Policy and Legislation

Transparency in how drug companies set pricing is needed to reform the pharmaceuticals industry, The Campaign for Sustainable Drug Pricing claims in a new series of proposals aimed at making the prescription drug marketplace more open and competitive.

While losses in the Obamacare exchange markets are chasing insurance giant UnitedHealthcare away, New England insurer Harvard Pilgrim Health Care says the exchange business is a major moneymaker.

Bowing to pressure from the hospital industry and Congress, the Obama administration on Wednesday delayed releasing its new hospital quality rating measure just a day before its planned launch.

Nicole Lamoureux, CEO of the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics, said in many states these organizations are expanding their mission to make sure they can serve the underinsured-people who have coverage but whose premium and deductible represents 10 percent or more of their income.

UnitedHealth Group is exiting the Affordable Care Act markets in Michigan, Oklahoma and other areas citing a lack of profitability.

A single, coordinated approach to performance reporting is needed to make promised Medicare payment reforms work, the American Medical Association and other physician groups are expected to tell lawmakers Tuesday morning during a Subcommittee on Health hearing on Capitol Hill.

The more than 1,500 healthcare providers taking part in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative may extend their participation in Models 2, 3 and 4 through September 30, 2018, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

While support for the provisions of the ACA are on the rise, along with a willingness to let the law work instead of repealing it, individual opinions are more strongly influenced by party identification and their trust in government.

In the battle against America's surging opioid drug addiction, 49 states, the District of Columbia and even Guam have all implemented some kind of PMDP. Missouri is the only state that hasn't. A protracted political battle has kept the state from passing a law to establish one. That leaves pharmacists like Logan with few options.

Dozens of medical organizations and consumer advocacy groups have sent a letter to the Joint Commission, and a petition to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking for policy changes in an effort to reduce the over-prescribing of opioid pain relievers, according to Public Citizen, one of the groups involved.