The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) published its second-ever report on Unsupported Price Increases (UPI) last week, compiled from data supplied by SSR Health, which is part of the investment research firm SSR. While the medical pricing watchdog found that overall spending was […]
Value-Based Purchasing Rule For Medicaid Rx Drugs
Writing in Health Affairs, outgoing CMS Administrator Seema Verma touts how the Trump Administration helped paved the way for more outcomes-based contracts on prescription drugs by clarifying that these contracts won’t run afoul of the Medicaid “best price” provision -- provided that Medicaid […]
New Program in Pharmaceutical Value Assessment and Communications Launched by University of Florida
The University of Florida (UF) College of Pharmacy’s online graduate program in pharmaceutical outcomes and policy today announced the launch of a new track, Pharmaceutical Value Assessment and Communications. It is the only graduate program available that develops applied skills to translate data […]
How Will the Role of Medical Communication Professionals Evolve by 2025?
As a new year begins, this article dives deeper into 5 areas that global contributors identified when asked, “How will our field change in the next 5 years, and what are the top skills needed to be prepared to lead that change?” While the answers may not surprise you, what will is how consistent the […]
AMCP Executive Fellowship in Health Care Association Leadership
In January 2021, AMCP launched the Executive Fellowship in Health Care Association Leadership. This immersive, year-long training program provides a rich, in-depth learning experience for a pharmacist interested in a career in health care association leadership or managed care pharmacy. The program […]
Democrats Have Their Best Shot Yet at Letting Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices
Democrats have their best shot in more than a decade to deliver on one of the party’s central health care promises: allowing Medicare to directly negotiate prescription drug prices. But it’s far from guaranteed that they can deliver. Read more here. (Source: Nicholas Flokko; STAT; 1/21/21) […]
Take Your Market Access to the Next Level With This Free E-book
The world of market access is changing. Cloud computing and software as a service have created new opportunities and more routes to successful market access than ever before. Digital transformation can be a confusing path to navigate. To help you manage the organizational and cultural changes, we […]
Cigna Sees Cost Savings, Improved Member Engagement in Study
Cigna is seeing notable savings and improved member engagement through its integrated benefits plans, according to a new study. On average, these plans saved $227 annually per member, and, for members who have an identified opportunity to improve their health, savings were $4,741 per member […]
Using Real World Data to Close Rare Disease Gap
Rare disease research and treatment development is uniquely challenging given the limited understanding of rare and genetic diseases. De-identified, real-world data (RWD) features claims and electronic health record (EHR) data. Read how this robust, longitudinal patient view makes RWD an invaluable […]
xCures Announces Collaboration with CancerCompass
Today, xCures announced their collaboration with CancerCompass, allowing consumers who contact CancerCompass to access the xCures' platform and services.Consumers who purchase xCures’ comprehensive cancer case review service benefit from the xCures team organizing and structuring their medical […]
Komodo Health Acquires Mavens
Today, Komodo Health announced the acquisition of Mavens, a leader and pioneer in cloud-based technology solutions for life sciences. The acquisition brings together two best-in-class technology companies, expands our suite of enterprise applications, and creates a transformational enterprise […]
Associate Editor Roles – IJTAHC
The International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care (IJTAHC) is a journal of Cambridge University Press and a key platform for the Society, Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi). We are calling for new Associate Editors to participate in the editorial process and develop […]
How a Former Health Care Executive Became a Health Care Whistleblower
Former health care executive Wendell Potter spent part of 2020 publishing high-profile apologies for the work he used to do — the lies he said he told the American people for his old employers. These days, he said, he’s also trying to debunk myths he once sold. “What I used to do for a living was […]
COVID-19 Trial Tracker Updates
In April 2020, Cytel launched an open-access global COVID-19 Clinical Trial Tracker to help facilitate greater collaboration between researchers, policymakers, clinicians, journalists, philanthropists, and other critical stakeholders. Funded in part by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a leader […]
(Podcast) Bridge the City: Opportunity Costs of Healthcare in the US
Researchers David Vanness and James Lomas joined the Bridge the City podcast to explain the conclusions of their new paper, "A Health Opportunity Cost Threshold for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in the United States." They describe how pharmaceutical products whose prices do not represent good value […]
