Policy

The US Senate hosted a panel addressing physician and health care shortages and efforts to increase minority representation in the medical field. An expert discussed initiatives to prevent senior homelessness. Advocates called for the repeal of the Comstock Act. Regulatory reforms are called for to improve rural cancer patients' access to pharmacies. Research reveals the impact of denials on patient access to immunology treatments.

Covering antiobesity medications like semaglutide could save Medicare around $500 million annually; preliminary CDC data showed a 3% decline in the number of US overdose deaths last year; the Biden administration recently announced the first national maternal mental health strategy.

In a joint letter addressed to Congress, Healthcare Across Borders, Take Back the Court Action Fund, and UltraViolet Action called out the resurgence of the Comstock Act, urging immediate action to repeal this century-old law that threatens reproductive rights and public health in the US.

At the spring conference of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, speakers discussed how health policy, affordability, and transparency may play a role in voters’ decisions.

The senate hearing held by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, Vermont), chairman of the committee, and ranking member Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R, Louisiana), addressed the critical issue of physician and health care worker shortages, as well as the maternal health crisis, in the US.

House lawmakers are expected to advance a contracting ban today on 5 Chinese research firms; US government officials temporarily relaxed strict guidelines on how laboratories handle, store, and transport H5N1 bird flu samples; a recent report found that the number of abortions occurring in the US continued to grow despite bans.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, experts from Illinois CancerCare discuss CMS regulations limiting the access of rural patients with cancer to medically integrated pharmacies.

Gaps in the delivery and coverage of behavioral health care can be addressed through continued advocacy for better policies and financial incentives surrounding treatment.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, chief strategy officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council, reflects on the most valuable learnings from the 2024 meeting of ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, including lively discussions of the Inflation Reduction Act and workshops on value assessment.

Ascension Health was hit with a cyberattack; a new federal policy is aimed at integrating Medicare and Medicaid coverage; the CDC is planning to post data on influenza A found in wastewater in a public dashboard.

Research shows a high prevalence of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome among adults; tackling mental health and substance abuse nationwide; a delayed meeting allows for surveillance data collection to inform recommendations.

Phaedra Corso, PhD, associate vice president for research, Indiana University, discusses the importance of cost-effectiveness analysis in determining the feasibility and impact of public health interventions.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has potential to shift incentives for drug manufacturers and impact the amount of long-term evidence generated for approved drugs, said Julie Patterson, PharmD, PhD, senior director of research at the National Pharmaceutical Council.

Nancy Dreyer, PhD, MPH, FISE, chief scientific advisor to Picnic Health, shares some of the ways that direct-to-patient approaches have improved observational research.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Karen Iapoce, senior director of government products and programs at ZeOmega, about the recent CMS final rule on Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage.

Fifty percent of US rural hospitals are facing financial problems; US lawmakers have called out the corporate spending of 3 large nursing home companies; hospice patients under Medicare Advantage are now facing uncertainty after the government ended its pilot program.

Kimberly Westrich, MA, of the National Pharmaceutical Council, explains how the 340B program is linked to increased drug spending and the hidden costs associated with it.

Rising Medicare Advantage enrollment occurred alongside declines in enrollment in traditional Medicare with employer-sponsored supplemental coverage and traditional Medicare without supplemental coverage.

The Medicare trust fund is now expected to deplete in 2036, with the Inflation Reduction Act being credited for at least some of the extension.

Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discussed the challenges associated with developing a whole-person health index and potential solutions for the "wrong pocket" problem.

Inma Hernandez, PharmD, PhD, professor at the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, discussed the potential sources of savings associated with the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.

The Senate Finance Committee has introduced bipartisan legislation that proposes using Medicaid and Medicare programs to help prevent and reduce generic drug shortages; US indicators for COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) declined further last week; findings from a recent study reveal growing disparities in child death rates across racial and ethnic groups.

CMS rules hindered the access of rural patients with cancer to medically integrated pharmacies in 2023. The authors discuss the impact on equity in health care, emphasizing the need for regulatory change.

A new federal rule will enable thousands of immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to obtain health care through the Affordable Care Act; a forthcoming CMS rule is expected to lower home-based care wait times and raise caregiver wages; the HHS Office for Civil Rights has finalized 2 rules that strengthen the ACA’s health care discrimination ban.

About 5000 leaders in health economics and outcomes research will gather for the 2024 meeting, which has the theme, "HEOR: A Transformative Force for Whole Health.”