, disclosure and safeguarding of
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protected health information. These requirements include uniform standards of common electronic healthcare transactions; privacy and security regulations; and unique identifier rules for employers, health plans and providers.
Also, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (“HITECH”) Act provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and corresponding implementing regulations have imposed additional requirements on the use and disclosure of protected health information such as additional data breach notification and reporting requirements, contracting requirements for HIPAA business associate agreements, strengthened enforcement mechanisms and increased penalties for HIPAA violations. Federal consumer protection laws may also apply in some instances to privacy and security practices related to personally identifiable information.
The federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act generally places restrictions on the disclosure of non-public information to non-affiliated third parties, and requires financial institutions, including insurers, to provide customers with notice regarding how their non-public personal information is used, including an opportunity to “opt out” of certain disclosures. State departments of insurance and certain federal agencies adopted implementing regulations as required by federal law.
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 encourages organizations to share cyber threat indicators with the federal government and, among other things, directed HHS to develop a set of voluntary cybersecurity best practices for organizations in the healthcare industry, which were issued in 2018.
In addition, Public Exchanges are required to adhere to privacy and security standards with respect to personally identifiable information and to impose privacy and security standards that are at least as protective as those the Public Exchange has implemented for itself on insurers offering plans through the Public Exchanges and their designated downstream entities, including pharmacy benefit managers and other business associates. These standards may differ from, and be more stringent than, HIPAA.
Furthermore, states have begun enacting more comprehensive privacy laws and regulations addressing consumer rights to data protection or transparency that may affect our privacy and security practices, such as state laws like the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 that govern the use, disclosure and protection of member data and impose additional breach notification requirements. The NAIC is planning potential revisions to one or more of its privacy model acts, which could expand consumer privacy rights. State consumer protection laws may also apply to privacy and security practices related to personally identifiable information, including information related to consumers and care providers. Complying with conflicting cybersecurity regulations and varying enforcement philosophies, which may differ from state to state, requires significant resources and may materially and adversely affect our ability to standardize our products and services across state lines.
Federal regulations have been finalized in the following areas that will continue to materially impact our operations:
•Federal regulations on data interoperability that require claims data to be made available to third parties unaffiliated with us; and
•Federal regulations requiring hospitals and health insurers to publish negotiated prices for services, including the health plan price transparency regulations issued in October 2020 by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury (the “Health Plan Transparency Rule”).
Beginning in July 2022, the Health Plan Transparency Rule required us to disclose, on a monthly basis, detailed pricing information regarding negotiated rates for all covered items and services between the plan or issuer and in-network providers and historical payments to, and billed charges from, out-of-network providers. Additionally, beginning in 2023, we are now required to make available to members personalized out-of-pocket cost information and the underlying negotiated rates for 500 covered healthcare items and services, including prescription drugs. In 2024, this requirement will expand to all items and services.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
The provision of services to certain employee welfare benefit plans is subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), a complex set of laws and regulations subject to interpretation and enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor. ERISA regulates certain aspects of the relationships between us, the employers that maintain employee welfare benefit plans subject to ERISA and participants in
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such plans. Some of our administrative services and other activities may also be subject to regulation under ERISA. In addition, certain states require licensure or registration of companies providing third-party claims administration services for benefit plans. We provide a variety of products and services to employee welfare benefit plans that are covered by ERISA. Plans subject to ERISA can also be subject to state laws, and the question of whether and to what extent ERISA preempts a state law has been, and will continue to be, interpreted by many courts.
Guaranty Fund Assessments
Under insolvency or guaranty association laws in most states, insurance companies and HMOs can be assessed for amounts paid by guaranty funds for policyholder losses incurred when an insurance company or HMO becomes insolvent. Most state insolvency or guaranty association laws currently provide for assessments based upon the amount of premiums received on insurance underwritten within such state (with a minimum amount payable even if no premium is received). Under many of these guaranty association laws, assessments are made retrospectively. Some states permit insurers or HMOs to recover assessments paid through full or partial premium tax offsets or through future policyholder surcharges. The amount and timing of any future assessments cannot be predicted with certainty; however, future assessments are likely to occur.
International Regulation
We have various international subsidiaries, which provide back-office services, that are subject to different, and sometimes more stringent, legal and regulatory requirements that vary widely by jurisdiction. In addition, our non-U.S. operations are subject to U.S. laws regulating the conduct and activities of U.S.-based businesses operating abroad, including but not limited to, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and corresponding foreign laws governing anti-bribery, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering.
Human Capital
The foundation of our strategy starts with our culture, and our associates are critical to fulfilling our purpose of improving the health of humanity. As of December 31, 2022, our employee population, including all full-time, part-time and temporary workers, consisted of approximately 102,300 individuals, 79,000 in the United States and 23,300 internationally. We have built a high-performance culture that we believe enhances our ability to deliver on our commitments and guides us to address the challenges of today. We believe that our culture allows us to attract and retain talented and experienced individuals to support the communities we serve. Our associates actively participate through associate engagement surveys and online feedback tools. We leverage and monitor associate feedback and take action on responses.
