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What’s All The Clamor Over GLP-1s For Weight Loss?

Hollywood supposedly is addicted to them. More and more Americans are now trying GLP-1s for weight loss. What is happening here with GLP-1s is something repeated often in the drug world. First, what is a GLP-1? The drugs were introduced in the U.S. beginning in the mid-2000s and have been used for those with type 2 diabetes who were overweight. These are a class of drugs that perform much like a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1. As blood sugars rise in the blood stream, the drugs stimulate the production of more insulin, which lowers blood sugar levels. This is essential for controlling type 2 diabetes. It’s not clear how the GLP-1 drugs lead to weight loss overall, although the drugs do appear to slow the movement of food through the digestive tract and make you feel fuller. How did it become popular for weight loss? Now let’s get into off-label use of

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Surprise! Surprise! No Surprises Act Favors Providers And Is Driving Up Costs

Since the No Surprises Act (NSA) was passed in late 2020, I have argued that the baseball-style arbitration process is heavily stacked against health plans and favors providers.  The law went into effect on January 1, 2022, with some portions still forestalled by the federal government.  But the main components  that stop surprise billing to patients and the process to settle what is paid by plans to providers has been in force now for about 2 years.  The implementation of the arbitration has been rocky.  The number of cases is demonstrably above what was expected.  That said, more and more data is now available that shows how well providers are doing from the process. In commercial coverage, the main component of the law disallows providers from billing patients for out-of-network services beyond plan outlined in-network cost-sharing for emergency situations, post-emergency stabilization, and non-emergency in-network facility-based procedures where non-network services may

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The Audacity of Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is known as a bold entrepreneur — a smart-thinking guy who cuts through all the nonsense to come up with the right solution. But how audacious was he at a recent White House forum when he suggested that federal and state programs as well as employers essentially cut the top three pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) out of the pharmacy spending equation altogether in favor of a transparent model? However difficult in the short term, I believe the provocative Cuban has the right answer and wants to aggressively go after it. The entrepreneur is a recent entrant into the world of healthcare. His Cost Plus Drug Company (CPD or Cost Plus) is taking the nation by storm by showing how going direct to the manufacturer — and then to the consumer — can make money and lower costs. He would argue it is not a new model in free

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The Change Healthcare Cyberattack:  What It Is and Its Implications

A number of Healthcare Labyrinth blog readers asked me if I would write on the Change Healthcare cyberattack and its implications. Below is what I have culled together over the past month and my thoughts about what happened and repercussions. I will attempt to write at a high level and not get too technical – in part because details are still scarce. Overview of what happened We are a month into the Change Healthcare cyberattack. On February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare reported that it was a victim of a cyberattack. It appears that the attack was a ransomware attack by the BlackCat organization and affiliates. It is known to target the healthcare industry. Change Healthcare may have paid a ransom of as much as $22 million, but this has not been confirmed. The attackers claimed about six terabytes of PHI and PII data were stolen (this could be tens of

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Strong Medicare Advantage Enrollment Growth Continued From February To March

In my January 22, 2024 Healthcare Labyrinth Blog ( https://www.healthcarelabyrinth.com/great-news-for-insurers-and-medicare-beneficiaries-january-2023-to-january-2024-medicare-advantage-growth-rebounds/ ), I told you about the exciting news of Medicare Advantage’s (MA) continued strong growth (from January 2023 to January 2024) as well as a nice recovery from a bit of a sluggish increase from January 2022 to January 2023. As I always do, I publish a follow-up blog in the first few months of each year given continuing growth outside of the main enrollment season from October 15 to December 7. This is because of a somewhat recent change that allows members enrolled in a MA plans to change to a different MA plan or go back to traditional Medicare (and also choose a standalone Part D (PDP) plan. This occurs from January 1 to March 31 of each year. Because of this, MA plans continue to advertise vigorously to attract additional members and there is net new enrollment

