Why Congress should not mandate disclosure of drug development costs
An article from the Health Affairs forefront article from Ho and Vertinsky (2022) argues ‘yes’, but the use of any such such information for cost-based […]
Public Policy
Public Option would lead to increased physician shortages
That is the conclusion from a recent report from some of my colleagues at FTI Consulting’s Center for Healthcare Economics and Policy. In the report […]
Venture Capitalists’ Perspectives on Incentives for R&D
A paper by Gracia, David and Conti (2022) in Health Affairs Forefront poses the question ‘how do financial incentives impact venture capitalist’s (VC) investment decisions […]
Building Data Capacity for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
What types of data capacity does the National Academies believe are needed to improve patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), particularly with respect to health disparities. A […]
Where did the money from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) go?
That is the question answered in a paper by Autor et al. (2022). Some background on PPP: Congress enacted the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which […]
Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) in Europe: Examining CED for medical devices
That is the topic of a new paper by Drummond et al. (2022). When medical devices receive regulatory approval, payers can make one of three […]
Obesity Across America
The Urban Institute has an interesting report titled Obesity Across America. Being overweight (BMS>25), obese (BMI>30) or severely obese (BMI>40) is very common in the […]
No surprise bills?
In a February 10th speech, President Biden wanted to end surprise bills for patients. Specifically he said: No more surprise billing. No more. In fact, […]
Biden State of the Union Address 2022: Focus on Health
As I do every year, below are the highlights of the state of the union address related to health care. Capping insulin prices First, cut […]
The value of disability insurance
The policy rationale for disability insurance is sensible. If you are disabled (either in the short-run or long-run) and unable to work, government support is […]
Alcohol Taxes
New Year’s Eve is a day with significant alcohol consumed. In fact, New Year’s Eve falls behind only Mardi Gras in terms of the number […]
GAO on the Cost of Rare Diseases
Last month, the Government Accountability Office released a report on the cost of rare disease. The report is interesting, and especially interesting is Appendix 1 […]
Impact of biosimilar entry on drug costs
While generic drugs frequently replace their branded counterparts after the latter lose their market exclusivity, the uptake of biosimilar products is often slower. Further, biosimilars […]
CMS’s Strategic Vision for Medicaid And CHIP
Where does the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services see Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) heading in the future. Based on a […]
How much money should governments spend to incentivize the development of new antibiotics?
As the number of infections that are anti-biotic resistant grows, we need to have more novel antibiotics in our arsenal. The problem is that many […]
CMMI and its revised strategy
Created by Section 3021 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI; aka The CMS Innovation Center) has been […]
International Reference Pricing: Cross-country comparison
The price of pharmaceuticals are much higher in the U.S. than in other countries. Some policymakers have claimed that international reference pricing could be used […]
What will be the impact of adopting reference pricing in the US?
That is the question that a recent JAMA study–Mulcahy et al. (2021)–aim to answer. The authors use IQVIA MIDAS data to estimate sales price and […]
Distributional Cost Effectiveness Analysis: A simple example
I have written previously about the need for distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DCEA) which would increase the value of treatments who improve the health for individuals […]
CBO: Impact of price control legislation on new drug development
It stands to reason that policies that aim to reduce drug prices or squeeze life science companies profits are likely to decrease incentives to finance […]
Biden brings plan for prescription drug pricing reform to Congress
That is the title of an article published in Pharmaceutical Technology today. I am quoted extensively. For instance, President Biden proposes to cap drug prices […]
Public-Private partnership in biologic drug development
A paper from Nayak et al. (2021) in JAMA Internal Medicine describes how public-private partnerships have helped bring new biologic drugs to market. Using data […]
Total Cost of Schizophrenia in the US was nearly $300 billion in 2020
That is the finding from a white paper from the Schizophrenia and Psychosis Action Alliance titled “Societal Costs of Schizophrenia & Related Disorders“. I am […]
Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy: What does it say about health care?
