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Healthcare
June 26, 2019

Report: Rare Disease Patients Hurt by “One-Size-Fits-All” ICER Framework

This op-ed appeared in ICERWatch on June 26, 2019. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review and its controversial “one-size-fits-all” value framework are a direct threat to rare disease patients, an independent report warns. In its newly-released report, “Looming Challenges for ICER in Assessing...
Healthcare
June 12, 2019

Putting a Price on Life: The Coming Fight Over Government Rationing of Medical Care

This article appeared on The Mackinac Center for Public Policy on June 12, 2019. In Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, government-run health care systems use “quality-adjusted life years” to help determine what medical procedures and drugs are available for patients....
Healthcare
April 25, 2019

Here’s why Sarah Palin’s ‘death panels’ are now being debated in Massachusetts

This op-ed by Shira Schoenberg appeared in MassLive on April 25, 2019. The debate over former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s inaccurately named “death panels” has come to Massachusetts. The debate centers on a measure of cost-effectiveness for health care, which assigns...
Healthcare
April 23, 2019

Issue Brief: Problems With The Institute of Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) and the QALY Methodology

This article by Chris Rochester appeared in The MacIver Institute on April 23, 2019. “What’s a year of life worth?” That compelling question was posed by Dr. William S. Smith, a visiting fellow at the Boston-based Pioneer Institute in a recent op-ed questioning...
Healthcare
April 23, 2019

Commentary: Proposed Drug Price Caps Would Stall Advances in Health Care

This op-ed by William Smith and Adam Crepeau appeared in the Portland Press Herald on April 23, 2019. Imagine if the Maine Legislature decided that large pickup trucks were becoming too expensive for the working class people who drive them.  Then imagine...
Healthcare
April 18, 2019

HHS Secretary Alex Azar doesn't want drug access to become an equation

This op-ed by William Smith appeared in the Washington Examiner on April 18, 2019. On April 8, at a Harvard Medical School forum hosted by Pioneer Institute, President Trump’s secretary of health and human services was asked whether it was advisable for...
Healthcare
April 12, 2019

Action on health care pricing transparency needed to stem rising costs

The Hill BY JIM STERGIOS AND CHARLES CHIEPPO, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 04/12/19 10:35 AM EDT A patient repeatedly tries to find out the price for a medical procedure. The hospital refuses, but eventually quotes the price as $5,500. But one health insurer’s website includes a...
Healthcare
February 22, 2019

The U.S. shouldn’t use the ‘QALY’ in drug cost-effectiveness reviews

This op-ed by William Smith appeared in STAT News on February 22, 2019. What’s a year of life worth? That question is at the heart of a metric called the quality-adjusted life year that is increasingly being used to make decisions about...
Healthcare
February 3, 2019

Baker’s Orwellian drug pricing policy

This op-ed by William Smith appeared in Commonwealth Magazine on February 3, 2019. THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION recently released its budget proposal for one of their most high-profile issues: drug prices in the Medicaid program. To the surprise of many in the biopharmaceutical industry, there are...
Healthcare
July 17, 2017

Op-ed: Getting to yes on MassHealth

State leaders need to work together to tackle Medicaid challenge MASSACHUSETTS HAS A unique culture when it comes to health care.  Over the last quarter century, we have seen the business, provider, payer, consumer, and academic sectors come together to advance reforms aimed...