A federal court on Wednesday (Feb. 17) dismissed hospitals and pharmacists’ lawsuit over drug makers’ limitations on 340B discounts available via contract pharmacies and told the providers to first take their concerns through HHS’ new administrative dispute resolution process. A day earlier, HHS defended the ADR process in a separate suit by Eli Lilly challenging that process and alleged Eli Lilly was trying to get the court to agree with the company’s rewrite of the 340B program. The U.S. District...
Centene and Molina had some rough patches with their exchange products in recent months, but officials from both companies said they are positive about the long-term prospects of their companies in their recent fourth quarter earnings calls and are pleased with the initial steps by the Biden administration to protect and expand coverage. In November, Molina told investors that its bronze-tier exchange plans had underperformed for the third quarter, largely because the insurer had not been able control utilization and...
The CMS hospital price transparency requirement that took effect Jan. 1 could result in more patients receiving physician-administered drugs in health care settings with lower drug prices than hospitals, according to a report by Wall Street firm Sanford C. Bernstein. Starting Jan. 1, hospitals were required to post online real-world prices for items and services they provide, including drugs. Previously, CMS required that hospitals post their so-called chargemaster rates online, but chargemaster rates aren’t useful to consumers, so CMS updated...
Using funds appropriated by Congress, the Biden administration will pledge $2 billion to the World Health Organization’s COVAX coronavirus vaccine initiative, to be delivered by the end of the month at the latest, and will use another $2 billion to spur other countries to pledge to COVAX and to scale up COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and delivery, the administration announced Thursday (Feb. 18) ahead of President Joe Biden’s Friday (Feb. 19) meeting with leaders of the G7. The $4 billion in...
