Top 5 Gated Content for 2025

The shifting landscape of American health care policy was never more apparent than in 2025, with patient access and clinical practice both feeling the impact of leadership and policy changes. Restructuring of drug pricing, the legal and ethical complexities of reproductive rights, shifts in oncology care delivery, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s contentious confirmation hearings to be HHS secretary rose to the top of The American Journal of Managed Care^®’s gated content for the year.

To access our top 5 gated pieces of 2025, however, readers must first tell us a little bit about themselves.

5. Reshaping Rx: Navigating 2025 Drug Pricing Policies—Recording

In July, experts from Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute, the National Pharmaceutical Council, Oncology Specialists of Charlotte, and Pontchartrain Cancer Center gathered to discuss a packed agenda: the Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing order and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform, as well as the resulting impact on manufacturers and patients. In June, the panel discussed topics such as how the newest iteration of the MFN policy differs from the 2020 version proffered during President Trump’s first term, specific pricing targets, addressing systemic issues in health care, and barriers to biosimilar adoption. The second half of the discussion was focused on PBMs and the need for greater transparency surrounding bills, anticompetitive concerns, and vertical integration, where PBMs own insurers and pharmacies.

Listen to the full recording.

4. The Future of Drug Pricing: Most Favored Nation, PBMs, and Patient Access

Part of the Reshaping Rx: Navigating 2025 Drug Pricing Policies webinar, Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MBA, MS, CPEL, vice president of pharmacy at Emory Healthcare and Winship Cancer Institute; John O’Brien, PharmD, MPH, president and CEO at National Pharmaceutical Council; Justin Favaro, MD, PhD, hematologist/oncologist at Oncology Specialists of Charlotte; and Kathy Oubre, MS, CEO of Pontchartrain Cancer Center hit on the broad scope of the MFN drug pricing policy. While not a permanent law yet, MFN pricing is being implemented through executive orders and agreements with prominent drug manufacturers. Citing the impact of bypassing PBMs, by way of disrupting the traditional supply chain, the panel noted its clinical concerns for direct-to-consumer sales models, despite direct-to-consumer pricing having its benefits.

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3. Will Subcutaneous PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors Be a Game Changer?

When this article was published in June, subcutaneous (SC) pembrolizumab (Keytruda; Merck) had not yet been approved by the FDA. That move came in September when the FDA greenlit an indication for pembrolizumab and berahyaluronidase alfa-pmph (Keytruda Qlex; Merck) for use in patients 12 years and older with solid tumor indications approved for the intravenous (IV) formulation of pembrolizumab. A principal goal of SC pembrolizumab is to improve the patient experience from a lengthy infusion to a minutes-long injection, but there are other issues attached to its administration. These include its price and whether institutions see actual value in switching from IV to SC administration—issues that community oncology practices and academic medical centers share.

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2. Abortion in 2025: Access, Fertility, and Infant Mortality Updates

From February, this article focused on the contentious abortion access battle in the US, elevated by 2022’s Dobbs v Jackson decision and already thrown into peril by 2021’s Texas Senate Bill 8. A series of studies published in JAMA Health Forum highlighted the ever-increasing challenges forced on health care access and equity in relation to abortion restrictions and their health care–related reverberations. Rises in both infant mortality and unintended births have complicated an already complex reproductive health care system in the US and pose significant ethical dilemmas for physicians by way of potential criminal penalties and vague guidance on life-threatening complications. Additional hurdles to optimal obstetric care come from some regions classifying reproductive medications as controlled substances, the ongoing shortage of medical providers, and worsening health care disparities for marginalized populations. Even as evidence-based science is frequently called into question, this article featured researchers calling for rigorous data to inform public debate and drive positive policy change.

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1. 5 Key Takeaways From RFK Jr’s Confirmation Hearings

Before his confirmation as HHS secretary in February, Kennedy sat for 2 contentious hearings, 1 each with the Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Over the 2 hearings, Kennedy’s stance on vaccines was debated, including his role in perpetuating vaccine hesitancy during a 2019 outbreak, with Kennedy repeatedly stating he was “pro-safety” and not “antivaccine,” and in 2021, he claimed that Black Americans should follow a different schedule than White Americans. His views on abortion were also a focus, with the contrast between his presidential bid advocacy for reproductive rights and his subsequent claim to align with Trump’s stance cited as a potential means of political gain. Lastly, he demonstrated a lack of knowledge of Medicaid vs Medicare, stating the former is “fully paid for by the federal government.”

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