- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
What We're Reading: Budget and Opioids; FDA Chief Balancing Act; New Drug Czar
The White House budget set for release Monday will include almost $17 billion to fight opioid addiction; a profile of FDA chief Scott Gottlieb, MD, describes him as someone who's become adept at balancing competing interests; the Trump administration is set to appoint a new drug czar with no public health experience.
White House Budget to Include Almost $17 Billion to Battle Opioids
The White House’s fiscal 2019 budget set to be released Monday will include nearly $17 billion for the opioid epidemic, The Hill reported. HHS will received the bulk of the money to expand prevention, treatment, recovery and mental health services—$3 billion for 2018 and $10 billion for 2019.
FDA Chief Balancing Interests in Conventional Way, Winning Over Some Skeptics
Scott Gottlieb, MD, is approaching his FDA job as chief of the agency in a more conventional way than other administration appointees, The New York Times reported this weekend. He is keeping both the president and industry supporters satisfied while also quieting some skeptics, and is trying to balance protecting public health while also offering rewards to industry.
National Drug Office Set to Get New Policy Chief
The While House deputy chief of staff, an attorney with no public health experience, is slated to become the next head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, STAT reported. Jim Carroll would serve as the administration’s next drug czar. In related news, health advocates are waiting to see if the office is still slated to see its budget cut 95% in the administration’s upcoming budget.
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.
Read More
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.
Listen
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.
Listen
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.
Read More