Inclusion & Diversity
The diversity of our associates is central to achieving key strategies and improving performance. We strive to maintain a diverse and inclusive workforce comprised of a vast array of backgrounds, life experiences and cultures, which we believe enables a deeper connection with our members, allowing us to better serve our members and communities, and drives greater business results. As of December 31, 2022, our U.S. associate population was approximately 77% female and 51% racially and ethnically diverse, while 65% of our managers are female and 36% are racially or ethnically diverse.
Fair Pay
Elevance Health is committed to a fair pay workplace. We were in the first cohort of companies certified by the Fair Pay Workplace (“FPW”), an independent certification that takes a holistic approach to pay equity, partnering to design an annual pay equity action plan that includes a perpetual review of all positions, new hires and promotions to effect meaningful and measurable change. This independent certification is based on a set of publicly available rules and standards and the endorsed methodology of a group of leading experts from forward-thinking corporations, academia, human resources, data science and the legal field. After partnering with and overseeing our review process, FPW has validated our analysis of our associate population, which found that pay for females is within 1% of their male counterparts and pay for people of color is equal to their white counterparts, after taking into account neutral job related factors.
Talent Development
Growing and developing our talent internally is key to our succession plans and our ability to lead at our best every day. To inspire a high-performance culture and promote talent excellence, we offer individual, career and leadership development
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opportunities, encouraging associates to continually learn and grow. We offer various instructor-led and virtual instructor-led programs and maintain a vast curriculum of relevant, on-demand learning and development resources.
Health & Wellbeing
We have the privilege of touching the lives of millions of people each day, starting with the health of our own associates. To improve the health and wellbeing of our associates, we offer a comprehensive compensation package, including competitive salaries, a 401(k) plan and medical, dental, vision and disability coverage. In addition, we offer our associates wellness and behavioral programs and tools to help them get and stay healthy and more easily manage their work and personal lives.
Information About Our Executive Officers
The following sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers and Chief Accounting Officer as of February 1, 2023.
Name Age Position
Gail K. Boudreaux 62 President and Chief Executive Officer
John E. Gallina 63 Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Gloria M. McCarthy 70 Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Blair W. Todt 55 Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Ronald W. Penczek 58 Chief Accounting Officer and Controller
Ms. Boudreaux has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company since November 2017. Prior to joining us, she served as Chief Executive Officer of GKB Global Health, LLC (healthcare consulting firm) from 2015 to November 2017. Prior thereto, Ms. Boudreaux was Executive Vice President of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (diversified healthcare company) from 2008 to 2015, including roles as Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealthCare (managed healthcare company), a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated from 2011 to 2014 and President of the Commercial Business of UnitedHealthCare from 2008 to 2011. Before joining United HealthCare, she worked at Health Care Service Corporation (“HCSC”) (health insurance company) as Executive Vice President of External Operations from 2005 to 2008 and President of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois from 2002 to 2005. Before joining HCSC, Ms. Boudreaux held various positions at Aetna, Inc. (“Aetna”) (managed healthcare company), including Senior Vice President, Group Insurance.
Mr. Gallina has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2016. Mr. Gallina joined Elevance Health in 1994 and has held a variety of leadership roles across the organization. Prior to his current role, Mr. Gallina served as Elevance Health’s Chief Financial Officer for the Commercial & Specialty Business Division from 2015 to 2016, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer from 2013 to 2015. Other leadership positions held during his tenure include Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Chief Risk Officer from 2011 to 2013, while also holding the title of Controller from 2011 to 2013. Before joining the Company, Mr. Gallina spent 12 years with Coopers & Lybrand in various positions, including as an Audit Senior Manager.
Mr. Haytaian has served as our Executive Vice President and President of Carelon (formerly known as our Diversified Business Group) and CarelonRx (formerly known as IngenioRx) since October 2021. Prior to his current role, Mr. Haytaian served as Executive Vice President and President of our Commercial & Specialty Business Division beginning in April 2018. From June 2014 until April 2018, Mr. Haytaian served as our Executive Vice President and President of the Government Business Division. Mr. Haytaian joined the Company in 2012 with our acquisition of Amerigroup Corporation (“Amerigroup”) and served as President of our Medicaid business from 2013 until 2014. From 2005 to 2013, Mr. Haytaian
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held several leadership positions with Amerigroup, including serving as Chief Executive Officer of the North Region for Amerigroup’s Medicaid business from 2012 until 2013. Mr. Haytaian has extensive experience leading Medicare and Medicaid programs with Amerigroup and, prior thereto, with Oxford Health Plans, Inc.
Mr. Kendrick has served as Executive Vice President and President of our Commercial & Specialty Business Division since October 2021. From January 2021 until October 2021, Mr. Kendrick served as President of our Commercial Business West Markets (California, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin). Mr. Kendrick joined us in 1995, and has held numerous leadership roles across the organization, including serving as President, Anthem National Accounts/Central Markets from 2015 until January 2021 and President of National Accounts and General Manager for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia from 2010 until 2015.
Ms. McCarthy has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since 2013. She was Executive Vice President of Enterprise Execution and Efficiency from 2012 to 2013. Prior to that appointment, she served as Senior Vice President for Operational Excellence from 2008 to 2012, as Senior Vice President of Service Operations from 2006 to 2008 and as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of our East Region from 2005 to 2006. Prior to our acquisition of WellChoice, Inc. (“WellChoice”) in 2005, Ms. McCarthy served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of WellChoice.
