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What We're Reading: Drug-Pricing Measure Rejected; Medical Expense Deduction; Flu Vaccine Efficacy
Ohio voters reject measure that capped prices for drugs bought by the state; Senate Republicans consider keeping medical expense deduction in their tax bill; and the flu vaccine's effectiveness can be undermined by the process by which it is grown.
Ohio Rejects Drug-Pricing Ballot Measure
On election day 2017, Ohio voters rejected a measure that would curb prices of drugs bought by the state. AP reported that the measure would have ensured the state did not pay more than the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for prescription drugs. The VA often has deeply discounted drugs because it can negotiate prices. The pharmaceutical industry fought against the measure and put $70 million into ads attacking it.
Senators Could Retain Medical Expense Deduction
The House tax reform bill excluded a popular medical expense deduction that Senate Republicans are considering having in their version of the tax bill. The deduction allows people to offset high healthcare costs by deducting large medical expenses in their individual income taxes, explained The Wall Street Journal. Senators Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, both noted the importance of this deduction for Americans. The Senate can only lose 2 Republican votes if it hopes to pass a bill.
Understanding Flu Vaccine Efficacy
This year may be one of those years when the flu vaccine offers less protection, and the process of creating vaccines may be the reason why. STAT provided an outline of how most flu vaccines are made: grown in eggs. While the process is inexpensive, it can cause issues that undermine the effectiveness of the vaccine. The vaccines are grown in hens’ eggs and mutate in order to grow, and a new study showed that last year’s disappointing vaccine was the result of a mutation that developed during the growth process in the egg.
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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