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KFF Health News reported on a long-term trend that the US lacks enough primary care doctors: "The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of 20,200 to 40,400 primary care doctors by 2036. This means many Americans will lose out on the benefits of primary care, which research shows improves health, leading to fewer hospital visits and less chronic illness."

KFF Health News reported on a long-term trend that the US lacks enough primary care doctors: "The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of 20,200 to 40,400 primary care doctors by 2036. This means many Americans will lose out on the benefits of primary care, which research shows improves health, leading to fewer hospital visits and less chronic illness."

The article explains that other specialties pay more (in the case of orthopedics and dermatology, about twice as much), and that other specialties garner more respect. The salary differential could be meaningful for some who start their careers heavily in debt because of medical school. Some medical schools now eliminate tuition, which might give some students more freedom to choose. However, free tuition seems unlikely to be enough to balance out the field. Instead, a professor of medicine conveyed that "the U.S. health care system must address the low pay and lack of support."

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can try to prevent consolidation in different industries and in different markets. For example, if two large healthcare systems are the only two large networks that serve a geographic area, the FTC might oppose their merger. KFF Health News reported that currently 19 states have laws that can exempt hospital systems from the FTC's decisions about mergers, but five states have already repealed those laws, and a sixth one is considering doing so.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can try to prevent consolidation in different industries and in different markets. For example, if two large healthcare systems are the only two large networks that serve a geographic area, the FTC might oppose their merger. KFF Health News reported that currently 19 states have laws that can exempt hospital systems from the FTC's decisions about mergers, but five states have already repealed those laws, and a sixth one is considering doing so.

Industry consolidation through mergers leads to less competition and is therefore considered anti-competitive behavior. Some previous health networks have been able to convince regulators that a merger might save an ailing health system or that a merger might enable the combined entity to provide better service, potentially at less cost. What those networks claim before the merger might actually be very different from what actually happens after the merger. For example, without adequate competition, the new entity can command higher prices. Of course, once a merger has happened, reversing the merger is difficult. Hence, some states have found that even if hospital systems agree ahead of the merger to comply with certain requirements, such reassurances are not adequate. The FTC has commented that those exemptions "have failed to protect local communities from the harmful effects of anticompetitive hospital mergers." For that reason, some states have reversed their laws to allow those exemptions.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The team at DocSpot wishes you a joyful time with family and friends.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) got a start by promising their customers huge savings when ordering medications on behalf of their customers. It appears that a focus on percentage discounts (rather than absolute costs) drove drug manufacturers to raise their list prices, so that PBMs can tout greater savings. Pricing models became more complex and in many cases, patients end up paying more for medications. KFF Health News profiled someone whose job was to educate others on the pitfalls of PBMs and who ended up bringing a lawsuit against her employer -- a drug manufacturer.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) got a start by promising their customers huge savings when ordering medications on behalf of their customers. It appears that a focus on percentage discounts (rather than absolute costs) drove drug manufacturers to raise their list prices, so that PBMs can tout greater savings. Pricing models became more complex and in many cases, patients end up paying more for medications. KFF Health News profiled someone whose job was to educate others on the pitfalls of PBMs and who ended up bringing a lawsuit against her employer -- a drug manufacturer.

In terms of good news, there is a new type of PBM on the market, which simply adds a processing fee. As highlighted in the article, those entrants appear to be gaining some traction, as evidenced by several large companies and the state of Connecticut switching over to these newer PBMs. It might still be a decade or more before incumbent PBMs vastly change their business model.