Data from 46Brooklyn Research shows that drugmakers have raised the cost of 460 drugs by a median of 4.9%. These raises are similar to increases in the past three years versus the double-digit hikes seen previously. This more conservative approach comes in response to Americans' increasingly vocal […]
Patients Rising Podcast: Healthcare Policy Changes in 2022
The landscape of upcoming healthcare policy in 2022 is the focus of the latest episode of the Patients Rising Podcast. Hosts Terry Wilcox and Dr. Robert Goldberg are joined by democratic strategist Matt Rodriguez and Doug Badger, the Heritage Foundation’s conservative public policy expert. Guests […]
What the European Union can Teach the US About Health Technology Assessment Harmonization
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in the US is a convoluted piecemeal process where each payer performs their own assessments without coordinating with one another, wasting effort and raising costs. In the EU, however, government bodies are responsible for HTA and release pricing and coverage […]
Express Scripts Integrates Member Benefits and Rx Discount Card Pricing
Express Scripts has unveiled its new Right Price program, which lets members effortlessly get savings on prescription drugs by automatically applying all applicable discount card savings. While prescription discount cards can save money for many patients, their utility to patients is limited by the […]
Consolidation, Price, and Health Spending in the US
Mergers between health systems have increased prices but have not shown consistent improvements in quality of care. However, these mergers are becoming more common, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two new papers in the journal Health Affairs investigate this issue from […]
Unsubstantiated Drug-Price Hikes Identified by ICER
An ICER report examining the top ten drugs with 2020 price hikes found that a staggering seven out of ten had no new clinical findings to justify raising prices. The price of Humira keeps escalating in the United States while decreasing in every other county that has biosimilars. Ever-increasing […]
Webinar: Biden, Congress, and Drug Prices
Drug pricing is being targeted by both the Biden administration and congress, according to a webinar now available on Research and Markets. The webinar covers how the current administration is reacting to leftovers from the Trump presidency and how Biden’s executive orders may impact patients and […]
Ensuring that Insurance Benefits Members
A staggering 49% of patients with commercial insurance are still paying the full list price for medicine, even in cases when their payer receives a discounted price. This leaves insured patients to decide whether life-saving medications and their personal health are worth the financial impact. This […]
75% of Insured Americans Worry About Medical Bills – Women Disproportionately Impacted
According to the recent MITRE Insurance Survey, 75% of insured Americans are worried about financial issues due to medical bills. This may be due, in part, to a lack of understanding of insurance plans and surprise charges from insurance companies. In addition, women, who are more likely to be […]
ICER’s First Scorecard Finds Lack of Transparency of Drug Coverage Policies
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) reviewed barriers to fair access to fairly priced drugs, but found difficulties because many payers did not provide policy information. Using the proprietary MMIT Network formulary database, ICER looked at the 15 largest US formularies and […]
