- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Dr Gerard Anderson Explains the Benefits of Healthcare Systems in Germany and the UK
The healthcare systems in Germany and the United Kingdom are examples of systems that are able to manage costs while improving access to medications; however, it is unlikely that the US will follow these models, explained Gerard Anderson, PhD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Transcript (slightly modified)
What is being done in other countries to improve access to medications? Can the US use these as a model?
There are a lot of things that we could do, but very few things that we probably will do. There are 2 systems that we really should take a look at very closely. The first one is in the UK and it’s called NICE, and the second one is in Germany—they’re similar, but different.
The easiest one to understand is NICE in the UK, and what they do is they say if a drug, or if a device, costs more than about $40,000 per quality-adjusted life year—a poor life year, to make it a little simpler—they will pay for it. If you charge more than that, we’re not going to buy it. Now a drug company knows, "well, if I price it at $39,999, I’m going to get it covered, and if I price it at $50,000, I’m not going to get it covered." So, you’ve told them exactly what they’re going to do.
Germany does something very similar to that, but not exactly the same. It makes some more adjustments for the type of disease that you have. It essentially says if you have cancer, or something like that, we might pay a little bit more than if you have diabetes. It’s all based upon, historically, how much we spend for that particular drug to treat you.
Bridging Education Gaps in Treatment for Scarring Alopecia With Innovative Approaches
March 28th 2025Crystal Aguh, MD, FAAD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty, highlights the critical need for comprehensive education on hair loss across diverse hair types, stressing the importance of understanding inflammatory pathways for developing targeted therapies.
Read More
Navigating Sport-Related Neurospine Injuries, Surgery, and Managed Care
February 25th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Arthur L. Jenkins III, MD, FACS, CEO of Jenkins NeuroSpine, to explore the intersection of advanced surgical care for sport-related neurospine injuries and managed care systems.
Listen
Strategies for Improving Patient Access to Dermatology Care
March 22nd 2025Elizabeth Jones, MD, FAAD, highlights the persistent issue of insurance companies favoring expensive, newer medications over equally effective generics in dermatology, emphasizing the time-consuming prior authorization process and advocating for patient partnerships and systemic improvements.
Read More
