Drug Pricing
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – November 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor November 15, 2018
The theme last month in litigation and enforcement action seems to be drug pricing. As the national debate surrounding rising prescription drug prices continues to heat up, we are seeing increasing legal action targeting the cause of such price hikes at the private, state, and federal levels. In our highlights this month, we look at how drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers are coming under fire for their drug pricing practices, and how two states have turned to the Supreme Court to salvage their laws designed to rein in rising …
Continue Reading Download PDF
The Source Roundup: November 2018 Edition
Source Fellow November 1, 2018
By: Swaja Khanna, Student Fellow Happy November! We hope you are enjoying football season and preparing for turkey! In this edition of the Source Roundup, we cover five academic articles and reports from October. The topics this month include (1) the popularity of telemedicine for employers and employees, (2) an integrated health care system that combines ACO and bundled payment, (3) health spending growth in the coming years, (4) Maryland’s new initiative reduced hospital utilization and costs, and (5) how to remedy recent generic drug price hikes. Telemedicine Is …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – October 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 15, 2018
It’s been an eventful month for healthcare litigation and enforcement action. Following coverage in last month’s Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we revisit and follow up with significant new developments in SB 17 litigation and the CVS-Aetna and Cigna-Express Scripts mergers. Additionally, we take a peek at another major healthcare merger on the horizon. PhRMA Refiles Lawsuit Challenging California’s SB 17 Last month on The Source blog, we reviewed the California federal court’s dismissal of PhRMA’s legal challenge against SB 17 on procedural grounds and noted that plaintiff will likely …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation: Part 5 – Pricing Transparency Laws
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher October 10, 2018
*Update: This post was written before the end of the 2018 legislative session. For the most recent count of states that passed these legislation, see the Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation Summary: The Year in Review or download our Summary Chart. Building on the momentum from 2017’s passage of two laws to increase transparency in drug prices, California’s SB 17 and Nevada’s SB 539, in 2018, 22 states considered and 5 states passed legislation to require more transparency of drug pricing (see map and tables below). While transparency laws …
Continue Reading Download PDF
The Source Roundup: October 2018 Edition
Source Fellow October 1, 2018
By: Jake Winton, Student Fellow Welcome to October! We hope you are getting your costumes picked out and finding those deals to stock up on trick-or-treat candy. In this edition of The Source Roundup, we review five academic articles and reports from September that stood out to us. This month we look at (1) price inflation in the California fully-insured large group market, (2) forward motion in drug price transparency laws, (3) the future of pharmaceutical reference pricing in the U.S., (4) lessons learned from California’s competitive healthcare model, and (5) …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Revised Draft Regulations for California’s Drug Transparency Law (SB-17)
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher September 28, 2018
On September 17, California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) released a revised set of proposed regulations to implement the California Drug Transparency Law (SB-17) passed in 2017. SB-17 mandates when drug manufacturers must report information to purchasers and to OSHPD, specifically 60 days prior to increasing the price of a drug product more than 16%[1] and when releasing a new drug to the market with a price that exceeds the threshold of a specialty drug under Medicare.[2] (For more details on SB-17 and the lawsuit filed against …
Continue Reading Download PDF
AB 315: Mandating PBM Registration and Disclosures – An Important Step to Increasing Drug Price Transparency and Competition
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher September 25, 2018
AB 315, considered to be a complementary bill to SB 17, which mandated prescription drug pricing transparency, is an important bill that would ensure more transparency of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) by regulating PBMs and gathering data on how PBMs impact the dispensing of certain prescription drugs. The intent of the bill is to allow consumers to purchase drugs at the lowest price by allowing purchasers, like health plans, to keep PBMs accountable for the savings PBMs promised. However, this bill almost didn’t come to be. AB 315 was sent …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – September 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 17, 2018
In this month’s Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we recap two small but meaningful wins in courts for state legislation aimed at controlling rising drug prices. We also take a peek at the newest developments of two potential mega mergers and the legal challenge against the Affordable Care Act, both of which could change the landscape of the healthcare industry. Judge Boots Challenge Against California’s Transparency Law on Technicality In the latest development of the legal challenge against California’s recently passed SB 17, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation: Part 2 – Rate-Setting
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher August 8, 2018
*Update: This post was written before the end of the 2018 legislative session. For the most recent count of states that passed these legislation, see the Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation Summary: The Year in Review or download our Summary Chart. Prescription drug spending remains an important issue to many Americans. According to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the affordability of prescription drugs is the top health care priority for voters.[1] In response to public outcry, many states have taken up the mantle of improving affordability and …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation: Part 1 – Drug Importation: The Next Frontier for State-action to Control Prescription Drug Costs
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher July 27, 2018
*Update: This post was written before the end of the 2018 legislative session. For the most recent count of states that passed these legislation, see the Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation Summary: The Year in Review or download our Summary Chart. In the most recent legislative sessions, states have demonstrated they are increasingly willing to use their power to target prescription drug prices. In 2018, only two states with active legislative sessions, North Carolina and Alabama, did not consider legislation with the aim of reducing prescription drug costs. Of …
Continue Reading Download PDF