It's only been two weeks since a consortium of hospital systems said they are forming their own not-for-profit drug company to make generic drugs that are in short supply or overpriced. Another 100 hospitals have already joined the initiative since its launch, Intermountain Healthcare CEO Marc Harrison said in an interview at NEJM Catalyst.
Big picture: Harrison believes up to 1,000 hospitals, or about 20% of all hospitals in the country, will sign on. High drug prices and shortages have enraged the public, and the growing interest indicates hospitals see this as a way to offset some bad actors.
The search is on for a new director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, following Brenda Fitzgerald’s resignation amid a growing uproar over financial conflicts of interest.
Anthem's Affordable Care Act plans were "slightly profitable" in 2017, executives said Wednesday during a fourth-quarter investor call. The insurer ended the year with 1.3 million ACA members — 850,000 coming from the law's insurance exchanges.
Yes, but: Despite the ACA market profits, and Anthem's $3.8 billion in total 2017 earnings, the insurer decided to bail on many ACA marketplaces. Anthem now expects total individual-market enrollment will drop by 60% this year. Other insurers similarly profited from ACA plans in 2017.
Brenda Fitzgerald, the embattled director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has resigned. Fitzgerald has consistently faced questions about financial conflicts of interest, and those questions intensified yesterday after Politico reported that she had purchased stock in tobacco companies after taking the helm at the country's top public health agency.
Why it matters: Fitzgerald is the second high-profile health official to step down in roughly the first year of the Trump administration. Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price resigned last year over his use of private jets.
Trump didn’t have much to say about health policy during the State of the Union last night. But we’re definitely at a health care crossroads right now. So I asked a handful of the smartest policy experts for their assessments.
What they’re saying: The state of the health care system is... all over the place, depending on who you ask. But most experts agree that it's in a time of upheaval and uncertainty.