Ms. Norwood has served as our Executive Vice President and President of the Government Business Division since June 2018. Prior to joining us, she was Director of The Department of Healthcare and Family Services for the State of Illinois from 2015 to June 2018. Prior to that appointment, Ms. Norwood held a variety of leadership roles at Aetna, with her most recent role as President of the Mid-America Region for Aetna from 2010 until 2013.
Mr. Todt has served as our Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer since November 2020 and our interim head of human resources and global security and safety team since January 2022. Prior to joining us, Mr. Todt served as Senior Vice President, Legal, Compliance & Business Performance and Chief Legal Officer of HCSC from 2016 to July 2020. Prior to joining HCSC, Mr. Todt held a variety of leadership roles at WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (health insurance company), with his most recent role as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer and Secretary from 2010 until 2016.
Mr. Penczek has served as our Controller since November 2015 and as our Chief Accounting Officer since December 2015. He served as our Vice President and Controller from 2013 to 2015. Prior to that appointment, Mr. Penczek served as Vice President and Assistant Controller from 2008 to 2013 and in various other roles in our finance department from 2006 until 2008. Before joining us in 2005, Mr. Penczek was a Staff Vice President with CNA Insurance from 2000 to 2005 and had various positions with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from 1992 to 2000, including as a Manager.
Available Information
We are a large accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) and are required, pursuant to Item 101 of Regulation S-K, to provide certain information regarding our website and the availability of certain documents filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers at www.sec.gov. Our website is www.elevancehealth.com. We have included our website address throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K as a textual reference only. The information contained on, or accessible through, our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We make available through our website, free of charge, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with or furnish it to the SEC. We also include on our website our Corporate Governance Guidelines, our Code of Conduct and the charter of each standing committee of our Board of Directors. In addition, we intend to disclose on our website any amendments to, or waivers from, our Code of Conduct that are required to be publicly disclosed pursuant to rules of the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). Elevance Health, Inc. is an Indiana corporation incorporated on July 17, 2001.
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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.
In evaluating our business, the risks described below, as well as the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, should be carefully considered. Any one or more of such risks could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and stock price and could cause our actual results of operations and financial condition to vary materially from past or anticipated future results of operations and financial condition. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also adversely affect us.
BUSINESS RISKS
If we fail to appropriately predict, price for and manage healthcare costs, the profitability of our products and services could decline, which could materially adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
Our profitability depends on accurately predicting and pricing healthcare costs and our ability to manage future healthcare costs through medical management, product design, negotiation of favorable provider contracts and underwriting criteria. Total healthcare costs are affected by the type, number and cost of individual services rendered. Numerous factors affecting healthcare costs may adversely affect our ability to predict and manage healthcare costs, and may impact our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. These factors include, among others, changes in healthcare practices, demographic characteristics including the aging population, medical cost inflation, increased labor costs, evolution of new technologies, drugs and treatments, increased cost of individual services, increased number and cost of prescription drugs, clusters of high cost cases, increased use of services, including resulting from pandemics, large-scale medical emergencies, increasing natural disasters in connection with climate change and other public health crises, new mandated benefits and treatment guidelines and changes to other regulations impacting our business.
Slight differences between predicted and actual medical costs or utilization rates as a percentage of premium revenues can result in significant changes in our results of operations. Generally, our premiums on Commercial policies and Medicaid contracts are fixed for a 12-month period and are determined based on data from several months prior to the commencement of the premium period. Our revenue from Medicare policies is based on bids submitted to CMS six months prior to the start of the contract year. CMS has explicit gain and loss margin requirements within the bids, as well as contract-specific federal MLR annual requirements. Accordingly, the costs we incur in excess of our benefit cost projections cannot be recovered in the contract year through higher premiums. Existing Medicaid contract rates are often established by the applicable state, and our actual costs may exceed those rates. Many factors, including those discussed above, may cause actual costs to exceed those estimated and reflected in our Commercial premiums and Medicare and Medicaid bids.
Although federal and state premium and risk adjustment mechanisms could help offset health benefit costs above our projections if the assumptions we use to set our premium rates are significantly different than actual results, our results of operations and financial condition could still be adversely affected. The reserves that we establish for health insurance policy benefits and other contractual rights and benefits are based on assumptions concerning a number of factors, including trends in healthcare costs, expenses, general economic conditions and other factors. To the extent the actual claims experience is unfavorable compared to our underlying assumptions, our incurred losses would increase and future earnings could be adversely affected.
In addition to the challenge of managing healthcare costs, we face pressure to contain premium rates. Our customers may renegotiate their contracts to seek to contain their costs or may move to a competitor to obtain more favorable premiums. Further, federal and state regulatory agencies may restrict or prevent entirely our ability to implement changes in premium rates. A limitation on our ability to increase or maintain our premium or reimbursement levels or a significant loss of membership resulting from our need to increase or maintain premium or reimbursement levels could adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
We continue to evaluate our experience in the Public Exchange markets. Based on the viability of the Public Exchanges and availability of federal subsidies, we have made adjustments to our premium rates and geographic participation, including a modest expansion in the Public Exchange markets in 2022, and further expansion in a limited number of additional counties in 2023. Any variation from our expectations regarding acuity, enrollment levels, adverse selection, or other assumptions utilized in setting premium rates could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position, and cash flows, and may require further adjustments to our rates and participation in Public Exchanges going forward.
