PHARMACEUTICALS
Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation Summary: The Year in Review
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher December 17, 2018
*Last Updated: February 4, 2019. In 2018, states showed an increasing eagerness to further regulate the pharmaceutical market with the goal of decreasing prices and increasing access to prescription drugs for their residents. This year, forty-four states considered 227 bills to address rising drug costs, of which 55 became laws in thirty-two states. Only two states with active legislative sessions, North Carolina and Alabama, did not consider legislation with the aim of reducing prescription drug costs or ensuring access to prescription.[1] In the first six parts of the “Spotlight on …
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The Source Roundup: December 2018 Edition
Source Fellow December 3, 2018
By: Leah S. Gray, Student Fellow Happy December! ‘Tis the season for curling up next to the fire and catching up with what’s happening in the world of health policy. In this December Roundup, we highlight (1) effect of disclosing prescription drug price in advertisements, (2) a systematic review of cost-saving literature, (3) employer alliances for health plans, (4) how to decrease the cost of care for Alzheimer’s patients, and finally, already gearing up for the next election, (5) what types of health policies the Democratic and Republican 2020 presidential nominees …
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Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation: Part 6 – Pharmacy Benefit Manager Regulation
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher November 20, 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 2018 legislative session, ten states passed fourteen bills to regulate pharmacy benefit mangers (PBMs). In total, 27 states considered 49 bills to regulate PBMs (see map below). This number does not include bills that relate to PBMs only as to gag-clauses in contracts with pharmacists or …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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Updated – Source Short: President Trump Signs Bills Banning Gag-clauses in Pharmacy Contracts
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 11, 2018
*Updated: October 10, 2018 On Wednesday, October 10, President Trump signed into law both bills passed by Congress to ban gag clauses in pharmacy contracts: the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act (S.2554) affects employer-sponsored and individual drug plans and the Know the Lowest Price Act (S.2553) will affect Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans. Trump expects an immediate impact on drug prices and remarked at the signing: “All our citizens deserve to know the lowest price available at our pharmacies, and now that’s what they’ll be getting.” *Updated: …
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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 …
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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) …
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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 …
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