Articles related to HEALTHCARE COSTS

A cost-efficiency analysis found that ophthalmic ambulatory surgery centers may face growing financial pressure when performing procedures with high direct material costs under current Medicare reimbursement schedules.

ASHP urged HRSA in a June 2 letter to take immediate enforcement action against Eli Lilly after the manufacturer gave an initial group of 340B-covered entities five business days to submit detailed claims-level data or lose access to discounted pricing across its full drug portfolio, including in-house hospital pharmacy dispensing and medically administered products; as of mid-June, the threatened cutoffs had not yet taken effect for many affected entities.

US prescription drug expenditures reached $915.2 billion in 2025, with utilization growth rather than price increases accounting for the majority of the 12.7% rise, and clinic-sector spending projected to outpace hospital spending by a factor of three in 2026.

CMS finalized a four-code complexity-based structure replacing legacy radiation oncology G-codes effective January 1, 2026, consolidating image guidance and treatment delivery under codes 77387, 77402, 77407, and 77412.

Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery showed no safety advantage over conventional phacoemulsification across 17 randomized trials and 4,466 eyes.

Supplemental MRI for women with extremely dense breasts and higher-than-average risk “could be cost-effective if MRI costs and false-positive biopsy rates are reduced.” — Tosteson et al., Annals of Internal Medicine