National Health Issues Survey Results: Access & Affordability
Patients Rising - in coordination with Gravis Marketing, a leading market research and polling firm - recently conducted a survey to better understand American voters' views on various national health issues. The data from the survey - which was conducted in late...
The N-QOL: A Critical Breakthrough in Measuring Health Outcomes
In this space, we spend a great deal of time talking about the methods some health economists use to measure health outcomes and the value of new treatments. For example, we've gone to some lengths to explain why analyses and valuations based on the quality adjusted...
Patient Survey on Occipital Neuralgia
The Occipital Neuralgia Foundation and Patients Rising partnered to conduct a survey to better understand the unmet needs within the Occipital Neuralgia (ON) community. ON is a distinct type of headache characterized by piercing, throbbing, or electric-shock-like...
Thirty Wasted Years: The QALY and the rules of fundamental measurement
In 2018, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produced a valuation study that ultimately recommended that researchers replace the EQ-5D-3L quality of life measure with a modified instrument called the EQ-5D-5L. A lengthy debate ensued....
Last Word: ICER’s unsound methods and conclusions on lupus nephritis treatments
On April 16, 2021, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released its final evidence report on two new treatments for lupus nephritis: Benlysta (manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline) and Lupkynis (Aurinia Pharmaceuticals). In the report, ICER claims to have...
A Better Way: Replacing the QALY with a true, patient-centered quality-of-life measure
After years of perpetually rising healthcare costs – not to mention a worldwide pandemic – many elected officials and policymakers – at both the state and federal level – are looking for ways to bring down the cost of public health programs. More and more often, these...
Something is Rotten in the State of Colorado
Last month, members of the Colorado General Assembly introduced a bill intended to lower prescription drug costs in the state. The legislation (Senate Bill 21-175) would create a Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board to set payment caps on drugs deemed to be...
Last Word: ICER’s flawed pricing recommendations for new high cholesterol treatments
On the March 2, 2021, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) released its final evidence report on three emerging treatments for high cholesterol patients: inclisiran (Novartis), bempedoic acid and bempedoic acid/ezetimibe (Esperion Therapeutics). Not...
Recommended Reading: President Biden’s Bipartisan Opportunity to Reduce Patients’ Drug Costs
By Robert Popovian & Wayne Winegarden March 1, 2021 President Joe Biden should take advantage of a bipartisan opportunity to meaningfully reduce patients’ out-of-pocket spending on biopharmaceuticals. Seizing this opportunity requires the president to recognize...
Cause for Alarm: Congressional scorekeepers are now using ICER’s flawed QALY-based analysis
In September 2019, House Democrats introduced the Elijah R. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3), a bill designed to, among other things, bring down prescription drug costs in the Medicare Part D program. A few months later, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)...