Yikes – where did the week go?
Apologies for not keeping up with the daily blogging – too darn much paying work these days. Alas…
So here are a few quick takes.
Prime Health got $8 million in debt financing from LongueVue Capital; this likely means the PPO won’t be on the block any time soon. No word on what they’re going to use the funds for…
Drug compounding hit the big time this week, with the news that both the FDA and HHS’ Office of the Inspector General are looking into compounding. This from AIS’ Health Business Daily: (free sub req)
“…state-regulated compounding in hospitals and federal oversight of manufacturers — are colliding, as the FDA in January urged hospitals to buy drugs only from compounders that voluntarily register with the agency and abide by “good manufacturing practices.”
Compounding — which is the mixing of two or more ingredients to tailor a drug to a specific patient’s needs — also is a new target on the 2014 Work Plan for HHS’s Office of Inspector General, with the OIG eyeing practices inside hospitals and oversight by Medicare accreditors.
PPACA/Obamacare
About 80% of survey respondents want their elected officials to fix O-care – not make it fail. Fully three-quarters of non-Tea Party Republicans want their representatives to fix – not kill – Obamacare…and the less-educated one is, the more likely they are to oppose Obamacare.
Of course, among those who disapprove are some who want a single payer system.
Re Obamacare implementation, there were mis-leading headlines and ledes out there saying that insurance markets are less competitive than they were pre-reform.
Once again, these media got it wrong.
Here’s what the study – which only looked at 7 states – really said:
“early indications suggest that some exchange markets are more competitive than their states’ individual markets before the ACA (emphasis added)…Two states (Connecticut and Washington) that have also been successful at enrolling consumers seem to have less competition than in their 2012 individual markets. Results from the remaining states generally show either similar levels of competition as their pre-ACA markets or mixed signs.“(emphasis added)
There’s a great infographic up at JAMA’s site showing what people are paying under Obamacare – check your state here.
Finally, myMatrixx has a webinar on specialty pharma in work comp next Tuesday at 2 PM eastern. Highly recommend it – this is a rapidly growing and very complex issue and Phil Walls is a great “explainer”.
Enjoy the weekend, best of luck in your brackets, and here’s hoping my beloved Orangemen make it thru!
