Month: May 2022
Prescription drug rebates from drugmakers to commercial health plans are steadily increasing, a study published in JAMA Health Forum shows. Why it matters: This is all part of a system in which drugmakers negotiate to get their product on the formularies of middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers and health plans. * “While drug rebates can reduce plans’ net costs, ...
An estimated 30 million people did not have insurance coverage last year, bringing the uninsured rate to 9.2%—only slightly below the major high of 9.7% from 2020, new federal data show. The National Center for Health Statistics released its latest report Thursday on estimates for health insurance coverage last year. The data showed slight gains ...
The latest batch of hospital patient safety ratings from the Leapfrog Group shows a general decline among “several” hospital safety measures concurrent with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the healthcare safety watchdog. Released Tuesday, the scores are accompanied by a report from Leapfrog that highlights a “significant” decline in the experiences of ...
Between 5.3 million and 14.2 million enrollees could lose Medicaid coverage next year as the Biden administration is expected to roll back the program’s continuous coverage provision, a new analysis finds. The analysis, released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, explores how much enrollment in Medicaid changed during the pandemic, including the impact of a ...
As an increasing number of pharma manufacturers enact new restrictions on 340B drug discounts, hospitals participating in the program have now more than doubled the annual loss projections they gave at the tail-end of 2021, industry group 340B Health writes in a new report. During a December 2021 survey when eight drugmakers had announced restrictions, critical access ...
Greater investment in primary care is linked to better quality care and fewer hospital visits, a new study of California health plans has found. The study, released by the California Health Care Foundation, “Investing in Primary Care: Why It Matters for Californians with Commercial Coverage,” was sponsored by a coalition of groups and looked at data from ...
On April 21, 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) approved a third readoption of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) to replace the current version, which is set to expire on May 6, 2022.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), launched as part of the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to aid to small businesses coping with the impact of COVID-19, ended on May 31, 2021. However, nearly 350,000 small businesses that received a PPP loan have not had their loans forgiven. Another 380,000 loans ...
Something strange happened between the time Linda Griffith signed up for a new Medicare prescription drug plan during last fall’s enrollment period and when she tried to fill her first prescription in January. She picked a Humana drug plan for its low prices, with help from her longtime insurance agent and Medicare’s Plan Finder, an ...
Most employers are putting a focus on managing healthcare costs coming out of the pandemic, a new survey shows. Analysts at WTW polled 636 employers representing 10 million workers and found that 94% are naming healthcare costs a top priority over the next two years. A close second was enhancing mental health benefits, with 87% calling it ...