News Briefs
FDA Gives First Approval of Mass Canadian Drug Imports
The Food and Drug Administration has allowed Florida to import millions of dollars' worth of medications from Canada at far lower prices than in the United States, overriding fierce decades-long objections from the pharmaceutical industry. The approval is a major policy shift for the United States, and supporters hope it will be a significant step forward in the long and largely unsuccessful effort to rein in drug prices.
(Source: The New York Times, 2024-01-05)
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Survey Expects Healthcare Dealmaking to Remain Steady in 2024
Though dealmaking volume slowed to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and its fourth quarter, M&A is expected to hold steady in 2024 as dealmakers will be on the lookout for opportunities in the physician practice, payer, and health IT markets. Many healthcare providers are still expected to pursue scale via merger deals while others contend with rising valuations for the most appealing payer or health IT acquisition targets in 2024, according to a new outlook report and industry survey from KPMG.
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-01-05)
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HHS-OIG Continued Auditing, Investigating Federal Health Programs
Audits and investigations of participants in federal health programs continued in the second half of fiscal year 2023, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). Spring, summer, and fall 2023 generated 65 audit reports and 22 evaluation reports identifying $82.7 million in expected recoveries and $1.2 billion in questioned costs, according to HHS-OIG.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2024-01-04)
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Lawmakers Aim to Permanently Expand Telehealth Flexibilities
The new year is poised to be consequential for online healthcare as several pandemic-era telemedicine measures are set to phase out, leaving many in the industry anxious over which will be kept, telehealth policy watchers said. Congress's legislative agenda for 2024 will include industry-backed bills aiming to permanently extend flexibilities that patients and providers came to rely on during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
(Source: Bloomberg Law, 2023-12-29)
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CMS to Begin Negotiating Drug Prices in February Under 2022 IRA
In February 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will begin price negotiations for the first 10 drugs selected under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. A new study finds that the list prices for the 10 selected drugs are about three times higher in the U.S. than in other countries.
(Source: Medical Economics, 2024-01-05)
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HHS's Plan to Revamp Primary Care Faces Mixed Opinions
In a bid to rectify key failings in the country's fractured healthcare system, the Biden administration this fall released plans to shore up primary care. The initiative has won praise from some experts for its ambitions, though others warn it does not go far enough to resolve a growing crisis in care linked to health inequities, high maternal mortality rates, and even the country's dramatic decline in life expectancy.
(Source: The Washington Post (free reg. req'd), 2023-12-29)
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FDA Approved 50 Percent More Drugs in 2023 Than in 2022
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved nearly 50 percent more novel drugs in 2023 than in 2022, putting it back on pace with historical levels, an improvement analysts and investors said could lead to increased investment in biotech firms. Historical data shows the FDA typically green lights about 45-50 new drugs a year and hit a peak of 59 in 2018.
(Source: Reuters, 2024-01-02)
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Most Hospitals, Payers Are Complying with Price Transparency
A "pivotal year for price transparency" closed out with most -- but not all -- of the healthcare industry publishing their data publicly and at a higher quality, price transparency data startup Turquoise Health wrote in a state-of-the-industry report. Across a total of 6,357 hospitals, 5,763 (90.7 percent) posted a machine-readable file with at least some necessary service rates in 2023, an increase of 562 hospitals over the end of 2022, with Turquoise noting that most of the additions "were individual hospitals, often with unique MRF formats."
(Source: FierceHealthcare, 2024-01-04)
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P.E. Firms in Hospice Sector Adapting Their 'Roll-Up' Strategies
Private equity firms in the hospice space are adapting their "roll-up" strategies as economic uncertainties persist. Roll ups are a common approach to private equity investment and they occur when a firm buys a larger platform company and then gradually acquires smaller organizations to foster growth.
(Source: Hospice News, 2024-01-08)
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Rural Nursing Homes Face Strong Headwinds and More Closures
There's an increasing concern that those who need rehab or long-term care will end up going instead to facilities at least 30 miles away, even if many of those buildings are restricting admissions, too, their nursing ranks also decimated, and leaders unable to recover from pandemic-era occupancy losses. Meanwhile, many of the technology options that have helped metro-area nursing homes transform the kind of care they can provide still present hurdles for old buildings in far-off locations.
(Source: McKnight's Long-Term Care News, 2024-01-08)
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