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Impact of Cost on Patients' Access to Treatment
Zachary T. Bloomgarden, MD, MACE: We have to have rational drug pricing. We have to change, in such a fashion, to have the cost of drugs in America not differ from the cost of drugs in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, or Japan, for that matter. We need to have an effective approach to making drugs available for everyone.
Currently, individuals who have Medicare Part D have a huge burden of paying for drugs once they reach the so-called donut hole, and that certainly needs to change. But, most importantly, we have to stop confusing the cost of the drug, in terms of buying the product, [with] the cost of the drug in terms of its likelihood of ultimately affording benefit to the individual in question.
This is an area in which I fear that we’ve erred tremendously. We allow higher-cost versus lower-cost drugs to be prescribed less frequently, even though the higher-cost drugs may truly be better. So, we have to rethink some of our concepts.
Integrated CKD Care Model Cuts ED Visits by 30%, Boosts Specialized Treatment
April 21st 2025An analysis of an interdisciplinary care model for managing chronic kidney disease (CKD) shows hospital admissions dropped by 26% and emergency department (ED) visits decreased by 30% after clinic initiation.
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Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
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What's at Stake as Oral Arguments Are Presented in the Braidwood Case? Q&A With Richard Hughes IV
April 21st 2025Richard Hughes IV, JD, MPH, spoke about the upcoming oral arguments to be presented to the Supreme Court regarding the Braidwood case, which would determine how preventive services are guaranteed insurance coverage.
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"The Barriers Are Real": Antoine Keller, MD, on Geography and Cardiovascular Health
April 18th 2025Health care disparities are often driven by where patients live, explained Antoine Keller, MD, as he discussed the complex, systematic hurdles that influence the health of rural communities.
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