Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medicare Experiment Offers Incentives To Insurers Who Help Seniors' Keep Up With Medications
Modern Healthcare: Humana, UnitedHealthcare Join New Value-Based Prescription Drug Model
Humana, UnitedHealthcare, WellCare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Northern Plains Alliance and CVS Health are among those participating in the Part D model that gives insurers financial incentives when they offer innovative programs that encourage seniors to take their medications. The experiment comes out of the Affordable Care Act and affects an estimated 1.6 million Medicare beneficiaries. (Dickson, 10/3)
NPR: Medicare Encourages People To Try Dialysis At Home
About half a million Americans need dialysis, which cleans toxins from the body when the kidneys can't anymore. It can cost more than $50,000 a year, and takes hours each week at a dialysis center. To meet the need, roughly 7,000 kidney dialysis centers have opened across the country. Patients go several times a week and spend half a day undergoing the life-sustaining procedure. Medicare is now taking steps to make it easier for people to do their own dialysis at home. (Whitney, 10/4)
The Washington Post: The Worrisome Reason Why Cancer Patients Aren’t Using This Lifesaving Medicine
A surprising number of older cancer patients are delaying use of lifesaving leukemia drugs for months after they're diagnosed, likely because of the high initial cost under Medicare, according to a new study. The rare chronic myeloid leukemia has become a kind of aspirational gold standard among treatable cancers, with a variety of drugs that allow patients to live near-normal lifespans, including the blockbuster drug Gleevec. (Johnson, 10/4)
