Health Affairs' Leslie Erdelack and Kathleen Haddad discuss the shifting pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) landscape in the wake of Blue Shield of California's decision to shift some of its pharmacy business to new companies. Read the ahead-of-print article, "The Forgotten Middle: Worsening Health and Economic Trends Extend to Americans with Modest Resources Nearing Retirement." Related Links:Blue Shield of California Press Release

A Shifting PBM Landscape?

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers talks with Stacie Dusetzina of Vanderbilt University about the current state of obesity medications like Ozempic, the likelihood of insurance coverage, their costs, drug shortages, and how to ensure this medication finds its way to patients.  Join Health Affairs Insider to learn more about drug pricing with Stacie Dusetzina. For the month of June, use the code InsiderAtTwo to get $40 off of an Insider membership (offer ends on 6/30/24). The deadline is today (5/31/24) to submit your entry for the "You're A Health Policy Wonk If" Contest and try your chance at winning a subscription to Health Affairs for the next year. Be sure to RSVP for our upcoming Theme Issue Briefing on Reimagining Public Health! 

Obesity Medications & What You'll Pay For Them — If You Can Get Them w/ Stacie Dusetzina

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers talks with Marianne Amoss about recent federal rulemaking activity over nursing facility staff levels and CMS' proposed mandatory kidney transplant value-based model. Read the newly published article "Judicial Decisions Constraining Public Health Powers During COVID-19" from our upcoming Reimaging Public Health theme issue. Related Links:Biden-Harris Administration Acts to Improve Access to Kidney Transplants (CMS)Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting Final Rule (CMS)Disparities in Acceptance of Deceased Donor Kidneys Between the United States and France and Estimated Effects of Increased US Acceptance (JAMA Internal Medicine)

Following the Rules: Nursing Facilities Staffing and Organ Transplants

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers interviews Healthcare Dive's Rebecca Pifer to discuss the FTC's move to ban noncompete agreements. Join Health Affairs Insider. Related Links:FTC votes to ban noncompetes, with far-reaching effects on doctors (Healthcare Dive)


FTC Voted to Ban Noncompetes. Will It Actually Happen? w/ Rebecca Pifer

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers and Jessica Bylander go over the demise of Walmart Health and the health of retail clinics and telemedicine. Order the May issue of Health Affairs. Finish the sentence: You're A Health Policy Wonk If... Related Links:Walmart shuttering all 51 health centers, citing lack of profitability (FierceHealthcare)The Impact of Telemedicine on Medicare Utilization, Spending, and Quality, 2019-22 (Health Affairs)Variation In Telemedicine Use And Outpatient Care During The COVID-19 Pandemic In The United States (Health Affairs)What is the cost of starting a medical practice? (Wolters Kluwer)Telehealth and COVID-19 (FAIR Health)

What Walmart Health's Demise Says About Retail Health and Telehealth Markets

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers interviews Jack Hoadley from Georgetown University about the final rule for the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D programs for 2025. Read the new Health Policy Brief on digital inclusion. Join us for our ONC 20th anniversary event on May 9. Finish the sentence and win an online journal subscription for a year: You're a health policy wonk if... Become a Health Affairs Insider to read our newsletters on drug pricing, antitrust, and more. Related Links:Differences in Use of Services and Quality of Care in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare, 2010 and 2017 (Health Affairs)Increased Medicare Advantage Penetration is Associated with Lower Postacute Care Use for Traditional Medicare Patients (Health Affairs)DTC Companies Double Down on Medicare Advantage Supplemental Benefits (Health Affairs This Week)

A Shifting PBM Landscape?

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