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What We're Reading: Is Trump Softening Stance on Controlling Drug Prices?
What we're reading, November 16, 2016: Donald Trump seems to be backing away from his hard stance on controlling drug prices; DC lawmakers pass assisted suicide law; and doctors often do not consider cost a top issue when deciding on treatments.
Completely repealing the Affordable Care Act is not the only campaign promise President-elect Donald Trump is already backpedaling on. According to the Los Angeles Times, Trump seems to be backing off his plans to control rising drug prices. The subject of pharmaceutical prices hasn’t been raised since the election, but it remains the top healthcare issue among Americans. The Trump agenda on healthcare has 6 healthcare priorities, but doesn’t mention drug prices.
In the District of Columbia, lawmakers passed an assisted suicide bill by a vote of 11-2. The bill needs the mayor’s signature, at which point it goes to Congress for review, reported The Washington Post. DC’s “Death with Dignity” bill allows terminally ill patients who have less than 6 months to live to request lethal medication from a doctor. Congress can undo any laws passed by the District of Columbia.
A survey of more than 800 doctors found that cost is not often an important consideration when deciding treatment. Among 6 types of doctors surveyed, only primary care physicians said cost was one of the most important factors, behind drug safety, efficacy, and if the drug is well tolerated, according to STAT. Among oncologists, cost was only the sixth most important issue, and pulmonologists ranked it last.
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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