HEALTHCARE COSTS
Pharmaceutical Pricing: Lack of Competition in the Pharmaceutical Market
Anna Zaret, Managing Editor and Grace Lee December 15, 2016
Pharmaceutical Pricing: Lack of Competition in the Pharmaceutical Market Introduction Rising healthcare expenditures have been a source of concern for many years, but more recently, the concern has begun to focus specifically on prices and spending on prescription drugs, and for good reason. In 2015, expenditures on prescription drugs rose faster than overall healthcare spending.[1] According to a report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), while overall healthcare spending has risen at a consistent rate, pharmaceutical spending sharply rose from 2010 to 2014. The high prices …
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Academic Articles & Reports Roundup: October 2016
Anna Zaret, Managing Editor November 1, 2016
We hope you had a happy Halloween! October’s roundup includes articles covering 1) price transparency|2) provider collaborations in California|3) antitrust doctrine on state immunity|4) payment reforms|and 5) consumer healthcare costs. For the next few months, we will be using the Roundup to focus on a few great healthcare price and competition articles, rather than reporting on a wider array of articles that came out in the month. If you think we have overlooked any interesting articles, please feel free to send us what we’ve missed! Price Transparency In The New …
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Academic Articles & Reports Roundup: September 2016
Jaime S. King, Executive Editor October 1, 2016
September brought us (slightly) cooler days, the hustle and bustle of a new school year, and a lot of interesting new articles on healthcare cost and competition! This roundup includes articles on 1) Quality and Its Impact on Cost|2) Prescription Drug Costs|3) Competition and Markets|and 4) Hospital Pricing and Charges. Quality and Its Impact on Cost We all know that quality has a loose, and sometimes inverse, association with healthcare costs, but this month some articles really focused on the relationship between quality (improvement and measurement) and cost. JAMA published …
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Academic Articles & Reports: August 2016
Anne Marie Helm, Managing Editor September 1, 2016
This last round up of the summer features articles on a range of topics including (1) competition in healthcare markets|(2) strategies for reducing healthcare costs|(3) pharmaceutical pricing|(4) ACOs|(5) other ACA aspects and effects|(6) post-Gobeille strategies|and (7) antitrust enforcement. We hope everyone is settling into school and work after some time off. Happy (almost) fall! Competition in health care markets: In Choice and Competition in Public Service Provision, by Timothy J. Besley and James M. Malcomson, published by the Center for Economic Policy Research, looks broadly at markets involving services like …
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Academic Articles & Reports Roundup: July 2016
Anne Marie Helm, Managing Editor August 1, 2016
This month, we saw articles and reports that approached the health care cost conundrum from all angles: price transparency|how the ACA fits in|lowering costs, generally|healthcare markets and market places|and the consumer side of things. Add these to your summer reading list! Price Transparency We at The Source were delighted to have provided research on state legislation for HCI3 and Catalyst for Payment Reform’s Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws — July 2016. This was the fourth edition of the Report Card, first issued in 2013. The Report Card carefully …
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Update: Appeals Court Reinstates Florida Plaintiffs’ Class Claims in Challenge to Unreasonable Hospital Rates
Anne Marie Helm, Managing Editor July 20, 2016
July 2016 Update: In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit overturned the district court’s February 2015 decision dismissing the class-wide allegations in this case. The case charges certain Florida medical centers and Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA with billing exorbitant and unreasonable fees for emergency radiological services covered in part by Florida Personal Injury Protection (“PIP”) insurance. Under Florida’s No Fault Car Insurance Law, drivers are required to have $10,000 in PIP insurance, and the complaint alleges that patients covered by PIP who received radiological services at emergency rooms following …
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Academic Articles & Reports Round Up: June 2016
Anne Marie Helm, Managing Editor July 1, 2016
June’s articles ran the gamut of the Source’s favorite topics: price transparency, new payment models, provider markets and pricing, state strategies, and reforming the entire U.S. healthcare system. PRICE TRANSPARENCY The Society of Medical Decision Making published an interesting study on how consumers respond to healthcare pricing information, Presenting Comparative Cost Information to Consumers: Easier Said Than Done by Jessica Greene, PhD and Rebecca M. Sacks, MPH. Participants in the study were provided online cost and quality information in various forms, and then asked to select a provider. Not surprisingly, …
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Featured NYT Op-Ed: States Can Contain Health Care Costs. Here’s How.
Anne Marie Helm, Managing Editor May 4, 2016
States Can Contain Health Care Costs. Here’s How. By RICHARD M. SCHEFFLER and SHERRY GLIED May 2, 2016 THE architects of the Affordable Care Act counted on competition in the health insurance market to keep costs down and quality high. While the law has accomplished many of its coverage and cost-containment goals, its vision of a more competitive insurance market seems to be fading. To continue reading, see the op-ed in the New York Times.
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Academic Articles & Reports Round Up: April 2016
Elizabeth Nicholson, Research Fellow May 2, 2016
Happy May! April produced a number of articles and reports on interesting aspects of healthcare issues. As always, healthcare cost was at the forefront of the scene. Also discussed were pharmaceutical cost, the intersection of quality and cost, cost-sharing, the likelihood of a single-payer healthcare system in the United States, the effects of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, and the ins and outs of the new Medicare payment system. HEALTHCARE COST Health Affairs published an article entitled Study of Physician And Patient Communication Identifies Missed Opportunities To Help Reduce Patients’ Out-Of-Pocket …
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Academic Articles & Reports Round Up: March 2016
Elizabeth Nicholson, Research Fellow April 1, 2016
Happy Spring! A common theme among the healthcare articles and reports, published in March, was payment reimbursement systems (fee-for-service versus value-based systems) and Accountable Care Organizations (“ACOs”). In addition, typical healthcare topics were also reported on. These include healthcare cost|insurance cost|healthcare competition|and suggested improvements for the United States healthcare system. As a bonus, a few articles and reports focused on healthcare cost and competition issues in other countries. FEE-FOR-SERVICE REIMBURSEMENT MODEL Health Affairs posted an article entitled Fee-For-Service, While Much Maligned, Remains the Dominant Payment Method for Physician Visits. The article’s …
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