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Dr Rebekah Gee Offers an Inside Look at Louisiana's Subscription Payment Model for HCV Drugs
We speak with Dr Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health about the subscription payment model for hepatitis C virus drugs that the state has entered into with Asegua Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Corrections announced in March 2019 their selection of Asegua Therapeutics, a subsidiary arm of Gilead Sciences, as their pharmaceutical partner for the state’s subscription model for hepatitis C virus treatment.
The alternative payment model, the first of its kind in the United States, was first announced in August 2018 by the Louisiana Department of Health, who explained that HCV infections are a public health crisis within the state. Though highly effective antiviral treatment exists that can largely cure patients with HCV, the price of the treatments remains high, and Medicaid patients and the Department of Corrections population are unable to access the therapies.
Under this model, instead of paying for each prescription individually, the state would pay a subscription fee to the drug company whereby the state would then receive unlimited access to the drug, similar to how consumers pay a monthly fee to stream unlimited television shows and movies.
Today, we’re speaking with Dr Rebekah Gee, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and one of the key leaders in bringing this alternative payment model to fruition.
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Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
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Overcoming Employment Barriers for Lasting Social Impact: Freedom House 2.0 and Pathways to Work
April 16th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our second episode, in which we learn all about Freedom House 2.0 and the Pathways to Work program.
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Discovery of Hepatitis C Virus Brings Nobel Prize
October 5th 2020Two Americans and a British scientist share the 2020 Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work in the 1970s through the 1990s. The rise of agents to treat hepatitis C virus has created vexing questions in managed care.
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HIV, Hepatitis C Testing Rates Remain Dismal Among Injection Drug Users
April 17th 2020Despite being at an increased risk for HIV and hepatitis C, persons who inject drugs (PWID) are tested at dismal rates for both: just 8.6% and 7.7%, respectively, according to data from 2010 to 2017. PWID who live in rural communities are more likely to face barriers to adequate testing and care for both diseases.
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