Current Issues/Trends in Healthcare – Top Reads of the Week (8.31.2018)
-There appears to be increased awareness/pressure regarding drug pricing. In particular, there is some push back against PBMs and a desire for more transparent drug pricing:
Rising drug costs are taking more of every health care dollar | Opinion https://lnkd.in/gZ9sE3x
John Arnold: Are pharmacy benefit managers the good guys or bad guys of drug pricing? https://lnkd.in/gmReV-S
-Along with drug pricing pressures, the 340B program, which is essentially government drug subsidies for nonprofit hospital systems, appears to be under scrutiny:
A Little-Known Windfall for Some Hospitals, Now Facing Big Cuts https://lnkd.in/ghQPcSZ
-Rural hospitals are shutting down and/or struggling – about 8% are losing money, and Curae Health filed for bankruptcy on 8/27:
Mississippi hospitals and owner, Curae Health, seek bankruptcy, to be sold https://lnkd.in/g2QCzEf
-There is an eye on a push for healthcare reform over the next election cycle:
What would Sanders’s ‘Medicare-for-all’ plan mean for doctor pay? https://lnkd.in/gTr82Ue
-Hospital pricing continues to be scrutinized: https://lnkd.in/gYPaN9w
-Related: California passes controversial dialysis bill https://lnkd.in/g98zRuj
Other interesting reads:
Warren Buffett: 35 Books That Every Investor Should Read
LINK
John McCain’s final letter to Americans
LINK
What Will Always Be True
LINK