The US is proposing to pay hospitals extra to maintain reserve supplies of ‘essential medicines’ to help mitigate shortages. But would the plan only make the problem worse?
A US Department of Health & Human Services list of 86 “essential medicines” could become an important focus of hospital purchasing under a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposal to incentivize hospitals to create “buffer stocks” to help address problems with drug shortages.
The proposal was outlined by CMS in its annual update to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System regulations, which was published in the Federal Register on 31 July
Deputy FDA Commissioner Grace Graham acknowledged the importance of user fees, while also calling for restructuring. She also said part of MAHA's mission is to reexamine uses of drugs not supported by data.
At the Bank of America health care conference, pharma leaders speculated on the impact of Trump’s most favored nation pricing executive order on US and European markets.
As the US FDA expands unannounced foreign inspections building on pilots in India and China, experts expect higher scrutiny of overseas sites and perhaps even an industry shakeout in the longer term, though staffing and enforcement challenges could slow things down.
Pharmaceutical industry organizations offered alternatives to tariffs that could maintain a secure domestic supply chain in public comments filed in response to a federal 232 investigation.
