Policy

At a state-of-the-art facility in Thousand Oaks, California, drugmaker Amgen Inc. is perfecting the art of copying others, and it must work fast because copycats are already coming for Amgen's drugs.

A one-minute look at managed care news during the week of March 2, 2015, including oral arguments for King v. Burwell and the approval of the first biosimilar in the United States.

Today the FDA approved the first biosimilar product in the United States. Zarxio (filgrastim-sndz), from Sandoz, Inc, is biosimilar to Amgen Inc's Neupogen (filgrastim), which was first licensed in 1991.

The CDC report found that patients on high cost prescription medications ask their physician for low-cost alternatives, but cheaper medications from outside the Unites States, skip doses, or delay refills to save cost.

The panelists share their thoughts on the future of diagnostic tests and what changes they are looking forward to, such as developing better systems to integrate clinical information with molecular data and increased FDA oversight.

The panelists discuss guidelines for diagnostic test use and the biggest challenge from a payer standpoint.

After their decision to include Abbvie's triple combination for hepatitis C on their formulary, over Gilead's more expensive regimens, Express Scripts indicated at the J. P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that they'll continue the stance of choosing treatments that are equally effective but save costs, especially in cancer.

The increasing popularity of retail clinics to provide basic care is bring driven by many factors, including consumer interest in transparency, cost, and convenience. Malls are beneficiaries of the shift.

Not only do a majority of older patients expect e-prescriptions, but 81% preferred e-prescriptions to paper in a study published in the Perspectives in Health Information Management.

Lifting section 1834(m) restrictions on telehealth services would help ACOs to utilize this beneficial tool to achieve their cost, quality, access, and patient engagement goals.

Being promised a 100% reimbursement, Gilead will now make the drug available to HCV patients in France at 60% of the cost in the United States.

The study, published in NEJM, found that in addition to supply chain and manufacturing problems, lack of competition may be adding to their costs.

The study by Andrew Mulcahy, a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, found that the predicted $44 billion saving to the US healthcare system over the next decade, would depend on FDA decisions on newer biosimilar drug candidates.

If the current payment parity program is allowed to expire at the end of the year, doctors will be forced to limit the number of new Medicaid patients they can afford to take on, according to 4 medical associations.

During the third year of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program, CMS will penalize more hospitals than it did during the second and third years of the program; however, the overall readmission rate for Medicare beneficiaries is down.

The panelists offer their closing remarks regarding immuno-oncology's promises and challenges.

Michael Kolodziej, MD, considers the benefit of combination therapy vs sequential and whether the increased toxicity of combination therapy is worth it.

The law could restrict the use of less-expensive generics with the availability of newer, more-expensive drugs.

Researchers at the George Washington University (GW) were awarded a grant estimated to be funded at $23.8 million from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to study a new model that aims to improve HIV prevention and care while lowering healthcare costs.

The economy's lackluster recovery eroded wages and left millions chronically unemployed. It also offered significant relief from the fiscal distress of U.S. health spending. Now, spending fueled by the improving economy and the healthcare reform law's insurance and Medicaid expansions are likely to turn that around.

Increasing access to continuous labor support from a birth doula may facilitate decreases in non-indicated cesarean rates among women who desire doula care.

Sandoz, the companies generics unit, recently submitted an application with the US FDA for approval of it's biosimilar filgrastim; it's the first-ever biosimilar application with the FDA.

Karen Lewis, MS, MM, CGC, medical policy administrator and genetic counselor at Priority Health, said that providers are engaging in genetic testing, but they are doing so in "an uninformed fashion."