Everyone seems to accept that we’re going to get the announcement of the next 15 medicines up for Medicare price controls before Biden leaves office, which means there are only seven business days for the announcement to happen.
That sounds like a good reason to have a poll:
(Related Scheduling Note: Unless the news hits tomorrow, Cost Curve is probably off.)
My initial reaction to the release of CMS’ “explanations” for how it arrived at “maximum fair prices” for the first 10 meds was overwhelming disappointment (though not really surprise).
But when I found out that Bloomberg Law’s Nyah Phengsitthy was going to tackle the issue, I got worried. If anyone was going to find the threads I missed in CMS’ low-calorie data dump, it was Nyah.
Her deep dive is now out, and I’m relieved to report that Nyah didn’t find anyone who was able to point to any particular illuminating disclosures from CMS. Sure, the Eliquis and Xarelto reviews didn’t include warfarin, which is I guess something of a tell, but beyond that … ¯_(ツ)_/¯
It’s still a good read because it shows near-universal disappointment (it’s not every day that PhRMA and Hopkins’ Gerry Anderson are saying essentially the same thing). There are some contrarian takes from ICER and AARP, but even that praise for CMS is pretty thin.
Extra thanks to Nyah for including my perspective.
Yesterday, I detailed four reasons why I was happy to be missing the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this year. While it’s usually a must-attend for me, I was having a sour-grapes moment.
In an effort to balance things out, here is the companion piece:
Four Reasons Why JPM Is a Must-Attend This Year.
A Hundred Little Questions Have Yet to be Answered. Yesterday, I suggested that the biggest health policy questions affecting pharma had largely been resolved. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a handful of smaller items where we could get some clarity.
At the top of my list is the impact of Medicare Part D redesign. Last month, Pfizer provided a simple but critical accounting of the redesign on its business, and I’d be interested in seeing a similar disclosure from others.
It’s a Rare Chance to See How Hospital Leaders Think. The smart folks at J.P. Morgan ignore the headliners in the ballroom who are giving warmed-over versions of their 3Q earnings presentation and instead walk a couple of blocks to the Convene event space for the “nonprofit” track. There, some huge hospital systems give a peek into how they’re thinking about health care.
That’s where I’d be, if I were getting on an airplane.
Truly Novel Ideas Are Easy to Recognize. Look, the whole confab is almost designed to be a celebration of conformity. Everyone is going to dress the same. The presentations will all follow the same script. Even the complaints will all fit into a neat, predictable box. (It’s crowded! San Francisco has gone downhill! Rooms are expensive!)
But this means that anyone who zigs when others are zagging is going to stand out, and outliers are (almost) always worth the attention. It doesn’t happen every year, and — sometimes — the yearning for something different means we elevate so-so news.
You Can Take a Meeting While Ice Skating. I try to make it out to the Union Square ice rink every time I’m at the conference, just to prove to the suit-clad suckers loitering around that I’m having more fun than they are. In all my years, only one person has even joined me. (Thanks, Leah!)
If you want to take a stab at it, I’ll buy your ticket. If you’re one of the first 10 subscribers to let me know when you’ll lace ‘em up, I’ll make sure that I get you a pass.
This is embarrassingly bad work by AARP. It purports to show skyrocketing prices in Medicare Part D, examining changes in list prices over time. Any serious observer knows that looking at list prices without the context of net prices is close to useless. But not only does AARP do that, it doesn’t even acknowledge or try to hand-wave the existence of net prices. And yet USA Today wrote a story. Sigh.
Header image via Flickr user takomabibelot.
Cost Curve is produced by Reid Strategic, a consultancy that helps companies and organizations in life sciences communicate more clearly and more loudly about issues of value, access, and pricing. We offer a range of services, from strategic planning to tactical execution, designed to shatter the complexity that hampers constructive conversations.
To learn more about how Reid Strategic can help you, email Brian Reid at brian@reidstrategic.com.
