Posted by Michael Wonder on 23 Feb 2019
HHS's multi-pronged approach to lower drug prices: will it work?
22 February 2019 - Since May 2018 the Department of Health and Human Services has put forward a series of initiatives aimed at lowering prescription drug prices, Medicare expenditures, and patient cost-sharing.
The proposals run the gamut from increasing transparency of net pricing, to allowing the use of certain formulary management tools previously off limits to Medicare plans, to direct price controls.
But, will they work? The federal government appears to think so. Several weeks ago, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar stated that "the models being announced create new incentives for plans, patients, and providers to choose drugs with lower list prices ... [advancing] our priority of using HHS programs to build a value-driven healthcare system."