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A significant reduction in the enrollment in our health benefits programs or PBM products or services, particularly in states where we have large regional concentrations, could have an adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
A significant reduction in the number of enrollees in our health benefits programs or PBM products or services could adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Factors that could contribute to a reduction in enrollment include: reductions in workforce by existing customers; the end of the temporary suspension of eligibility recertification for Medicaid recipients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will likely result in a reduction in our Medicaid membership; a general economic upturn that results in fewer individuals being eligible for Medicaid programs; a general economic downturn that results in business failures and high unemployment rates; employers no longer offering certain healthcare coverage as an employee benefit or electing to offer coverage on a voluntary, employee-funded basis; participation on Public Exchanges; federal and state regulatory changes; failure to obtain new customers or retain existing customers; premium increases and benefit changes; our exit from a specific market; negative publicity and news coverage; and failure to attain or maintain nationally recognized accreditations.
The states in which we operate with the largest concentrations of revenues include California, Virginia, Ohio, New York, Indiana, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Due to this concentration of business in these states, we are exposed to potential losses resulting from the risk of state-specific or regional economic downturns impacting these states. If any such negative economic conditions do not improve, we may experience a reduction in existing and new business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
A cyber-attack or other privacy or data security incident could result in an unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential information, cause a loss of data, disrupt our operations, give rise to remediation or other expenses, expose us to liability under federal, state and international laws, and subject us to litigation and investigations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
As part of our normal operations, we collect, store, process, retain and analyze certain sensitive and confidential information, including protected personal information subject to privacy, security and data breach notification requirements. Some of the data we process, store and transmit is outside of the U.S. due to the structure of our information technology systems and our internal business operations. We are subject to a variety of continuously evolving federal, state and international laws and rules regarding the use and disclosure of certain sensitive or confidential information, that depending on the specific business and intended data use, include without limitation, HIPAA's privacy and security rules, HIPAA's HITECH rule, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, GDPR and numerous state laws governing personal information, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act effective on January 1, 2023. Our facilities and systems, and those of our third-party service providers, are regularly the target of, and may be vulnerable to, cyber-attacks, security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors, negligent or wrongful conduct by employees or others with permitted access to our systems and information, or other threats.
We cannot ensure that we will be able to identify, prevent or contain the effects of cyber-attacks or other cybersecurity risks that bypass our security measures or disrupt our information technology systems or business. Hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects in design, manufacturer defects or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. In addition, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access, disable, disrupt or degrade service or sabotage systems change frequently, are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques, timely discover or counter them or implement adequate preventative measures. Viruses, worms or other malicious software programs may be used to attack our systems or otherwise exploit any security vulnerabilities which may cause system disruptions or shutdowns, or may cause personal, proprietary or confidential information to be disclosed, misappropriated or compromised. As a result, cyber-security and the continued development and enhancement of our controls, processes and practices designed to protect our systems, computers, software, data and networks from attack, damage and unauthorized access remain a priority for us.
We have been, and may in the future be, subject to litigation and governmental investigations related to cyber-attacks and security breaches. Any such future litigation or governmental investigation could divert the attention of management from the operation of our business, result in reputational damage and have a material adverse impact on our business, cash
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flows, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, our programs to detect, contain, and respond to data security incidents as well as contingency plans and insurance coverage for potential liabilities of this nature may not be sufficient to cover all claims and liabilities.
Noncompliance with any privacy, security or data protection laws and regulations, or any security breach, cyber-attack or cyber-security breach, and any incident involving the misappropriation, theft, loss or other unauthorized disclosure or use of, or access to, sensitive or confidential information, whether by us or by one of our third-party service providers, could require us to expend significant resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures and to remediate any damage. In addition, this could negatively affect our operations, cause system disruptions, damage our reputation, cause membership losses and contract breaches, and could also result in regulatory enforcement actions, material fines and penalties, litigation or other actions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to risks associated with pandemics, like the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other extreme events, large-scale medical emergencies and public health crises, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition and financial performance.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our business, providers, customers and communities. A new pandemic or other large-scale medical emergency or public health crisis, referred to collectively as “public health crises,” may cause illness, death, quarantines, business and school shutdowns, reductions in business activity, travel and financial transactions, unemployment, inflation, labor shortages, supply chain interruptions and overall economic and financial market instability. The following are some of the risks that we experienced, and are likely to continue experiencing, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and that we could experience as a result of future public health crises, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations:
•Increased healthcare costs due to higher utilization rates of medical facilities and services and behavioral health services, increased labor costs resulting from labor shortages and increases in medical expenses and associated hospital and pharmaceutical costs, including testing, treatment and the administration of vaccines and other therapeutics and costs due to care deferred during the public health crisis, which may lead to additional care resulting from missed treatments.
•Increased estimation uncertainty on our claims liability, as well as decreased predictability of Medicare and Medicaid rates due to changes in utilization of medical facilities and services, medical expenses and other costs. We experienced rate adjustments from certain Medicaid regulators in 2022 in response to decreased utilization.
