Tuesday’s Tidbits

David Ermer–Electronic health records, Medicare, Rx coverage, U.S. Healthcare–
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

From Washington, DC,

  • The Wall Street Journal reports
    • “The U.S. government named 10 drugs that will be subject to the first ever price negotiations by Medicare, taking aim at some of the most widely used and costliest medicines in America.
    • “At stake is arguably the government’s strongest effort to date to tackle high drug costs—if drugmakers can’t persuade courts to scuttle the negotiating powers that Medicare was granted last year.
    • “On the list of targeted medicines announced by the Biden administration Tuesday are treatments for cancer, diabetes and heart disease that can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year or more, including blood thinner Eliquis and diabetes treatment Jardiance.”
  • STAT News adds, “The new prices will be announced on Sept. 1, 2024, and will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.”   
  • Bloomberg informs us,
    • “For millions of American patients and parents struggling to fill prescriptions for ADHD medications that are in short supply, help is on the way. 
    • “US regulators approved a generic form of Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co.’s Vyvanse, which some patients may be able to take in place of generic Adderall, the drug of choice for many with ADHD. That drug, made by a number of manufacturers, has been in shortage for a year, forcing patients and their families to scour pharmacies for supplies or go without. 
    • “The approval will also likely bring financial relief to the more-than one million Americans who take branded Vyvanse to treat ADHD or binge-eating disorder. The cost of the drug has been steadily climbing since it was introduced in 2007, and today the list price of a 30-day supply is $369.
    • “Generic Vyvanse can be manufactured and sold by 14 companies, according to a Food and Drug Administration database updated Friday [August 25].
  • HC Innovation Group points out,
    • “Leaders at the Sequoia Project, a non-profit, 501c3, public-private collaborative chartered to advanced implementation of secure, interoperable nationwide health information exchange (HIE), announced on Aug. 28 that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has confirmed that the Sequoia Project will continue forward as the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for TEFCA—the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement. * * *
    • “The Sequoia Project and our RCE team are extremely proud of TEFCA’s progress to date, and we look forward to bringing its promise and benefits to reality soon. We couldn’t have gotten this far without close collaboration with ONC and the candidate QHINs (Qualified Health Information Networks),” said Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project, in a statement contained in the press release. “We’ve engaged stakeholders throughout the development process to engender public trust and instill a sense of ownership for future QHINs. We look to the coming months and years where this multi-year vision becomes a reality.”
  • Everyone in healthcare looks forward to this vision of an EHR backbone becoming a reality.
  • The HHS Office of Inspector General posted a strategic plan for overseeing managed care in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
  • The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force proposed an inconclusive recommendation for requiring primary care providers “to assess the balance of benefits and harms of primary care interventions to prevent child maltreatment.” The relevant population is “Children and adolescents younger than age 18 years without signs and symptoms of maltreatment.” Public comment is open through September 25, 2023.

From the public health front, McKinsey & Company offers an enlightening exploration of brain health.

From the U.S. healthcare business front,

  • Fierce Healthcare reports,
    • “Highmark Health reported $13.6 billion in revenue for the first half of 2023 as well as $389 million in net income.
    • “The not-for-profit Blues insurer attributed the performance to positive results at most of its segments, namely its core health plan as well as United Concordia Dental. In addition, volumes at Allegheny Health Network were were up year over year, further driving greater revenue.
    • “The health system reported an 8% increase inpatient discharges and observations compared to the first half of 2022 and a 6% increase in outpatient registrations. Physician visits were also up 6%, and emergency room visits were up 8% across the network.
    • “Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at Allegheny Health Network were $68 million in the first six months of 2023, and the network reported $2.3 billion in operating revenue.”
  • Reuters says,
    • “Pfizer (PFE.N) said on Monday it expects to restart production at its North Carolina plant by the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2023 as it seeks to repair tornado damage to one of the world’s largest sterile injectable drug facilities.
    • “The facility was struck by a tornado on July 19, and Pfizer had earlier said some drugs, including painkiller fentanyl, could see a supply disruption. Pfizer has since placed limits on how much supply of those drugs its customers can buy.”