Health Affairs

A recent book, CRITICAL – What We Can Do About The Health-Care Crisis, authored by incoming “Health Czar” Tom Daschle, calls for the creation of a Federal Health Board (FHB). Among other proposed board functions, the FHB would “promote ‘high value’ medical care by recommending coverage of those drugs and procedures backed by solid evidence.” This role sounds reminiscent... Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: The post by Dennis Cotter below addresses the way in which Medicare should incorporate erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (epoetin) into its composite-rate payment for end-stage renal disease treatment. Watch for subsequent posts on this topic from Amgen and others.  Statement of the problem. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) mandates that the Department of Health and Human Services... Read the rest of this entry »