Ruling It. Yesterday afternoon, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the MA/Part D final rule. Personally, most of it was not up my alley but I did read over the changes to the changes to an approved formulary sections. In December 2022, CMS proposed allowing immediate substitution of interchangeable biosimilars or branded biologics…
It has been a week of odds and ends so if you’re catching up after ignoring your emails, you didn’t miss a ton. Honestly, it seems like a good time to be a DC law firm working on pharmaceutical issues. You have the usual Inflation Reduction Act submissions, comment letters (which, for what it is…
Happy International Women’s Day. Best display of International Women’s day I’ve ever seen was in Russia when I was studying abroad. They took it SERIOUSLY. Not just a LinkedIn Holiday. Cat-astrophe? No, just a political speech – not reality. President Biden talked about increasing the number of negotiated drugs up to 50 a year. Not…
A whirlwind of a week. I regrouped on Wednesday and got a run in and some pottery wheel time and then it all fell apart again (in a good way) on Thursday where I forgot to leave my desk for hours and hours. One of those “I love working” and forget time exists. So much…
It is a dumb bucket list thing but one day I will go experience the Groundhog Day festivities. Dream big, I know. Cell and Gene Update. This week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) released the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access model which will initially focus on sickle cell disease. It is…
It is rare for me to print things anymore; limited access to a giant corporate printer cuts down on the urge. But today I got the printer going, grabbed the highlighter and dug in. The paper? “Is the price right? Paying for value today to get more value tomorrow.” If I were a health policy…
It has been fun to see the year really start to kick off this week with a bunch of policy releases. Shortages. Generic shortages are caused by a myriad of factors, but a big piece is the race to the bottom for prices. A fraction of a penny less and a contract shifts to another…
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…