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What We're Reading: Anthem Partners with CVS; New Health Secretary Front Runner; Mixed Signals on Health Subsidy Deal
Anthem Teams With CVS to Start Its Own Pharmacy
Anthem announced on Wednesday that it will start its own business to manage prescripton drug plans by partnering with CVS Health, reported The New York Times. The insurance company said that it will begin its new business in 2020 after its contract with Express Scripts expires. Anthem is currently in the middle of a legal battle with Express Scripts over their claims that they have been overcharged. It is estimated that the savings from the new partnership will be around $4 billion a year, the majority of which will affect customers in the form of lower drug costs, the insurance company said.
Former Pharma Exec Being Eyed for Health Secretary
Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive at Eli Lilly and George W. Bush administration official, is the front-runner to replace Tom Price as HHS secretary, reported Politico. Price resigned in September following reports that he spent over $1 million of taxpayer money on private and government planes for travel. Azar had spent the past decade in the drug industry until leaving the company in January. He has been a harsh critic of ObamaCare and voiced approval for GOP efforts to repeal and replace it.
Trump Gives Mixed Signals on Senate Deal to Fund Health Subsidies
President Trump expressed opposition to the bipartisan senate proposal that would stabilize health insurance markets on Wednesday, according to The New York Times. This opposition comes just a day after he appeared to give his blessing for the deal. The deal made on Tuesday will fund critical subsidies to insurers, which President Trump had cut off just days before, for 2 years. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said that President Trump does not support the bill in its current form but indicated that changes could win him over.
Urticaria Diagnosis Challenged by Overlapping Pruritic Skin Conditions
April 23rd 2025Urticaria is complicated to diagnose by its symptomatic overlap with other skin conditions and the frequent misclassification in literature of distinct pathologies like vasculitic urticaria and bullous pemphigus.
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New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
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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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ACOs’ Focus on Rooting Out Fraud Aligns With CMS Vision Under Oz
April 23rd 2025Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are increasingly playing the role of data sleuths as they identify and report trends of anomalous billing in hopes of salvaging their shared savings. This mission dovetails with that of CMS, which under the new administration plans to prioritize rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
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