The Medicare Part B demonstration has been controversial since its announcement, but Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, considers it a wise move on the part of CMS because it provides an opportunity to learn about different payment structures.
The Medicare Part B demonstration has been controversial since its announcement, but Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, considers it a wise move on the part of CMS because it provides an opportunity to learn about different payment structures.
Transcript (slightly modified)
What is your take on the Medicare Part B demonstration that CMS has proposed?
We’ll be submitting comments during the public comment phase so short of that I would say that I do think that it’s an important opportunity to learn from different ways to structure payment, to try to get an approach that aligns reimbursement with value to patients. I think that everybody could understand that that’s an important goal.
I understand that there are also important risks and unintended consequences so I think CMS is being very wise to take public comment, to think about it hard, and then to forecast later exactly what they will do in the value-based pricing aspect of this. But I do think that the status quo just probably isn’t adequate. It’s not adequate for patients in the long term, it’s probably not adequate for the health system to try to figure out how to continue to reimburse and afford these medications and so I think that CMS was wise to do it, wise to do it as an experiment, as a demonstration from which we can all learn.
The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) vote to ban most employers from issuing and enforcing noncompete clauses could have varying impacts on the health care workforce; federal regulators vastly under-enforced antitrust laws in the hospital sector during the last 2 decades, resulting in increased health costs; the FDA recently found genetic evidence of the H5N1 bird flu virus in pasteurized commercially purchased milk.
Read More
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.
Listen
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.
Listen
An Overview of Health Care and Pharmaceutical Trends, 2023-2024
April 19th 2024Douglas M. Long, BA, MBA, was featured as the keynote speaker on the closing day of The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2024 annual meeting, with a session dedicated to surveying the health care and pharmaceutical trends of the last year.
Read More
Pegcetacoplan for PNH More Cost-Effective Than Anti-C5 Monoclonal Antibodies
April 18th 2024A cost-utility analysis conducted from the perspective of the Italian health system found that pegcetacoplan was more effective and less costly than 2 complement 5 (C5) inhibitors for the treatment of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).
Read More