•A reduction in enrollment in our health benefits, products and services or a change in membership mix to less profitable lines of business by existing customers due to reductions in workforce and other impacts of an economic downturn.
•Cash flow volatility or shortfalls caused by delayed, delinquent or non-collectable payments.
If the COVID-19 pandemic continues for a prolonged period, or if any future public health crisis occurs and continues for a prolonged period, these risks could be exacerbated, and cause further impact to our business and operations.
Additionally, other extreme events such as natural disasters, war, terrorism and civil unrest could create public health crises or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations. Natural disasters, such as wildfires, hurricanes and snow and ice storms, have impacted and may in the future impact our customers, employees, facilities and third-party vendors located in the affected area. In the event of a public health crises, we may need to make temporary policy changes, such as waiving various medical requirements, assisting with replacement medications, transferring prescriptions and expanding our help line. Furthermore, climate change could result in certain types of natural disasters occurring more frequently or with more intense effects, which could have a long-term impact on general economic conditions and the healthcare and pharmacy industry in particular.
There are various risks associated with participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs, including dependence upon government funding and the timing of payments, compliance with government contracts and increased regulatory oversight.
We contract with various federal and state agencies, including CMS, to provide managed healthcare services, such as Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicare Supplement, Medicaid, TANF, SPD, LTSS, CHIP, Medicaid expansion programs and various specialty programs, products and services. We also provide various administrative services for other entities offering medical and/or prescription drug plans to their Medicaid or Medicare eligible members, and we offer
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employer group waiver plans which provide medical and/or prescription drug coverage to retirees. We also participate in programs in several states for the care of dual-eligible members. Regulatory reform initiatives or changes in existing laws or regulations applicable to these programs, or their interpretations, are difficult to predict and could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
Revenues from the Medicare and Medicaid programs are dependent, in whole or in part, upon annual funding from the federal government and/or applicable state governments, and base premium rates paid by each state or federal agency differ depending upon a combination of factors such as defined upper payment limits, a member’s health status, age, gender, county or region, benefit mix, member eligibility category and risk scores. Future rates may be affected by continued government efforts to contain costs and federal and state budgetary constraints. Certain state contracts are subject to cancellation in the event of the unavailability of state funds. Additionally, ongoing CMS system changes related to the data it uses to calculate risk scores in the Medicare Advantage program may impact our federal funding. The federal government or any state in which we operate could decrease rates paid to us, pay us less than the amount necessary to keep pace with our cost trends, cancel our contracts retroactively or seek an adjustment to previously negotiated rates. In addition, various states’ Medicare-Medicaid plans are still subject to uncertainty surrounding payment rates and other requirements, which could affect where we seek to participate in these programs. An unexpected reduction in payments, inadequate government funding or significantly delayed payments for these programs may adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
Other potential risks associated with Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D plans include increased medical or pharmaceutical costs, data corrections identified as a result of ongoing auditing and monitoring activities, potential uncollectability of receivables resulting from processing and/or verifying enrollment, inadequacy of underwriting assumptions, inability to receive and process correct information (including inability due to systems issues by the federal government, the applicable state government or us), uncollectability of premiums from members and limited enrollment periods. Actual results may be materially different than our assumptions and estimates and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our contracts with CMS and state governmental agencies contain certain provisions regarding data submission, risk adjustment, provider network and directory maintenance, quality measures, claims payment, timely and accurate processing of appeals and grievances, oversight of service providers, encounter data, continuity of care, call center performance and other requirements specific to federal and state program regulations. We have been subject in the past, and may again be in the future, to administrative actions, fines, penalties, liquidated damages or retrospective adjustments in payments made to our health plans as a result of a failure to comply with those requirements, which has impacted and in the future could impact our profitability. Due to decreased utilization of medical facilities and services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced retroactive rate adjustments by certain state Medicaid agencies, and rate adjustments may continue in the future. As members have accessed care during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced increased difficulty obtaining provider information required by CMS and state governmental agencies and, as a result, may have difficulty meeting these quality measures. Further, our existing CMS or state Medicaid contracts have not always been renewed, we have not always been awarded new contracts as a result of the competitive procurement process, and in some cases we have lost members under existing contracts as a result of a post-award challenge by unsuccessful bidders, each of which could take place again in the future and have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
Further, the Star Rating System utilized by CMS to evaluate Medicare Advantage Plans may have a significant effect on our revenue, as higher-rated plans tend to experience increased enrollment and plans with a Star rating of 4.0 or higher are eligible for quality-based bonus payments and plans with a Star rating of 5.0 can market to and enroll members year-round. If we do not maintain or continue to improve our Star ratings, fail to meet or exceed our competitors’ Star ratings, or if quality-based bonus payments are reduced or eliminated, we may experience a negative impact on our revenues and the benefits that our plans can offer, which could materially and adversely affect the marketability of our plans, our membership levels, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Similarly, if we fail to meet or exceed any performance standards imposed by state Medicaid programs in which we participate, we may not receive performance-based bonus payments or may incur penalties.
