The second episode of Debunked with hosts Arundhati Parmar, editor of MedCity News and Samir Batra, founder and managing partner of HIP (Health Innovation Pitch) centers around healthcare costs.
The hosts discuss site-neutral payments as a federal response to unfair hospital pricing when it comes to outpatient services done at facilities owned by heath systems. Notably, the American Hospital Association successfully lobbied so that this year at least, things will remain the same and site-neutral payments will not be imposed on the sector. Spending bills approved last week did not include this provision — something that happened after the recording of the podcast.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Separately, the podcast also discusses a new law in California that goes into effect April 1. Through this, the Office of Health Care Affordability will be monitoring large healthcare transactions. Listen to the audio below:
Here’s the full video of Episode 2:
