Thursday Thoughts

Earlier this month, the FEHBlog noted a Wall Street Journal article stating that the President planned to issue an executive order on healthcare pricing transparency in mid-June. Today the Washington Post reports that

The most far-reaching element favored by the White House aides developing the order would require insurers and hospitals to disclose for the first time the discounted rates they negotiate for services, according to health-care lobbyists and policy experts familiar with the deliberations. The idea has stirred such intense industry opposition, however, that it may be dropped from the final version, the sources said.

The article suggests that the executive order may include expanded requirements on hospitals to make their prices public and restrictions on hospital consolidation. The executive order must be implemented through the federal agency rule making process.

On the prescription drug front, the FEHBlog ran across this new IQVIA report about the rapidly growing number of new specialty drugs to treat cancer.

• Spending on all medicines used in the treatment of patients with cancer reached nearly $150 billion in 2018 up 12.9% for the year, driven by therapeutic drugs, as spending on supportive care drugs declined 1.5% in 2018.  * * *
• Growth in spending on oncology therapeutics through 2023 is forecast at double-digit levels in the United States * * * .

Recently the FEHBlog discussed a New Yor Times article on the "flourishing" use of stem cells to treat various joint problems and illnesses.  Today, the Food and Drug Administration issued a press release making it clear that these stem cell treatments must receive FDA approval for marketing.

R3 Stem Cell, LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona, and its chief executive officer, David Greene, M.D. The company, through its affiliated centers or clinics throughout the U.S., offers unapproved stem cell products to treat a variety of diseases and conditions, such as Lyme disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, kidney failure and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The products offered by R3 Stem Cell, LLC are not approved by the FDA.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced today that

The Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force, a federal advisory committee established by the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 - PDF, today released its final report on acute and chronic pain management best practices, calling for a balanced, individualized, patient-centered approach. 

To ensure best practices for the treatment of pain, the Task Force final report underscores the need to address stigma, risk assessment, access to care and education. It also highlights five broad categories for pain treatment: medications, interventional procedures, restorative therapies, behavioral health, and complementary and integrative health approaches. 

“There is a no one-size-fits-all approach when treating and managing patients with painful conditions,” said Vanila M. Singh, M.D., MACM, Task Force chair, and chief medical officer of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. “Individuals who live with pain are suffering and need compassionate, individualized and effective approaches to improving pain and clinical outcomes. This report is a roadmap that is desperately needed to treat our nation’s pain crisis.”

Federal News Network offered an article this week on the problems with the federal workforce's demographics.

Just 770 employees in an IRS workforce of 80,000 are under the age of 30, Jerry Leach, the agency’s director of human capital analytics and technology, said last week at a panel discussion produced by Government Executive. About 230 employees are under the age of 25.  * * * Meanwhile, about 24-to-25% of the IRS workforce is eligible to retire, he added. The IRS isn’t alone.

Not surprisingly given these demographics and the fact that half of the FEHBP's enrollees are annuitants, the average age of an FEHBP enrollee is around 60. That brings us to the closing highlight -- a Kaiser Health News article about a physician who cares for the elderly and wants other doctors to learn how to treat this cadre. Sounds like good advice for health plan customer service staff too.