ichra

Logo

December 14, 2023

Medicare Drug Reform Law Working The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) says 48 prescription drugs will have lower Part B beneficiary coinsurances in the first quarter of 2024 due to price hikes by drug makers that exceeded allowable increases, with out-of-pocket costs decreasing by $1 to as much as $2,786 per average dose. Over the last four quarters, 64 drugs in total had prices that increased faster than inflation and may be subject to inflation rebates because of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It is hard to argue that the Medicare drug reforms are not working in this case.  At the same time, CMS issued a letter to plans and PBMS urging fair reimbursement to pharmacies and urging preparation for 2024 changes under Part D. CMS letter here: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/cms-letter-plans-and-pharmacy-benefit-managers . Additional article here: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/107878 . The CMS announcement and backup material here: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-releases-revised-guidance-medicare-prescription-drug-inflation-rebate-program . Similar Health and Human Services release and info here: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/12/14/new-hhs-actions-and-research-highlight-how-president-bidens-administration-lowering-prescription-drug-costs.html . #drugpricing #ira

Read More »
Logo

December 13, 2023

CMS Actuary Releases 2022 Healthcare Statistics The CMS Actuary has released its analysis of 2022 national healthcare expenditures. I will write a blog on this in the next week. At the link is the website where the data is uploaded. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid release here: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/national-health-expenditures-2022-highlights . In addition, four other articles on the new data: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/back-normal-health-care-spending-growth-rates-down-pandemic-era-times and https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/ahead-print-national-health-spending-2022 and https://www.modernhealthcare.com/policy/us-health-care-spending-rose-over-4-trillion-2022 and https://insidehealthpolicy.com/daily-news/cms-2022-health-spending-report-finds-medicaid-drove-federal-spending . Healthcare spending increased 4.1% in 2022 to $4.5 trillion. In 2022, the share of the economy devoted to healthcare spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was 17.3 percent. Healthcare’s share of GDP as well as the percentage cost increase both went down in part due to lower government spending on the pandemic from prior years. In addition, Medicaid spending due to enrollment growth was very high. (Some articles may require a subscription.) #healthcare #costs Link to Article ONC Finalizes AI And

Read More »

Available Now

$30.00