WCOE: Brookings Event Examines Cost and Value, the ACA, and Accounting Practices in Medical Billing
| What Caught Our Eye (WCOE) Each week, we take a closer look at the cancer policy articles, studies, and stories that caught our attention. |
In “Adult Conversation on High-Priced Drugs? Don’t Hold Your Breath (But Hang in There)…,” Rob Cunningham provided a summary of a recent event held by the Brookings Institution that examined the cost and value of biomedical innovation. The event focused predominately on the controversial price of Sovaldi, a drug that has a cure rate of over 90% for Hepatitis C, and it examined the interplay between drug development and approval costs, patient interest, and other concerns.
There are never a shortage of articles assessing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but this New York Times article is particularly helpful in analyzing the success of ACA as it ask seven essential questions.
Dan Munro writes in Forbes about accounting practices in issuing hospital medical bills. Specifically, he discusses the shock of billing announcements and how this practice, which isn’t necessary, causes serious stress and anxiety for patients. He also highlights evidence that suggest that million dollar healthcare bills are on the rise.
