AMP is WAC (and other thoughts)
Latest posts and updates
Latest posts and updates
ABOUT AMP is WAC
Average Manufacturer Price (AMP) is not equal to Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC), but it is close. And since the whole world of health policy and reimbursement is a bit WAC-y, that’s what we’re calling this update/blog part of the site. All of the opinions and thoughts presented here are our own and not the views of clients or affiliates.
Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments appealing the Chevron doctrine; coined from a 1984 case – Chevron vs. National Resources Defense Council. The doctrine essentially says that the courts should defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of federal law. But here’s the thing…Legislation inherently has gaps that that are left…
A thoughtful piece on price hikes. Price hikes are the routine story of January. Look price hikes! But because net price hides behind discounts and rebates, the full story is seldom in media. Here is a story that is (finally) a little more balanced on price hikes (and decreases). It even talks about the new…
It used to be that pharmaceutical manufacturers had to worry (mostly) about federal health policy. Every few years manage through a big piece of legislation from Congress and then the regulation on Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and any regulation that came out of the legislation. But over the past few years, the drug…
Aye-n’t going to happen. Last week I covered how Florida had their importation plan approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It all seems so unlikely to happen or, if it does, it has a lot to go through before it happens. And already the Canadians are saying no thank you. International Math. The Commonwealth…
One of my resolutions for this year is to get outside for a good walk every day. Get some air, get some steps, listen to a podcast. A break from work. Unless the podcast on money in university sports gets the thoughts spiraling to work parallels. Yesterday I was listening to the New York Time’s…
Orange you glad? Florida got approval from the Food and Drug Administration to import drugs from Canada. Ho-hum. The “how” still has to be figured out and approved and that isn’t easy. Canada has about the population of California. It doesn’t want to supply the United States with drugs. It’s one of those ideas that…
Give me time off and I’m likely to find myself in over my head with a project of my own making. #cantstopwontstop. Like deciding to bake 120 giant cookies and then deciding that I didn’t like the look of half of them and starting over. Health policy took a backseat to cookies and scones for…
We’re in that last work week before everyone dashes off. My own clients have headed for the hills (Short Hills?) and I’ve been baking and wrapping this week. It makes me appreciate the usual day to day of policy and reimbursement more than I would have thought. Next week I’ll pull out the vision boards…
Driving home (the message.) Yesterday President Biden drove up to the National Institutes of Health and gave a speech about drug prices. My main issue with it is the traffic caused by shutting down the beltway and all the roads around my neighborhood. Okay and I think that a lot of the inflation penalties for…
Yesterday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released survey results that showed that only 25% of adults over 65 knew about the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D) out-of-pocket cap starting in January 2024. Coincidentally, I also spent a chunk of yesterday explaining the $0 patient cost-sharing in catastrophic to two different groups yesterday. Both of whom…