Prescription drugs spending jumped 13 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 2003, according to the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager. Express Scripts Holding Co. said the jump was fueled in part by pricey specialty drugs that accounted for more than 31 cents of every dollar spent on prescriptions even though they represented only 1 percent of all U.S. prescriptions filled. Specialty drugs are advanced medications that treat complex or chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis or certain forms of cancer. Many are seen as treatment breakthroughs, especially newer hepatitis C treatments like Sovaldi from Gilead Sciences Inc.
When people survive life-threatening blood infections, it's common for them to land back in the hospital within a few months. But a new study suggests that could often be avoided. The research, published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, focused on older Americans who were hospitalized for a severe blood infection, also known as sepsis. Sepsis arises from a powerful immune reaction to an infection, such as pneumonia or urinary tract infection: Chemicals released to fight the bacteria or virus begin to trigger inflammatory responses throughout the body -- potentially causing blood clots, leaky blood vessels and multiple organ failure.
Yale University is creating a Web-based master of medical science degree for aspiring physician assistants, the latest sign that online learning is gaining acceptance from the nation's most prestigious institutions of higher education. The Ivy League school on Tuesday will announce it is joining with education technology company 2U Inc. to offer an online version of its decades-old program in the fast-growing field. The campus-based version has space for only about 40 students each year, while more than 1,000 apply. "It is a coming-of-age" for online education, said Lucas Swineford, executive director of Yale's office of digital dissemination and online learning. "The stigma has certainly changed over the past five or six years. This is a Yale degree." [Subscription Required]
WASHINGTON -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is launching a "Next Generation" accountable care organization (ACO) that the agency hopes will be more attractive to Medicare providers, a CMS official said Monday.
The sky actually wasn't falling when Obamacare began, but its costs apparently are now. The Congressional Budget Office on Monday said it expects the federal government will spend significantly less on Obamacare than had been projected. Instead of $1.35 trillion in costs from 2016 through 2025, Affordable Care Act-related expenditures are expected to be $1.207 trillion, the CBO said. That is an 11 percent reduction. The drop in projections is largely due to lower estimates for cost increases of health insurance sold on government-run marketplaces, and a slight reduction in the number of people expected to gain coverage under ACA-related programs, the agency said.
Starting next year, the federal government will require health insurers to give millions of Americans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans or in policies sold in the federally run health exchange up-to-date details about which doctors are in their plans and taking new patients. Medicare Advantage plans and most exchange plans restrict coverage to a network of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that can change during the year. Networks can also vary among plans offered by the same insurer. So it's not always easy to figure out who's in and who's out, and many consumers have complained that their health coverage doesn't amount to much if they can't find doctors who accept their insurance.