Medicare reform offers pharmacy benefits, some competition

Lower out-of-pocket costs for patients might put upward pressure on drug prices, as manufacturers face less price sensitivity, note Matthew Majewski and Rhett Johnson of Charles River Associates. But they also note that upward pressure on price is likely to be limited to the inflation rate as any additional price increase would need to be paid back to CMS in the form of inflation rebates.

In this episode of the "Meet the Board" podcast series, Briana Contreras, Managed Healthcare Executive editor, speaks with Ateev Mehrotra, a member of the MHE editorial advisory board and a professor of healthcare policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School. Mehtrotra is also a hospitalist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In the discussion, Contreras gets to know Mehrotra more on a personal level and picks his brain on some of his research interests including telehealth, alternative payment models and price transparency.

AMCP CEO Susan A. Cantrell spoke with Managed Healthcare Executive® about Preapproval Information Exchange (PIE) Act of 2022, which would allow drug manufacturers to share information about a drug with payers before the drug is approved. Cantrell says passage of the PIE Act would speed up patient access to new medications.

The reference to “maximum fair price” in the act bodes poorly for manufacturers and suggests more of a take-it-or-leave-it situation rather than a negotiation where clinical evidence would be the prevailing factor in determining price.

Abortion access was a key issue in Pennsylvania and other battleground states. The Affordable Care Act receded into the political background, although voters in South Dakota approved a ballot measure that expanded Medicaid, leaving just 11 states that haven't done so.

If South Dakota voters approve a ballot initiative on Nov. 8, that will leave 11 states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs under the ACA.