In addition, our failure to comply with federal and state healthcare laws and regulations applicable to our participation in Medicaid and Medicare programs, including those directed at preventing fraud, abuse and discrimination, could result in investigations, litigation, fines, restrictions on, or exclusions from, program participation, or the imposition of corporate
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integrity agreements or other agreements with a federal or state governmental agency, any of which could adversely impact our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
We are periodically subject to government audits, including CMS RADV audits of our Medicare Advantage Plans to validate diagnostic data, patient claims and financial reporting, and audits of our Medicare Part D plans by the Medicare Part D Recovery Audit Contractor (“RAC”), as well as state Medicaid RAC programs. These audits could result in significant adjustments in payments made to our health plans, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. If we fail to report and correct errors discovered through our own auditing procedures or during a RADV or RAC audit, or otherwise fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could be subject to fines, civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to participate in these programs, and on our financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.
Our Medicare and Medicaid contracts are also subject to various MLR rules, including minimum MLR thresholds, rebate requirements and audits, which could adversely affect our membership and revenues if any of our state Medicare or Medicaid plans do not meet an applicable minimum MLR threshold. If a Medicare Advantage, MMP or Medicare Part D contract pays minimum MLR rebates for three consecutive years, it will become ineligible to enroll new members. If a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D contract pays such rebates for five consecutive years, it will be terminated by CMS.
A change in our healthcare product mix may impact our profitability.
Our healthcare products that involve greater potential risk generally tend to be more profitable than administrative services products and those healthcare products where the employer groups assume the underwriting risks. Individuals and small employer groups are more likely to purchase our higher-risk healthcare products because such purchasers are generally unable or unwilling to bear greater liability for healthcare expenditures. Typically, government-sponsored programs also involve our higher-risk healthcare products. A shift of enrollees from more profitable products to less profitable products could have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to develop and maintain satisfactory relationships with hospitals, physicians, PBM service providers and other healthcare providers, our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.
Our profitability is dependent in part upon our ability to contract on favorable terms with hospitals, physicians, PBM service providers and supply chain partners and other healthcare providers. These partners may elect not to contract with us, and the failure to secure or maintain cost-effective contracts on competitive terms may result in a loss of membership or higher medical costs, which could adversely affect our business. In addition, consolidation among healthcare providers, Accountable Care Organization practice management companies, and other organizational structures that physicians, hospitals and other care providers choose, as well as the ability of larger employers to contract directly with providers, may change the way that these providers interact with us and may change the competitive landscape. Such organizations or groups of physicians may compete directly with us, which may impact our relationship with these providers or affect the way that we price our products and estimate our costs. Such competition may require us to incur costs to change our operations, which could adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, price transparency initiatives, such as the Health Plan Transparency Rule, may impact our ability to obtain or maintain favorable contract terms. For example, beginning in 2021, hospitals were required to publish online payer-specific negotiated charges for each item or service the hospital provides.
Our inability to contract with providers, or if providers attempt to use their market position to negotiate more favorable contracts or place us at a competitive disadvantage, or the inability of providers to provide adequate care, could adversely affect our business. In addition, we do not have contracts with all providers that render services to our members and, as a result, may not have a pre-established agreement about the amount of compensation those out-of-network providers will accept for the services they render. State and federal laws, such as the No Surprises Act, define the compensation that must be paid to out-of-network providers in certain scenarios, and related litigation has lessened the weight of the Qualifying Payment Amount during independent dispute resolution processes, which may result in an increase in rates we must pay to out-of-network providers. Both our lack of contracts with certain providers and the development of new federal and state laws could result in significant litigation or arbitration proceedings, provider attempts to obtain payment from our members for the difference between the amount we have paid and the amount they have charged, or other increases in rates paid to out-of-network providers.
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We are dependent on the success of our relationships with third parties for various services and functions.
We contract with various third parties to perform certain functions and services and provide us with certain information technology systems. Certain of these third parties provide us with significant portions of our business infrastructure and operating requirements. For example, a single vendor can provide to us a wide range of technology infrastructure services, such as end user (help desk and field support), data center, mainframe, storage and database services and multi-cloud management services, and we are subject to the risks of any operational failure, termination or other restraints in such an arrangement. We could become overly dependent on key vendors, which could cause us to lose core competencies. A termination of our agreements with, or disruption in the performance of, one or more of these service providers could result in service disruptions or unavailability, reduced service quality and effectiveness, increased or duplicative costs or an inability to meet our obligations to our customers. In addition, we may also have to seek alternative service providers, which may be unavailable or only available on less favorable contract terms. Any of these outcomes could adversely affect our business, reputation, cash flows, financial condition and operating results.
Our PBM services business would be adversely affected if we are unable to contract on favorable terms with third-party vendors, including pharmaceutical manufacturers. We delegate certain PBM administrative functions, such as claims processing and prescription fulfillment, to CVS Health pursuant to the CVS PBM Agreement. If CVS Health fails to provide PBM services as contractually required, we may not be able to meet the full demands of our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and results of operations. For additional information on the CVS PBM Agreement, see “Business — Product and Service Descriptions,” in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The failure to effectively maintain and upgrade our information systems, or the availability and integrity of our data, could adversely affect our business.
