Because it enables both the security and sharing of data, blockchain seems ideally suited to health care. Next year, the pieces may come together for it to finally get some real traction in the sector.
The caveats: About 40,000 Americans are newly infected every year. And HIV infection is still among the top 10 leading causes of death among Americans between the ages of 25 and 44.
The caveat: The prices are now falling for various reasons, but the high cost still means many who might benefit don’t have access to the medications.
Insurers are busy merging with retailers and providers in vertical integration deals after attempts at horizontal combinations hit antitrust roadblocks.
Vertical integration may make sense in the era of value-based care. But will the combinations limit patient choice–and pass antitrust muster?
The FDA commissioner has an 11-step ‘action plan’ to get biosimilars out of a repeat mode of unrealized potential. But issues like interchangeability still need clarifying if biosimilars are to have a major effect on drug expenditures.
The price of biologics can ruin cancer patients financially, this leading oncology expert reminds us. Biosimilars may help, but we need more of them on the market.
Community health workers liaise between underserved populations and clinicians, help patients and resources to manage disease, and provide health education, informal counseling, and social support. Interest in community health workers is shifting away from narrowly focused intervention on a single disease toward care coordination of multiple chronic conditions.
BPCI Advanced signals a willingness among Medicare providers to redesign care and take on risk. Commercial payers are watching closely.
The caveat: Joint replacements might be a sweet spot for bundled payments. They might not work as well for other episodes of care.
The TNF-α blocker is the world’s top-selling drug, by revenue. It faces biosimilar competition in Europe, but it will be four years before it’s challenged in the U.S.
The caveats: It is difficult to study. The strongest evidence is for palliative care in hospitals.
They are ‘living’ molecules, and there is variability among lots, even in the reference products. The key issue is whether the variability has any clinical significance. So far, it hasn’t.
The caveats: Most of the evidence involves routine care. It is uncertain whether nurse practitioners will be willing to work in rural areas to fill the primary care void.
