Friday Five: Top 5 healthcare business news items from the MCOL Weekend edition

By Claire Thayer, August 3, 2018

Every business day, MCOL posts feature stories making news on the business of health care. Here are five we think are particularly important for this week:

Express Scripts hits back at criticisms of PBMs, says it 'would do just fine' without drug price rebates

Express Scripts, the country's largest pharmacy benefits manager, is challenging the rhetoric that paints PBMs as the villain behind the rising cost of drugs.

FierceHealthcare

Friday, August 3, 2018

Hospitals see $4.8B lift in final CMS payment rule that focuses on price transparency, interoperability

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized a hospital payment rule that includes an additional $4.8 billion for inpatient services as well as several new requirements around price transparency and data sharing.

FierceHealthcare

Thursday, August 2, 2018

How Rival Opioid Makers Sought To Cash In On Alarm Over OxyContin’s Dangers

As Purdue Pharma faced mounting criticism over deaths linked to OxyContin, rival drugmakers saw a chance to boost sales by stepping up marketing of similarly dangerous painkillers, such as fentanyl, morphine and methadone, Purdue internal documents reveal.

Kaiser Health News

Thursday, August 2, 2018

‘Short Term’ Health Insurance? Up to 3 Years Under New Trump Policy

The Trump administration issued a final rule on Wednesday that clears the way for the sale of many more health insurance policies that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act and do not have to cover prescription drugs, maternity care or people with pre-existing medical conditions.

NY Times

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Individual market enrollment dropping amid premium increases

Enrollment in the individual health insurance market — the market for people who don't get coverage through work — has declined 12 percent in the first quarter of 2018, compared to the same period last year, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.

The Hill

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

These and more weekly news items on the business of healthcare are featured in the MCOL Weekend edition, along with the MCOL Tidbits, and more, for MCOL Premium level members.