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U.S. health insurer Cigna Corp is exploring a sale of its group benefits insurance business, which could be valued at as much as $6 billion, four people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The unit for sale offers disability insurance as well as life and accidental death and dismemberment coverage to clusters of company employees. Cigna's move to shed it underscores its decision to focus on healthcare following its $54-billion acquisition of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts Holding Co last year. (8/20)

Apple’s health team has seen a slew of departures in the past year after a series of leadership changes and internal disagreements about direction. Tension has been increasing within the team in recent months, according to eight people familiar with the situation, although that undercurrent started several years ago. Some employees have become disillusioned with the group’s culture, where some have thrived while others feel sidelined and unable to move their ideas forward, the people said. (Farr, 8/20)

Earlier this year, Ascension, the nation's largest Catholic health system announced a major shake-up in its C-suite. After 15 years, Anthony Tersigni would retire his position as president and CEO while continuing to serve on the executive committee of the system's investment fund. Three other top executives also would leave the organization. ...Joseph Impicciche took over the corner officer a little over two months ago ...He recently sat down with Modern Healthcare Editor Aurora Aguilar for his first one-on-one interview. (8/20)

The new chief executive officer at Fortis Healthcare Ltd. plans to cut a fifth of costs to resuscitate India’s second-largest hospital chain after a regulator found it was defrauded of tens of millions of dollars by its former owners. Fortis is now looking to squeeze spending in everything from energy-efficient light fixtures to automating its business analysis unit and even renegotiating doctors’ salaries. The goal is to reduce expenses by $31 million over the next two years, Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, the CEO who took over in March, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters outside New Delhi. Fresh capital expenditure of $84 million is also in the offing. (Altstedter, 8/20)

When HCA Healthcare purchased nonprofit Mission Health, the rules of charitable giving in communities across Western North Carolina changed. With a for-profit owner running medical facilities, the foundations that raised funds from donors to support the local hospitals that had become part of Mission Health over time could no longer do so. ...In Franklin, where the foundation for Angel Medical Center had ceased operating earlier, the startup Nantahala Health Foundation will fill the same role as the other new foundations. All six foundations are now helping to build the capacity of local nonprofits to meet community needs. (Cotiaux, 8/21)

After years of eye-popping rate increases for individual coverage through the Affordable Care Act, premium prices in Houston for most plans will go down next year, signalling the volatile market may have finally stabilized. Three of four insurers offering plans through the federal exchange in Harris County  have lowered their prices slightly with only one asking for a modest increase, according to filings to the Texas Department of Insurance and the federal healthcare.gov. (Deam, 8/20)