Our business depends significantly on effective information systems, and we have many different information systems for our various businesses, including those that we have acquired as a result of our merger and acquisition activities. Our information systems require an ongoing investment, commitment of significant resources to maintain and enhance existing systems, and development of new systems to keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology, emerging cyber-security risks, changing customer preferences, evolving industry and regulatory standards and legal requirements, including as a result of the ACA, the Health Plan Transparency Rule, the 2021 Appropriations Act and proposed federal data interoperability regulations. In addition, we may obtain significant portions of our systems-related or other services from independent third parties, which may make our operations vulnerable if such third parties fail to perform adequately.
Failure to adequately implement, consolidate, integrate, streamline, maintain and upgrade effective and efficient information systems with sufficiently advanced technological capabilities could result in investigations, audits, fines and penalties, competitive and cost disadvantages to us compared to our competitors, could divert management’s time, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Failure or disruption of our performance of, or our ability to perform, key business functions, including as a result of the unavailability or cyber-attack of our information technology systems or those of third parties (including cloud service providers), could decrease response times, lower levels of service satisfaction and harm our reputation. Our systems interface with and depend on third-party systems and we could experience service denials if demand for such service exceeds capacity or these systems fail or experience interruption. Despite our adoption and continued enhancement of business continuity and disaster recovery strategies, there is no guarantee that such efforts will be effective, which could interrupt the functionality of our information technology systems or those of third parties. Our failure to implement adequate business continuity and disaster recovery strategies could significantly reduce our ability to provide products and services to our customers and clients, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
The volume of health care data generated and the uses of this data, including electronic health records, are rapidly expanding. Our ability to develop, implement, price, support new and existing products and services, provide service to our customers in an efficient and uninterrupted fashion, and report on our operations depends on the integrity of this data and our information systems. In addition, connectivity amongst technologies is becoming increasingly important, with recent trends bringing greater consumer engagement in healthcare; therefore, the pace at which our customers will need enhanced technologies with sophisticated applications for mobile interfaces will continue to expand. If the information systems we rely upon to run our business were found to be inaccurate or unreliable or if we fail to adequately maintain our information systems, security controls and data integrity effectively, we could experience problems in determining medical cost estimates
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and establishing appropriate pricing and reserves, have disputes with customers and providers, face regulatory problems, including sanctions and penalties, incur increases in operating expenses or suffer other adverse consequences, including a decrease in membership.
LEGAL, REGULATORY AND PUBLIC POLICY RISKS
We are subject to significant government regulation, and changes or proposed changes in the regulation of our business by federal and state regulators may adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations and the market price of our securities.
We are subject to significant state and federal regulation associated with many aspects of our business, including, but not limited to, licensing, premiums, marketing activities, provider contracting, access and payment standards, and corporate governance and financial reporting matters, as described in greater detail in Part I, Item 1, “Business—Regulation” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Further, the integration into our business of entities that we acquire, or the expansion of our business into new businesses or jurisdictions, may affect the way in which existing laws and rules apply to us.
Changes to existing laws, rules and regulations or judicial interpretation, application or enforcement thereof, or development of new laws, rules, regulatory interpretations or judgments could force us to change how we conduct our business, affect the products and services we offer (and where we offer them), restrict revenue and enrollment growth, increase our costs, including operating, healthcare technology and administrative costs, restrict our ability to obtain new product approvals and implement changes in premium rates, and require enhancements to our compliance infrastructure and internal controls environment, which could adversely impact our business and results of operations. In addition, legislative and/or regulatory policies or proposals that seek to manage the healthcare industry or otherwise impact our business may cause the market price of our securities to decrease, even if such policies or proposals never become effective. In particular, further regulations and modifications to the ACA and federal and state laws and regulations stemming from the ACA could impact the market for our products, federal government funding for various ACA programs, the regulations applicable to us and the fees and taxes payable by us and otherwise affect our business and future operations, some of which may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We are required to obtain and maintain insurance and other regulatory approvals to market certain of our products and services, to increase prices for certain regulated products and services and to consummate some of our acquisitions and dispositions. Delays in obtaining or failure to obtain or maintain these approvals, as well as future regulatory action by state or federal authorities, could have a material adverse effect on the profitability or marketability of our health benefits or managed care products or on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. For example, requirements in the Health Plan Transparency Rule and the 2021 Appropriations Act, such as the price comparison tool, have the potential to increase healthcare costs and our operating costs in order to comply and may impact provider negotiations and market pricing. In addition, changes in government regulations or policies that apply to government-sponsored programs such as Medicare and Medicaid including, among other things, reimbursement levels, eligibility and recertification requirements, benefit coverage requirements and additional governmental participation, could also adversely affect our business, cash flows, financial condition, and results of operations. The annual recertification process for Medicaid recipients was temporarily suspended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the 2023 Appropriations Act decoupled Medicaid redeterminations from the COVID-19 public health emergency, and states may begin removing ineligible beneficiaries from their Medicaid programs starting April 1, 2023. Where states allow certain programs to expire or have not opted for Medicaid expansion under the ACA, we could experience reduced Medicaid enrollment and reduced growth opportunities. If future modifications to laws and regulations significantly reduce Medicaid enrollment, our Medicaid business will be negatively impacted.
