A False Claims Act lawsuit filed against Express Scripts alleged that the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) defrauded the federal government and vendors out of billions of dollars, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Missouri, and Tennessee.

• District of Columbia: To keep insurers accountable for their commitments to health equity, government entities are considering making the National Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA) Health Equity Accreditation mandatory for Medicaid and marketplace plans, which would require insurers who administer the plans to comply with new standards intended to eliminate disparities in the communities they serve. Notably, some states have already moved to implement the requirement. However, some insurers have spoken out against a federal mandate for marketplace issuers, citing expensive operational changes, guidance that is too broad, and unproven effectiveness. Meanwhile, consumer advocacy groups and public entities have said the mandatory accreditation process is necessary to make changes to practices that result in inequity in the health care industry. "The NCQA standards are ambitious, and I think we need some ambition here," said Christine Monahan, assistant research professor and faculty member at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. "Health disparities are a real problem, and we need to be pushing insurers to take more action to solve them." (Hartnett, Modern...

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