Aimovig and other drugs targeting the CGRP neuropeptide aim to prevent migraines in a whole new way. But Aimovig’s cost may mean an obstacle course of prior authorization and step therapy.
The industry has been criticized for lack of transparency—and worse. Some see ‘a ton of sense’ in the proposed mergers with insurers and retailers. Others see a risk of even higher drug prices and a need for oversight.
Even the most effective drug is useless if people don’t take it because it’s so expensive. Today’s high prices are pushing more and more patients into nonadherence. It’s a prescription for trouble for us all.
It is finally starting to happen. The first gene therapy to treat an inherited disease is out of the gate. But my, that price tag: $850,000. Many more gene therapies are on their way. How can they be priced to hit the sweet spot of affordability, access, and innovation? Outcomes-based pricing doesn’t really do the trick.
SAID, MOD, MARD—Swedish researchers are proposing a new taxonomy for diabetes based on a cluster of factors.
Genetic testing has taken off and may usher in a new era of genetically tailored health care. Insurers are figuring out how to cope with the avalanche of information. Could genetic counselors as standalone practitioners be part of the answer?
And that means full scope of practice as primary care providers. Medical societies hate the idea and think that nurse practitioners need to be tethered securely to a physician office in order to ensure top-notch care. Nurse practitioners counter that they can help shore up primary care.
New guidelines from the American College of Physicians recommend less stringent blood sugar targets for most people with diabetes. Other professional groups think that’s a terrible idea.
Develop a formulary that rules out wasteful medications.
Employers and health insurers are asking consumers to put ‘more skin in the game’ with high-deductible health plans but don’t provide incentives for them to choose high-value care.
Give away healthy breakfasts and dinners to people with diabetes and it will help them control their disease.
A report detailing clinic-level cost and quality of cancer care in Washington State is a first—adding its own stamp on efforts to measure value in oncology.
