Study on cancer care model provides for a possible decline in expenditure on processing -
The study, however, has raised questions because while it reduces the costs of a third party and showed no decrease in patient health, spending on chemotherapy drugs increased
the Wall Street Journal :. study on cancer care gives mixed results
a closely watched study to remove the financial incentive for doctors to prescribe expensive drugs cancer delivered contradictory results, with expenditures of lower overall treatment, but rising costs of chemotherapy drugs. The results of the study, which focused on UnitedHealth Group Inc. insurance arm and five oncology practices, raise questions about the most effective way to cut rapidly growing tab for the treatment of cancer. The US spent more on drugs against cancer last year -; $ 37 billion, up 19% in five years-than any other category, according to the Institute IMS Healthcare Informatics, a unit of IMS Health. The overall costs for cancer treatment are well over $ 100 billion per year and installation, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institute (Wilde Mathews, 7/8)
Reuters :. New Plan Doctor of payment of the costs of cancer care Cut, UnitedHealth Says
experience changing the way physicians US cancer are offset cost cutting health care by a third party, without noticeable decrease in health of patients, according to a three-year study by insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc and five medical oncology groups. Cancer treatment is one of the most expensive and most dynamic categories in the US care. Oncologists and insurers have been designing new incentives for physicians to improve patient care while reducing costs. In the last experiment, UnitedHealth, the largest health insurer in the United States, doctors gave participants an upfront payment to cover full course of treatment of a patient, rather than pay them for each individual medical service such as chemotherapy. The results of the study, which lasted from 09 to 2012, were published online Tuesday in the Journal of Oncology Practice (Humer, 7/8).
In addition, the New York Times examines increasing costs of generic drugs
The New York Times :. rapid price increases for certain generic drugs users Catch By Surprise
in recent years, generic drugs slowed the rise in drug prices, but Americans billions of dollars of health care systems. After the patents for Lipitor, the cholesterol drug, and Ambien, a sleeping pill, expired in recent years, for example, generic drugs have entered the market and prices fell. But increasingly, experts say, the cost of certain generic drugs going in the other direction. The prices paid by pharmacies for generic versions of some Fiorinal with codeine (for migraines) and Synthroid (a drug thyroid) and the generic steroid prednisolone have all more than doubled since last year, EvaluatePharma found. In January, the National Association of Community Pharmacists called for a congressional hearing on generic drug prices, complaining that those of many essential medicines has increased as much as "0, 1000 percent or more" in the past years. The price jumps particularly affected the smaller pharmacies that do not have the influence of big chains negotiate discounts (Rosenthal, 7/8).
| |
EmoticonEmoticon