- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
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.
Sustaining Compassionate Trauma Care Across Communities
September 30th 2024September is National Recovery Month, and we are bringing you another limited-edition month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In our final episode, we speak with Lyndra Bills, MD, and Shari Hutchison, MS.
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Health Equity & Access Weekly Roundup: November 2, 2024
November 2nd 2024This week’s Center on Health Equity & Access highlights emphasize the role of social determinants of health in policy-making and underscore the importance of addressing rising costs and challenges employers face.
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