We have experienced past assessments under state or federal insolvency or guaranty association laws applicable to insurance companies, HMOs and other payers, and may experience assessments in the future if, for example, premiums established by other companies for their health insurance products, including certain long-term care products, are inadequate to cover their costs. Any such assessment could expose us to the risk of paying a portion of an impaired or insolvent insurance company’s claims through state guaranty associations. We are not currently able to estimate our potential financial obligations, losses or the availability of offsets associated with potential guaranty association assessments; however, any significant increase in guaranty association assessments could have a material adverse effect on our business, cash flows, financial condition, and results of operations.
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We expect state legislatures will continue to focus on healthcare delivery and financing issues, including actions to reduce or limit increases to premium payments, provider billing protections, greater access to care and broader reforms of state health insurance markets. State ballot initiatives could also be put to voters that could materially impair our operating environment. If enacted into law, these state proposals and actions could have a material adverse impact on our business, cash flows, operations or financial condition.
Additionally, in the past, Congress has considered, and may consider in the future, various forms of managed care reform legislation which, if adopted, could fundamentally alter the treatment of coverage decisions under ERISA and other laws and could increase our costs, expose us to expanded liability or require us to revise the ways in which we conduct business. There have been legislative attempts to limit ERISA’s preemptive effect on state laws and litigants’ ability to seek damages beyond the benefits offered under their plans. If adopted, such limitations could increase our liability exposure, permit greater state regulation of our operations, and expand the scope of damages, including punitive damages, litigants could be awarded.
We are subject to various risks associated with our international operations.
As we expand and operate our business outside of the U.S., we are presented with different challenges, including challenges in adapting to new markets, languages, business, labor and cultural practices and regulatory environments. Adapting to these challenges could require us to devote significant senior management attention and other resources. If we are unable to successfully manage our international operations, our business, cash flows, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. In the future, we may acquire or operate new businesses outside of the U.S., increasing our exposure to these risks.
Certain of our subsidiaries operate internationally and are subject to regulation in the jurisdictions in which they are organized or conduct business related to, among other things, local and cross border taxation, intellectual property, investment, management control, labor, anti-fraud, anti-corruption and privacy and data protection, which vary by jurisdiction. In addition, we are subject to U.S. laws that regulate the conduct and activities of U.S.-based businesses operating abroad, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or employees, restrictions or outright prohibitions on the conduct of our business and significant reputational harm and could adversely affect our ability to market our products and services, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We face risks related to litigation.
We are, and may in the future be, a party to a variety of legal actions that may affect our business, such as administrative charges before government agencies, employment and employment discrimination-related suits, employee benefit claims, breach of contract actions, tort claims and intellectual property-related litigation. In addition, because of the nature of our business, we are subject to a variety of legal actions relating to our business operations, including the design, administration and offering of our products and services. These could include claims relating to the denial or limitation of health benefits; federal and state false claims act laws; dispensing of drugs associated with our PBM business; professional liability claims arising out of the delivery of healthcare and related services to the public; development or application of medical policies and coverage and clinical guidelines; medical malpractice actions; allegations of anti-competitive and unfair business activities; provider disputes over reimbursement and contracts; provider tiering programs; narrow networks; termination of provider contracts; the recovery of overpayments from providers; fee-based business; disputes over co-payment calculations; reimbursement of out-of-network claims; the failure to disclose certain business practices; the failure to comply with various state or federal laws, including but not limited to, ERISA and the Mental Health Parity Act; and customer audits and contract performance, including government contracts. These actions or proceedings could result in substantial costs to us, require management to spend substantial time focused on litigation, result in negative media attention, and may adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
We are also involved in, or may in the future be party to, pending or threatened litigation incidental to the business we transact or arising out of our operations, including, but not limited to, breaches of security and violations of privacy requirements, shareholder actions, compliance with federal and state laws and regulations (including qui tam or “whistleblower” actions), or sales and acquisitions of businesses or assets. From time to time, we are involved as a party in various governmental investigations, audits, reviews and administrative proceedings, including challenges relating to the award of government contracts. These investigations, audits and reviews include routine and special investigations by state
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insurance departments, various federal regulators including CMS and the HHS Office of Inspector General, state attorneys general, the Department of Justice, and various offices of the U.S. Attorney General. Following an investigation, we may be subject to civil or criminal fines, penalties, and other sanctions if we are determined to be in violation of applicable laws or regulations. Liabilities that may result from these actions could have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, results of operations and financial condition.
Recent court decisions and legislative activity may increase our exposure for any of these types of claims. In some cases, substantial non-economic (including injunctive relief), treble or punitive damages may be sought. Our international footprint also subjects us to additional potential disputes or differing interpretations related to contractual rights, tax positions, and regulatory oversight. Some liabilities and damages may not be covered by the insurance we carry, insurers may dispute coverage, or the amount of insurance may not be enough to cover the damages awarded. In addition, insurance coverage for all or certain forms of liability may become unavailable or prohibitively expensive in the future. Any adverse judgment against us resulting in such damage awards could result in negative publicity and have an adverse effect on our cash flows, results of operations and financial condition.
There are various risks associated with providing healthcare and other diversified products and services.
We continue to evolve our business to offer products and services beyond traditional health insurance, including digital health technology, pharmacy, behavioral and clinical care services, which subjects us to litigation and regulatory risks that are different from our traditional product and services offerings and may materially affect our exposure to other risks.