[Podcast] How Doctors Can Be a Part of the Solution
In the final episode of our podcast's inaugural season, neurologist Jason Crowell and ICER's President Steve Pearson discuss what physicians can do in their hospitals and communities to advocate for fair drug prices, and they explore what questions doctors should ask patients to assess for financial […]
3 Ways That Payers Leveraged Artificial Intelligence in 2020
Payers used artificial intelligence to drive towards key objectives in 2020. Artificial intelligence is not a new technology, with the first artificial intelligence programs emerging in the early 1950s. However, payers, providers, and vendors continue to enhance and specialize this technology to […]
Aligning HEOR/RWE Procurement with Finance
Procurement is a business function that offers so much in the way of value. However, its not always easy to showcase the full spectrum of what procurement provides to other teams or get the necessary buy-in from sponsors or stakeholders to support procurement activities. In fact, one of the common […]
State Level Action in Response to ICER’s Unsupported Price Increase Report
In ICER’s latest report on Unsupported Price Increases (UPI), we determined that 7 of the 10 costliest US drug-price hikes in 2019 lacked new evidence of a previously unknown clinical benefit. Even after accounting for rebates, the unsupported price increases on just these 7 drugs cost Americans an […]
Janet Woodcock to be Acting FDA Commissioner
Janet Woodcock is set to be the most powerful person at the FDA in less than a week. The veteran regulator and longtime director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research has been tapped as acting commissioner of the FDA, according to reports by BioCentury’s Steve Usdin and Pink Sheet’s Sarah […]
Amgen Tops Cost Watchdog’s Price Gougers List
In a top 10 ranking of the most egregious price gougers from 2019, Amgen’s Enbrel topped US cost watchdog ICER’s naughty list with “unsupported” markups that added as much as $403 million to the nation’s drug spend during that time. Price increases for some of pharma’s most popular drugs have long […]
The American Public’s Priorities for the New President and Congress
In a post-election Politico/Harvard poll, an overwhelming 87% of the respondents indicated that “taking federal government action to lower prescription drug prices” should be an extremely important priority for the federal government. The only issue that ranked higher was enacting a major COVID-19 […]
Webinar: Pathways to ISPOR Leadership
Tune in to the next installment of our leadership development series “Pathways to ISPOR Leadership” with special guest Mike Drummond, PhD, Professor of Health Economics, Centre for Health Economics, University of York. This webinar will take place Tuesday, January 26, 2021 from 11:00AM - 11:45AM […]
Department of Veterans Affairs Paid About Half as Much as Medicare Part D for Selected Drugs in 2017
A new analysis from the US Government Accountability Office shows that, in 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs paid prescription drug prices that were on average 54% lower than what was paid by Medicare, which by law is not currently allowed to negotiate down the prices that drugmakers choose […]
Fierce JPM Week Partner Content Hub
This is a different approach to enabling our partners to share solutions and stories with you in a virtual environment. Here at Fierce JPM Week attendees can engage with digital assets in a way that is easy to navigate, learn from and share with peers and colleagues. This hub provides access to […]
New Book Release by RJG Arnold: Pharmacoeconomics: From Theory to Practice
An understanding of the basic principles of pharmacoeconomics is essential if stakeholders in the healthcare arena hope to meet the burgeoning challenges posed by shrinking budgets, healthcare rationing, medication shortages, and an aging global population. The 2nd edition of Pharmacoeconomics: From […]
New Data Show Retail Medicine Prices Fell in 2019
In 2019, retail prescription medicine prices declined by 0.4%, on average, according to National Health Expenditures (NHE) data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published recently in Health Affairs. While retail prescription medicine spending grew 5.7% that same year, this […]
Pandemic Propels Health Systems to Mull Acquisitions, Partnerships
Nearly a year after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S., some of the nation's largest health systems made a case for the need to accelerate toward value-based arrangements and potentially acquiring or partnering with health plans to become an integrated system. Amid new records for […]
Gaps in Health Data are Barrier to Health Equity
COVID-19 has laid bare racial disparities in the United States health system. For example, COVID-19 cases among Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islanders are up to 2.5 times higher as compared to whites. Similarly, the rate of COVID-19 related deaths among Black Americans and American Indian/Alaskan […]
Cerner Aspires to Build $1B Data Business in Pharma Market
Building on its acquisition of clinical research company Kantar Health, health IT giant Cerner is setting its sights on building a $1 billion data business for the healthcare and life sciences industries. Cerner announced plans in December to acquire the health division of Kantar Group, which […]
