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Exploring Payer Coverage Decisions Following FDA Novel Drug Approvals
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Ari D. Panzer, BS, lead author and researcher, then at Tufts Medical Center—now at Duke University—discusses the findings from his team’s investigation into coverage decisions by health plan insurers of the 66 drugs approved by the FDA in 2018.
In 2018, the FDA approved a record 66 novel drugs. Among them were cancer treatments, orphan drugs for rare diseases, drugs under expedited review, and biosimilars. However, access to each of these drugs for patients covered by different health plans was not uniform.
On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Ari D. Panzer, BS, a master of public policy candidate at Duke University, and lead author of “Patients’ Access to 2018 FDA-Approved Drugs 1 Year Post Approval,” which was published in the April issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®. He delves into why it’s important to ensure patients receive optimal treatment and maximize their outcomes, understanding why health plans vary in their coverage decisions despite having access to the same evidence, and the difficulty of striking the right balance between drug access, cost, and coverage to ensure patients can get the drug therapies they require when appropriate.
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Care Quality Metrics in Medicare During COVID-19 Pandemic
August 12th 2025Medicare Advantage outperformed traditional Medicare on clinical quality measures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic; mid-pandemic, however, traditional Medicare narrowed the gap on some in-person screenings.
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Semaglutide Linked to Cardiovascular Gains, but Also Higher Health Spending
August 8th 2025A real-world study found that semaglutide prescriptions were associated with improvements in weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol, but also a $80 monthly rise in health care spending outside of drug costs.
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