Morning Headlines 11/20/15

UnitedHealth Group cuts outlook, warns it may exit public health exchanges

UnitedHealth Group considers pulling its health plans from public exchanges in 2017 due to the financial losses that segment of its business experienced.

Twitter Streams Fuel Big Data Approaches to Health Forecasting

Public health researchers find that Twitter data and environmental sensor data can be used to accurately forecast asthma-related ED visit activity.

Epic responds to Mother Jones criticism

Peter DeVault, Epic’s vice president of interoperability, responds to a critical article from Mother Jones questioning Epic’s interoperability and corporate culture, calling the article “based almost entirely on misinformation.”

Fitch Affirms Baptist Healthcare System at ‘A+’; Outlook Revised to Negative

Fitch Ratings affirms its A+ bond rating of Baptist Healthcare System (KY), but downgrades its outlook from stable to negative due to recent declines in profitability caused by its Epic implementation, population health investments, and an unfavorable shift in payor mix.