Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
By decreasing the demand for more-expensive acute care relative to outpatient care, cash benefits have the potential to save the health care system money, the study said.
Democratic Attorney General Charity Clark said CVS Health's Caremark, Cigna Group's Express Scripts and several of their affiliates pushed patients toward more-expensive drugs even when less-expensive alternatives were available.
The Leapfrog Group, which graded 3,000 hospitals on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infection, measures nurse and doctor communication, hospital staff responsiveness and communication about medicines.