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Southwest Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowships

News

Last 50 News Postings

(Most recent listed first. Click on title to be directed to the manuscript.)

CMS Proposes Increased Reimbursement for Hospitals but a Decrease for
   Physicians in 2025
California Bill Would Tighten Oversight on Private Equity Hospital Purchases
Private Equity-Backed Steward Healthcare Files for Bankruptcy
Former US Surgeon General Criticizing $5,000 Emergency Room Bill
Nurses Launch Billboard Campaign Against Renewal of Desert Regional
   Medical Center Lease
$1 Billion Donation Eliminates Tuition at Albert Einstein Medical School
Kern County Hospital Authority Accused of Overpaying for Executive
   Services
SWJPCCS Associate Editor has Essay on Reining in Air Pollution Published
   in NY Times
Amazon Launches New Messaged-Based Virtual Healthcare Service
Hospitals Say They Lose Money on Medicare Patients but Make Millions
   Trust in Science Now Deeply Polarized
SWJPCC Associate Editor Featured in Albuquerque Journal
   Poisoning by Hand Sanitizers
Healthcare Layoffs During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Practice Fusion Admits to Opioid Kickback Scheme
Arizona Medical Schools Offer Free Tuition for Primary Care Commitment
Determining if Drug Price Increases are Justified
Court Overturns CMS' Site-Neutral Payment Policy
Pulmonary Disease Linked to Vaping
CEO Compensation-One Reason Healthcare Costs So Much
Doctor or Money Shortage in California?
FDA Commissioner Gottlieb Resigns
Physicians Generate an Average $2.4 Million a Year Per Hospital
Drug Prices Continue to Rise
New Center for Physician Rights
CMS Decreases Clinic Visit Payments to Hospital-Employed Physicians
   and Expands Decreases in Drug Payments 340B Cuts
Big Pharma Gives Millions to Congress
Gilbert Hospital and Florence Hospital at Anthem Closed
CMS’ Star Ratings Miscalculated
VA Announces Aggressive New Approach to Produce Rapid Improvements
   in VA Medical Centers
Healthcare Payments Under the Budget Deal: Mostly Good News
   for Physicians
Hospitals Plan to Start Their Own Generic Drug Company
Flu Season and Trehalose
MedPAC Votes to Scrap MIPS
CMS Announces New Payment Model
Varenicline (Chantix®) Associated with Increased Cardiovascular Events
Tax Cuts Could Threaten Physicians
Trump Nominates Former Pharmaceutical Executive as HHS Secretary
Arizona Averages Over 25 Opioid Overdoses Per Day
Maryvale Hospital to Close
California Enacts Drug Pricing Transparency Bill
Senate Health Bill Lacks 50 Votes Needed to Proceed
Medi-Cal Blamed for Poor Care in Lawsuit
Senate Republican Leadership Releases Revised ACA Repeal and Replace Bill
Mortality Rate Will Likely Increase Under Senate Healthcare Bill
University of Arizona-Phoenix Receives Full Accreditation
Limited Choice of Obamacare Insurers in Some Parts of the Southwest
Gottlieb, the FDA and Dumbing Down Medicine
Salary Surveys Report Declines in Pulmonologist, Allergist and Nurse
   Incomes
CDC Releases Ventilator-Associated Events Criteria

 

 

For complete news listings click here.

The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep periodically publishes news articles relevant to  pulmonary, critical care or sleep medicine which are not covered by major medical journals.

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Entries in indications (1)

Friday
Oct112019

Determining if Drug Price Increases are Justified

Drug prices continue to increase but the reasons for the increases are often nebulous. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) evaluated the pricing in partnerships with SSR Health Inc, a research firm, calculated the increases excluding discounts and after-market rebates (1). It was the first such annual report by the Boston-based research group, which assesses the cost-effectiveness of drugs.

A list of 78 drugs with price hikes at more than twice the rate of medical inflation was developed. From this list 9 drugs were selected for detailed review because they had the largest increase in drug spending due to a net price change. ICER reviewed these 9 drugs to determine if the price increases were supported by new clinical evidence based on new indications or data suggesting superiority over other drugs. Of these 9 drugs, ICER concluded 7 did not have justification for the price increases.

Advair, Glaxo’s beta agonist/steroid combination was the only bronchodilator on the list but was not selected for detailed review. Rituxan, a drug which can be used to treat granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA, formerly known as Wegener's Granulomatosis) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) was one of the drugs selected for review and ICER concluded the price increase was not justified.

ICER acknowledged it was difficult to determine the actual increase in spending on the drugs, but said it was confident that the seven drugs cost increase were more than other drugs (2). "If manufacturers weren't raising prices if they haven't shown a new important benefit, I think that would help," ICER Chief Medical Officer David Rind said. He added that he hoped pricing drugs based on new benefits could help slow cost hikes.

Not surprisingly pharmaceutical companies with drugs on the list were critical of the report. Gilead, Lilly, Pfizer and Roche were all critical of the report or defended their drug pricing policies (2). Both California and Vermont now have laws tracking substantial drug price increases, requiring drug manufacturers to submit information that might justify increases above a certain threshold (1). ICER hopes their report is a first step in providing the public and policymakers with information they can use to advance the public debate on drug price increases.

Richard A. Robbins, MD

Editor, SWJPCC

References

  1. Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. Unsupported price increase report: 2019 assessment. October 8, 2019. Available at: https://bit.ly/31XIdyk (accessed 10/11/19).
  2. Humer C. Humira, Rituxan top list of U.S. drugs with biggest price increases: report. Reuters Health News. October 9, 2019. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-drugpricing/humira-rituxan-top-list-of-u-s-drugs-with-biggest-price-increases-report-idUSKBN1WN1BE (accessed 10/11/19).

Cite as: Robbins RA. Determining if drug price incrases are justified. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2019;19(4):123-4. doi: https://doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc064-19 PDF