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March 14, 2024

Change Pharmacy Network Back On While insurtechs overall have struggled, at least three – Alignment Healthcare, Devoted Health, and Clover Health – appear to be doing well.  Clover Health had an adjusted EBITDA loss of $19.1 million in the fourth quarter and a full-year loss of $44.7 million last year.  This is significantly better than in 2022. Its medical loss ratio (MLR) is projected to be just 81.2% for 2024. It expects adjusted EBITDA profit up to $20 million. Since it began, it, too, amassed a sizeable membership. #clover #insurtechs Link to Article Federal Appeals Court Deals Drug Makers A Blow On 340B A federal appellate court said that a state law could be reconciled with the federal 340B drug discount program. Drug makers are fighting to rein in the discounts they give to various pharmacies and hospitals.  While I find Big Pharma’s constant lawsuits defending their unreasonable pricing system

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The Trump-Biden Great Entitlement Debate

After promising not to touch Social Security and Medicare throughout his campaign, GOP 2024 candidate and former President Donald Trump seemingly reopened his views on the issue – only to have Biden attack him and then Trump having to clean up after. Here is the back and forth (this could be the only real debate we see from the candidates) : In comments to a journalist on whether he had changed his views on entitlements, Trump declared: “So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements. … There’s tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do. So I don’t necessarily agree with the statement.” It seems reasonably clear that Trump likely was talking about cleaning up administration and fighting

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March 13, 2024

Clover Health Readying For Positive Margin While insurtechs overall have struggled, at least three – Alignment Healthcare, Devoted Health, and Clover Health – appear to be doing well.  Clover Health had an adjusted EBITDA loss of $19.1 million in the fourth quarter and a full-year loss of $44.7 million last year.  This is significantly better than in 2022. Its medical loss ratio (MLR) is projected to be just 81.2% for 2024. It expects adjusted EBITDA profit up to $20 million. Since it began, it, too, amassed a sizeable membership. #clover #insurtechs Link to Article Feds Investigating Change Healthcare The federal government has launched an investigation into UnitedHealth Group and its Change Healthcare subsidiary after a major cyber attack.  While I am always weary of government investigations based on headlines, in this far-reaching incident it is important to understand what happened and whether there was negligence.  In related news, major for-profit

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March 12, 2024

UnitedHealth Group CEO Hears From Becerra And Providers At an unprecedented meeting, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty heard from both Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and providers at a government sponsored meeting. The plea was for United to take responsibility for the Change Healthcare cyber attack and give        additional financial support to providers. In addition, HHS detailed more about what a $1.3 billion fund for cyber security would be used for.  About 2,000 hospitals will receive incentive funds to adopt new cyber security practices. Another $153 million would go for various government initiatives. Additional article: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/becerra-stakeholders-its-time-take-accountability-cybersecurity #changehealthcare #unitedhealthcare #cyberattacks Link to Article New Study Says Provider Email Claims Largely Require No Patient Cost-Sharing A new study says that less than 20% require a patient to pay out-of-pocket for so-called “email messaging” claims. Those that did paid a median of $25 per claim. Good summary of the

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March 11, 2024

Biden Releases His FFY 2025 Budget The President announced his FFY 2025 budget even as all bills for the current FFY 2024 year have not been approved (including Health and Human Services spending).  Biden did sign into law the bill that funds some agencies for the current fiscal year, including a partial retreat on a major Medicare doc cut. Because of the split in Congress, most of his proposals are dead on arrival but serve as campaign differentiators against his GOP opponent, former President Donald Trump. In the FFY 2025 budget, Biden funds the commitments he made at the State of the Union and more: Additional articles: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/biden-budget-cybersecurity-insurance-subsidies and https://insidehealthpolicy.com/health-insider/admin-releases-budget-addresses-fallout-over-change-healthcare-attack and https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/congress-reaches-spending-deal-doc-pay-bump-delayed-dsh-cuts-and-more (Some articles require a subscription.) #budget2025 #healthcare #healthcarereform Link to Article Change Healthcare Cyber-Attack Update The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urged UnitedHealth Group and other payers to provide financial assistance to providers impacted by the

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