Last Friday, President Biden released an executive order titled “Promoting Competition in the American Economy” While the order talk about transportation, internet companies, and farming, […]
How easy is it for patients to access cell and gene therapies in Europe?
Cell and gene therapies have the potential to produce dramatic improvements in quality of life and survival for severe and often rare diseases. Currently, however, […]
Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation
That is the title of a 2016 NBER chapter by Heidi Williams and the subtitle is “Evidence from Health Care Markets“. Economic theory back to […]
Healthcare Economist named top Health Policy blog
Healthcare Economist was named one of the top 30 health policy blogs on the web by Feedspot. In fact we came in at #4! The […]
Did the individual mandate work?
A paper by Lurie et al. (2021) provides the answer. They reach four conclusions from their analysis: First, the actual penalty paid per uninsured month […]
What is the FTC’s stance on pharmaceutical mergers?
The answer to this question likely will be shaped in part by a new multilateral working group that will include not only representatives from the […]
Why are Israel’s COVID-19 vaccination rates so high?
To get people vaccinated for COVID-19, a lot of things have to go right. First, you have to have purchased the vaccine. Second, you need […]
How much does the U.S. federal government pay for pharmaceuticals?
A number of different federal agencies buy prescription drugs. However, the price at which these pharmaceuticals are purchased varies dramatically. To quantify this variation, a […]
Democrats vs. Republicans: Health Policy Battle Royale
Conventional wisdom holds that the U.S. has become more and more partisan and the views of both Democrats and Republicans have become less moderate over […]
Law Will Allow Calif. to Produce, Distribute Biosimilars, Generics
That is the title of an article by Angela Maas in Radar on Specialty pharmacy (reprinted here). A few excerpts: “Although state governments frequently pay […]
The perils of health systems
Last week I reviewed an article on some of the potential positives and negatives of large, integrated health systems. A recent 60 Minutes episode talks […]
On the promise and peril of health systems
Integrated delivery networks. IDNs. Accountable Care Organizations. ACOs. Systems of care. Health systems. Whatever you call them, many health policy experts claim that they are […]
Orphan Drug Policies Around the World
How do you incentivize pharmaceutical companies and researchers to develop new drugs for rare diseases? Drug development is expensive and–by definition–rare diseases have a small […]
What is the impact of FDA review time on pharmaceutical R&D investments?
This is the question that a recent paper by Chorniy et al. (2020) attempt to answer. This issue is clearly very relevant as the UK […]
Drug importation from Canada won’t work
I’ve mentioned this in a number of previous posts, but large scale importation from Canada won’t work to bring down US drugs prices. The US […]
FDA sets guidelines for drug importation from Canada
Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration published a final rule providing guidance for allowing drug importation from Canada. The drugs have to be […]
CBO: COVID-19’s impact on the federal budget
Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gave an update to its federal budget projections between 2020 and 2030. As expected, things look grim […]
Using HEOR Methods to Reduce Health Inequalities
Join me tomorrow, 9/26, 12:00 PM EDT, as PRECISIONheor’s Jason Shafrin and Meena Venkatachalam discuss their recent blog commentary in the health policy journal Health Affairs on how novel methods […]
Do we spend too much on health care?
According to my post yesterday, it may seem like the answer is ‘yes’. The US spends by far the most money per person and the […]
What is the “reputational value” of developing a COVID vaccine?
COVID-19 is a global pandemic and finding a vaccine for COVID-19 would be a boon to societal. The value would be enormous. One study found […]
Trump executive orders on drug prices: Much ado about nothing?
President Trump signed 4 executive orders on drug pricing on July 24, 2020. How are they likely to affect drugs prices? Passing along rebates to […]
We are failing at treating mental health
That is the key takeaway from a recent JAMA Viewpoint by Carlo, Barnett and Frank (2020). While there has been some progress, there are still […]