Research Catalog

Making medicines affordable : a national imperative

Title
Making medicines affordable : a national imperative / Norman R. Augustine, Guru Madhavan, and Sharyl J. Nass, editors ; Committee on Ensuring Patient Access to Affordable Drug Therapies, Board on Health Care Services, Health and Medicine Division ; a consensus study report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine.
Publication
  • Washington, DC : National Academies Press, [2018]
  • ©2018

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TextRequest in advance HD9666.4 .M35 2018gOff-site

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Additional Authors
  • Augustine, Norman R.
  • Madhavan, Guruprasad
  • Nass, Sharyl J.
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Ensuring Patient Access to Affordable Drug Therapies.
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.). Board on Health Care Services.
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.). Health and Medicine Division.
Description
xxviii, 206 pages : color illustrations; 23 cm.
Summary
The United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicines--and health care at large--more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugs--coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costs--is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.
Series Statement
Consensus study report
Uniform Title
Consensus study report.
Subject
  • Drugs > Prices > United States
  • Health services accessibility > Economic aspects > United States
  • Pharmaceutical policy > United States
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-157).
Contents
The affordability conundrum -- Complexity in action -- Factors influencing affordability -- Strategies to improve affordability and availability -- References -- Appendixes.
ISBN
  • 9780309468053
  • 0309468051
OCLC
  • on1021804288
  • 1021804288
  • SCSB-8985707
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries