Health Care Rounds

In today’s Our Take read-in, we discuss a bipartisan bill to lower drug prices that cleared a Senate committee. On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee voted 19-9 to advance a bill proposed by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that includes numerous provisions to lower drug prices. The bill, called the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA) of 2019, is likely to undergo considerable changes before it reaches the Senate floor for a full vote — if it gets that far. Over the span of a decade, the PDPRA as it currently stands would save $85 billion in Medicare spending and another $15 billion in Medicaid spending. Further, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Medicare beneficiaries would save $27 billion in out-of-pocket costs and $5 billion in premiums during that same time period. Other briefs include: New research on ACOs with two-sided risk suggests lower costs and improved health outcomes. Tenet Healthcare Corp. is spinning off its Conifer business unit. CVS is testin