Sector & Industry Trends
SECTOR & INDUSTRY: QUICK LINKS:
What Went Wrong at CVS?
The pharmacy industry is in crisis.—That’s especially true at CVS, where layoffs are piling on top of layoffs—and the future of the company is in question. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) also play a role; they have “significant control” over how much insurers pay pharmacies for medications and have worked to push down those reimbursement costs. That pushes down pharmacy profitability. One irony: CVS owns Caremark, a PBM. READ MORE ON THAT HERE.
Does EVERYTHING Have to Be Bacon Flavored?
Recipient of world’s first pig kidney transplant discharged from Boston hospital—The hospital said the kidney was donated by eGenesis in Cambridge and was genetically edited to remove harmful pig genes. Certain human genes were then added to improve its compatibility.
Why Isn’t Dental Health Considered Primary Medical Care?
Ailments of the mouth can put the body at risk for a slew of other ills. Some practitioners think dentistry should no longer be siloed—Many initiatives across the United States and other countries work to integrate oral and whole-body care to more effectively tackle diabetes, cardiovascular disease, joint replacements and many other conditions. “We are at a pivotal point—I call it the convergence era—where dentistry is not going to be separated from overall health for much longer….”
Medicaid for Ozempic?
States can experiment with weight loss coverage—but will they?—While federal regulators debate insurance coverage, some states are moving forward and learning lessons. Medicare Part D plans statutorily cannot cover antiobesity medications, but state Medicaid programs have more flexibility. In the first quarter of 2023, 10 of 47 states (21%) with public preferred drug lists covered at least 1 antiobesity medication; 5 (11%) had unrestricted coverage of at least 1 antiobesity medication (Figure 1). Separately, 39 states (83%) had unrestricted coverage of at least 1 of the 2 diabetes versions of GLP-1 RAs.
