Thursday Miscellany

The Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing by wide margins the two final FY 2020 spending bills (HR 1158 and 1865).  The President is expected to sign the bills. Govexec.com discusses the impact of the bills on federal agencies including OPM. Congress is now headed out of town for the holidays.

On the Health and Human Services Department front this week --

• HHS laid out a framework for importing prescription drugs from foreign countries in a proposed rule. 

"The NPRM would allow states and certain other non-federal government entities to submit importation program proposals to the FDA for review and authorization. An importation program could be co-sponsored by a pharmacist, a wholesaler, or another state or non-federal governmental entity. Referred to as Section 804 Importation Programs, these programs would be authorized by the FDA to manage the importation of certain prescription drugs that are approved in Canada and also meet the conditions in an FDA-approved drug application. Eligible prescription drugs would have to be relabeled with the required U.S. labeling prior to importation and undergo testing for authenticity, degradation, and to ensure that the drugs meet established specifications and standards. Notably, these programs would also have to demonstrate significant cost reductions to the American consumer."

The FEHBlog is dubious of drug importation proposals.

• HHS also proposed to revise the framework for improving the supply of human organs, particularly kidneys, for transplantation.  That is a worthy objective.

The health insurer Humana has cut a deal to purchase its own prescription benefit manager according to Health Payer Intelligence.

Enclara Healthcare’s focus is on chronic disease management and care coordination for patient populations with complex needs. As such, Humana intends to leverage this partnership in order to expand its care coordination and comprehensive care approach, especially in the areas of hospice care and mail order pharmacy procedure. 

Part of Enclara’s strategy when tackling complicated healthcare needs involves real time data and predictive analytics collected and parsed by advanced technologies. Humana intends to employ this strength to improve its “technology stack” for home healthcare pharmacy services. In particular, Humana mentioned that it will be looking to develop and improve its enhanced mobile medication management and EHR data. 

Beckers Hospital Review reports that the Leapfrog patient safety group has named its top 100 hospitals in the U.S., none of which are located in the FEHBlog's home state of Maryland. What about yours?

Forbes reports that Anthem, the second largest U.S. health insurer, "has started to use blockchain technology to help patients securely access and share their medical data. The company plans to roll out the feature, which is in pilot testing now, to groups of members in the next few months. All 40 million members will have access to it in the next two to three years, according to company officials." Groovy,

In closing, two tidbits that caught the FEHBlog's eye -- a New York Times article that diaries the nighttime efforts of an emergency room doctor and a Fortune article projecting 25 ideas that are expected to shape the next decade.