The New York Times offers an extensive article today on stem cell transplants used to treat joint problems.
Dr. Scott A. Rodeo, a surgeon and researcher at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, said the treatments were being studied there. So far, he said, “modest data” suggested that platelets might ease pain in arthritic or inflamed knees and elbows. “There’s great potential,” he said. “We are just not there yet. The marketing and use far outpace the science.”
For that reason, as explained in the article, health plans generally exclude these services from coverage.
MedCity News reports on the Food and Drug Administration’s biosimilar production guidance that was issued last week.
Knock-off versions of biotech drugs have been on the market for several years now, but one way that the US market for biosimilars has lagged behind its European counterpart is on the question of interchangeability of biosimilars with their reference products.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration issued a final guidance on interchangeability, meaning the ability to substitute one product for the other without a prescriber’s involvement, as is the case for generic pharmaceutical drugs. It’s a finalization of a draft guidance issued in January 2017.
Here’s a link to the FDA’s press release.
Healthcare Dive discusses a recent J.D. Power survey of consumer views on health plans.
The J.D. Power study shows overall health plan member satisfaction up seven points from the prior three years, to 713 on a 1,000-point scale. Fueling the increase is greater satisfaction with coverage and benefits offered.
By contrast, high copays and clunky mobile apps pulled member satisfaction down. “Overall satisfaction scores are 254 points higher when members perceive their plan actively keeps out-of-pocket costs low, helped coordinate care and that there was enough coverage, yet 54% or fewer of health plan members say their plan delivers on each of these criteria,” according to the study.
The report also shows people want lower-cost options such as telehealth, urgent care and retail clinics. Nearly half (48%) of respondents said they are very or somewhat likely to consider telehealth, and that share increased to 51% among Gen Y members. Among all members, about a third have used urgent care centers.
If you, like the FEHBlog, want consultant Avik Roy’s views on the RAND study on hospital prices that the FEHBlog discussed last week, then click here. This is the upshot —
Austin Frakt of Boston University, at his blog The Incidental Economist, has for years compiled the research that has shown that “cost-shifting” is a myth:
Indeed, one recent study found that from 1995 to 2009, a 10 percent reduction in Medicare payments was associated with a nearly 8 percent reduction in private prices. Another study found that a $1 reduction in Medicare inpatient revenue was associated with an even larger reduction — $1.55 — in total revenue. This would be impossible if hospitals were compensating for lower Medicare revenue by charging private insurers more.
Private prices go down when Medicare rates go down: not the sort of thing that would happen if cost-shifting is real. What’s actually happening is something much simpler: monopoly exploitation.
The FEHBlog believes that the problem stems from Medicare cost shifting and monopoly exploitation.
On the bright side, CNBC reports that
One of the biggest investment opportunities over the next decade will be in companies working to delay human death, a market expected to be worth at least $600 billion by 2025, according to Bank of America analysts. The analysts say companies such as Illumina and Alphabet are on the cusp of “bringing unprecedented increases to the quality and length of human lifespans.