Lakdawalla and Goldman. Tyler Cowen. AARP. National Pharmaceutical Council (from 2021) BIO. Adam Fein Here is a comparison of the CMS Final Rule (from 2021) vs. 2025 Trump Executive Order.

There were lots of very interesting sessions at ISPOR 2025 in Montreal. One of my favorites that I was able to attend was titled “Medicare Price Negotiation of Part B Drugs: Implications for Provider Reimbursement and Commercial Spillover“. The […]

How does a hospital’s participation in a health plan’s Medicare Advantage (MA) provider network impact their commercial rates? Since many insurers offer both MA plans and commercial plans, there could be spillovers with respect to negotiating. […]

Typically, cost effectiveness analyses assume a constant price between drug approvals and loss of exclusivity. It is not clear, however, to what extent that assumption is valid, particularly after taking into account drug price discounts and […]

I’ll be at ISPOR.  Health Care Subscriptions: Who Benefits and Who Gets Left Behind? NIH bans new funding from US scientists to scientists abroad Most favored nation. CDC: RSV vaccine works.

Perhaps so according to Politico: Trump early next week is expected to sign an executive order directing aides to pursue the initiative, called “most favored nation,” for a selection of drugs within the Medicare program. The idea would use the […]

The answer is ‘yes’ according to a paper by Borrelli et al. (2025). The authors use annual Medicare Star Rating health plan performance for Medicare Advantage-Part D (MAPD) plans over the past decade (2015 to 2024). They find that: For plans […]

From Coby Lefkowitz in Building Optimism: In Los Angeles, “luxury” units in non-high-rises can be delivered for around $300,000 to $400,000 per unit. Non-“luxury” market rate units can be completed for half of that, conditional on their size […]

Three panels. One great city. Can’t wait for the conversations at ISPOR 2024 in Montréal. GCEA: Where do we go from here? (14 May, 5-6pm) Should we finally rethink the 3% discount rate? (15 May, 3:15-4:15pm) How can HEOR support providers in […]

Innovative Payment Models for Sickle-Cell Disease Gene Therapies. EHR records transfer: fax, CD, mail. ‘Why public health must always be led by economists’ Impact of federal cuts and inflation on food banks. End of an era?