As patients, providers, and health systems continue to grapple with unsustainably high drug prices in the United States, it is important for policymakers to understand the distinct differences between broad categories of therapies as they examine potential solutions. This paper…
Over the past decade, U.S. drug prices have risen to unsustainable levels, threatening to cripple our health care system. Potential solutions have largely focused on how to finance and cover these high prices. But there’s another conversation emerging — one…
Having sound evidence about a drug’s safety and effectiveness is critical to understanding its benefits and value. In recent years, shifts in the pharmaceutical evidence base have created challenges for evaluating drugs after they come to market. This brief describes…
There’s a troubling trend happening in the United States. Mental health problems are worsening, despite landmark policy victories in coverage for mental health services. From 2011 to 2015, adolescent psychiatric emergency department use increased by 54%, with some of the…
Forward by Cecilia Oregón, Executive Director, Institute for Health Policy Schools are great places to instill lifelong healthy behaviors in young people. I know this firsthand, not just as a parent but as someone who worked in the school health…
By Don Mordecai, MD, National Leader for Mental Health and Wellness It’s a disturbing reality that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among teens and young adults and the tenth-leading cause of death overall in the nation today. What’s…
Patents are in the news as Congress considers legislation to address patent abuses and anticompetitive behavior by the pharmaceutical industry. If you’re tuning into these issues for the first time (or even the second or third) you’ll notice that there…
Over the course of the past year, we’ve seen renewed interest from federal policymakers in curbing pharmaceutical industry marketing practices that increase drug spending for patients, taxpayers, and the health care system as a whole. This week, the U.S. Department…
Suicide claims more than 47,000 lives in the United States each year, with each death having a devastating impact on surviving loved ones, caregivers, and communities. But suicide is preventable. This brief details Kaiser Permanente's approach to suicide prevention and…
Few societal systems have as many touch points with an individual as health care does. Each touch point has the potential to serve as an intervention to help prevent firearm injury. By viewing firearm injury as a public health and…
