Laura Joszt, MA

For the first time, the rate of drug price increases has surpassed the increase of the cost of hospitalizations, which is an important turning point, said Charles J. Fazio, MD, medical director of HealthPartners, Inc, during a panel discussion at America’s Health Insurance Plans’ National Health Policy Conference.

The FDA has approved Novartis’ ribociclib (Kisqali) for treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

President Donald Trump is expected to name Scott Gottlieb, MD, a resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute, to lead the FDA, according to reports. Gottlieb would replace Robert Califf, MD, who only took over the position February 2016 and stepped down less than a year later in January 2017.

With costs of care being more closely scrutinized, there has been a proliferation of value frameworks to help guide decision making for treatments. In a blog post for Health Affairs, Robert W. Dubois, MD, PhD, and Kimberly Westrich, MA, both of the National Pharmaceutical Council, provide possible considerations for advancing the field of value frameworks.

During a speech at America’s Health Insurance Plans’ National Health Policy Conference, held March 8-9 in Washington, DC, Newt Gingrich, former House speaker, ran through the hurdles Republicans will face in order to get the American Health Care Act passed.

Protecting coverage gains that were made under the Affordable Care Act was one of the top concerns of experts representing insurers, physicians, and hospitals during a panel discussion at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)’s National Health Policy Conference, held March 8-9 in Washington, DC.

After weeks of leaked drafts and secret, closed door meetings, House Republicans have released the American Health Care Act, their bill to replace former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The orphan drug market continues its steady and inexorable growth even with increased scrutiny on the high prices of these lifesaving treatments.

Except in cases of critical illness, the intensive care unit may not be the best place for patients experiencing a flare-up of heart failure or their chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or even having a heart attack.

A newer version of House Republicans’ draft bill to replace the Affordable Care Act has been leaked, and it contains a few significant changes to the draft that leaked last week, including a cut-off so wealthy Americans would not be eligible for age-based tax credits.

By the time the opioid epidemic was dominating headlines, it was already out of control. So how did the epidemic sneak up on the United States, and what is being done at the state and federal levels to combat the issue?

During President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress, his call to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was met with one of the speech's longest and loudest rounds of applause from Republicans.

A recent paper in JAMA Internal Medicine examined the accountable care organization programs in Colorado and Oregon to determine their impacts on spending, access, and utilization.

Topics like cybersecurity are always top of mind at health information technology meetings, but other topics, such as artificial intelligence, also grabbed people’s interest at HIMSS 2017.

As CMS moves forward with the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, it is funding organizations to help solo and small practices succeed under the new payment system.

A new treatment option using stem cell transplants was shown to induce sustained remission of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). More than two-thirds of participants had no signs of progression of disability, relapse of MS symptoms, or new brain lesions after 5 years.

As Republicans debate how to move forward with repealing and replacing or reforming the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration released a proposed rule to help stabilize the market in 2018. The rule includes a shorter open enrollment period.

AJMCtv® interviews let you catch up with experts in healthcare. Topics include challenges with immuno-oncology, including the patient voice in treatment decisions, and why payers should cover genomic testing.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has named its new president and CEO. Richard Besser, MD, who will succeed Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, who ran the foundation for 14 years before announcing she was stepping down in September 2016.

An analysis of 1.7 million men and women found that low socioeconomic status is linked to a reduction in life expectancy of 2.1 years between the ages of 40 and 85.

Early in the morning on Friday, the Senate voted along party lines (52-47) to confirm US Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia, as secretary of HHS. President Donald Trump nominated Price with the expectation that he will lead the charge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Now that the Senate has confirmed US Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia, as HHS secretary, Republicans will start to look toward making changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Here is a look at block grants, which the GOP is considering using to reform the Medicaid program.

A judge has blocked the proposed merger of Anthem and Cigna, saying consolidation would likely result in higher prices and have other anticompetitive effects. The ruling comes just 2 weeks after another judge blocked the Aetna-Humana merger.

Payment reform in the United States has been going on for years, and a panel at the AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference analyzed how much progress has been made to move away from fee-for-service, and what the evidence on alternative payment models has found.

A treatment for juvenile Batten disease has been tested in a mouse model and the results have shown reduced in symptoms and improved longevity. The results of the study were published in Nature Communications.

Early discharge from the emergency department resulted in more than 10,000 Medicare patients dying, annually. Researchers determined that low-volume hospitals actually had higher rates of early death.

Amgen's Repatha was shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, such as cardiovascular death and myocardial infarction, in phase 3 of the FOURIER study. Full results will be presented in March 2017 at the American College of Cardiology 66th Scientific Sessions.

A review of 15 disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for the treatment of relapsing-remitting and primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) has found that prices for most of these drugs are not well-aligned with added value for patients.

During a plenary session at the AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference, Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, discussed the Affordable Care Act and efforts to replace it or at least change it.

CMS has tried to improve patient experience by tying payments to performance as part of the Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) program; however, a paper published in Health Affairs found no evidence that the program has had a beneficial effect.