Health Care Costs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently closed the public comment period for its proposed rule to implement the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). This means that Medicare will soon change its payment system for physicians, and there could be broad implications for physicians, health systems, health plans, consumers and others. […]

https://www.allhealthpolicy.org/briefingmaterials/MACRAJUNE302016_8P.MP3 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) closed on June 27 the public comment period for its proposed rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). This means that Medicare will soon change its payment system to emphasize value over volume, and physicians caring for Medicare patients will need to make decisions about […]

With biosimilar biological products moving from the lab to the marketplace, key policy and regulatory questions are being actively debated, with important implications for industry, patients, and the health care system. This discussion will provide background on current policy and regulatory issues surrounding biosimilars, and it will consider implications for the future, answering critical questions […]

Recent pharmaceutical innovations offer unprecedented possibilities for curing, treating, or preventing a range of diseases. However, patients, providers and payers alike have raised concerns about the affordability and sustainability of these drugs. As a response to price increases of both single-source and generic drugs, some stakeholders are calling for a move towards basing payments on […]

Medicare is testing new ways to pay for medical services, emphasizing value rather than volume, and evidence is beginning to build about successes and challenges. This briefing will examine what we know so far about the basic models, savings, quality, the impact on patients and the prospects for replication. The Affordable Care Act established initiatives […]

***OPEN ONLY TO MEMBERS OF THE PRESS***A governor met with reporters Friday, February 19 to discuss the latest health care innovations and changes they are pursuing or implementing. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., discussed his experience with the state’s program to move newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries to qualified health plans, and his intentions for changes moving forward. […]

Transcript Full Transcript (Adobe Acrobat PDF) Speaker Presentations Cathy Schoen (PowerPoint) Katherine Baicker (PowerPoint) Peter Orszag (PowerPoint) Event Details Speaker Biographies (Adobe Acrobat PDF)

In 2014, there were a total of 1,299 mergers and acquisitions in the health care sector – a record number, up from 1,035 the year before. This briefing will discussed the driving forces behind this recent increase in consolidation; the scope and extent of consolidation among doctors, hospitals and insurers; implications for consumers and other […]

Evidence shows that medication adherence—the extent to which a person takes medications as prescribed by their health care providers—is associated with improved health care outcomes for many costly chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. However, only 50% percent of Americans are estimated to take their medications as prescribed, and non-adherence is estimated to […]

Behavioral health conditions, including mental health issues and substance use disorders, affect nearly one in five Americans and account for $57 billion in health care costs annually. This briefing discussed current initiatives to integrate behavioral and physical health care services in order to improve quality of care and reduce overall health care costs. KEY BRIEFING […]

  Innovative drugs have brought about significant progress in treating costly and complex conditions. While there is agreement among many stakeholders that some of these breakthrough drugs have had a positive impact on Americans’ health and life expectancy, increasing prices have also caused some confusion about the methods by which drug prices are determined. The […]