CER Daily Newsfeed

Trump Return Signals Move to More Flexibility in Value-Based Care

(12/31, Whitney Phelps and Jacquelyn Daniel, Bloomberg Law) reports “...More than half of Medicare participants are enrolled in Medicare Advantage organizations, which often use quality bonuses and two-sided risk arrangements to encourage high-value services...[A] Trump administration may encourage greater competition between Medicare Advantage and private plans and strengthen the Medicare Advantage program. This includes the possibility of making Medicare beneficiaries opt-in to Original Medicare, thus making Medicare Advantage the default option.” Full

IRS Moves to Amend Excise Tax Rules on Medicare Drug Price Talks

(12/31, Nyah Phengsitthy, Bloomberg Law) reports “...The Internal Revenue Service published Tuesday a proposed rule (RIN 1545-BQ92) that would lay out rules governing the imposition and calculation of the excise tax. It also would provide definitions of terms such as ‘manufacturer,’ ‘sale,’ and ‘price.’...Companies that decline to participate or don't comply with the established price will have to pay taxes that start at 65% of the US sales of a product. The fines would increase by 10% every quarter, with a maximum of 95%.” Subscription Required

PCORI Approves $134 Million to Bolster the Infrastructure of PCORnet®

(1/2, PCORnet Blog) comments “...Funding from PCORI will be used for several initiatives to sustain, expand, and innovate the PCORnet infrastructure to enhance data quality and research capacity to support multi-site CER studies that meaningfully improve the lives of patients.” Full

AI Developers Need Real-World Data — and Atropos Health Is Stepping Up to Help

(½, Katie Adams, MedCity News) reports “...‘Using GENEVA OS, developers can train, test and validate predictive models on standardized, high-quality patient-level data. This eliminates the burdens of data acquisition and preparation, allowing for rapid model development while adhering to emerging AI assurance standards for transparency, bias detection and accuracy,’ [Atropos Health’s Brigham Hyde] declared.” Full