Search

With the approval of new specialty drugs, such as the Hepatitis C treatments Sovaldi and Harvoni, states are mindful that the cost the Medicaid prescription drug benefit could increase. To achieve savings, and improve management and health outcomes, it is important to understand which drugs are most frequently prescribed and which drive spending. Using state drug utilization data provided through the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, as well as an industry drug database, this issue brief examines trends in prescriptions and spending before rebates, and places findings in the context of policy discussion.

A new Kaiser Family Foundation report finds that funding for global malaria control and elimination activities has risen from US$871 million in 2005 to US$2.6 billion in 2013. However, total funding is significantly below US$5.1 billion, the goal set by the Global Malaria Action Plan, which is a framework endorsed by…

This report finds that funding for global malaria control and elimination activities has risen from US$871 million in 2005 to US$2.6 billion in 2013. However, total funding is significantly below US$5.1 billion, the goal set by the Global Malaria Action Plan, which is a framework endorsed by world leaders in 2008 to reach global malaria reduction targets.
Additionally, support for malaria research and development (R&D) activities in 2013 was estimated to be US$549 million, below the estimated annual need of US$750-900 million and the lowest level of funding since 2007, the first year of available data.

In his latest column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Drew Altman discusses this week’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report on health spending and assesses the current effort to control health-care costs.

This report provides an analysis of U.S.-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that received global health funding from the U.S. government (USG) during FY 2013. It specifically focuses on funding provided to NGOs by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the largest implementer of global health activities among USG agencies and departments.

The Medicaid Managed Care Market Tracker, a new feature of the Foundation’s State Health Facts data center, provides the latest data on key dimensions of risk-based Medicaid managed care for the 39 states that contract with MCOs – these states are home to more than 90 percent of all Medicaid beneficiaries nationwide. On Thursday, December 11 at 12:30 p.m. ET, the Foundation will host an interactive web briefing with Medicaid managed care expert Julia Paradise, an Associate Director of the Foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.