Health affairs
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New York City Health + Hospitals is the largest safety-net health care delivery system in the United States. Before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, NYC Health + Hospitals served more than one million patients annually, including the most vulnerable New Yorkers, while billing fewer than five hundred telehealth visits monthly. Once the pandemic struck, we established a strategy to allow us to continue to serve our existing patients while treating the surge of new patients. ⋯ Telehealth also enabled us to support patient-family communication, postdischarge follow-up, and palliative care for patients with COVID-19. Expanded Medicaid coverage and insurance reimbursement for telehealth played a pivotal role in this transformation. As we move to a new blend of virtual and in-person care, it is vital that the major regulatory and insurance changes undergirding our COVID-19 telehealth response be sustained to protect access for our most vulnerable patients.
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Recent press reports and other evidence suggest that Medicare Part D plans may be encouraging the use of brand-name drugs instead of generics. However, the scope of such practices is unclear. We examined Medicare Part D formulary coverage and tier placement of matched pairs of brand-name drugs and generics to quantify how often preferred formulary placement of brand-name drugs is occurring within and across Part D plans and to assess the cost implications for Medicare and its beneficiaries. ⋯ For the small number of products whose brand-name versions were covered preferentially to their generic equivalents, beneficiary and Medicare prices were generally low for both products. Overall, we found that most Part D plan formularies are designed to encourage the use of generics rather than their brand-name counterparts. Policy makers should continue to monitor Part D formulary coverage patterns to ensure consistent and generous coverage for generic drugs, given their important role in reducing prescription drug spending.
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The Supreme Court upheld broad exemptions to the Affordable Care Act contraceptive mandate; new ACA rules were finalized.
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Review Case Reports
Protecting Access To Abortion During The COVID-19 Pandemic.
Several states attempted to deem abortions nonessential during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving some women with difficult choices.