Health

Healthcare Economist Unbiased Analysis of Today’s Healthcare Issues

  • Medicare Drug Price Negotiation is here to stay
    by Jason Shafrin on May 19, 2026 at 12:53 pm

    At least, it won’t be overturned by the US Supreme Court. Endpoints reports: The Supreme Court says it won’t wade into the pharma industry’s yearslong legal battle over Medicare drug price negotiations. The justices declined to review multiple cases brought by AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim… The…

  • Should you adopt a new treatment if the only evidence comes from other countries?
    by Jason Shafrin on May 18, 2026 at 3:26 pm

    If you are a payer or a policymaker, should you except the results of a global clinical trial or require additional evidence that a drug works in your country.  There are a few options to consider. Delay approval until local confirmatory trial.  Approach enacted in several Asian countries (see Habr et al. 2024).  While this…

  • Does AI spell the end for HEOR?
    by Jason Shafrin on May 14, 2026 at 3:25 pm

    That is the title of my latest column in The Evidence Base. In this latest edition of Perspectives from the Healthcare Economist, Jason Shafrin (FTI Consulting and Mann School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California) examines how AI is beginning to reshape health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), from evidence generation and literature reviews to data analysis…

  • ISPOR 2026
    by Jason Shafrin on May 14, 2026 at 5:07 am

    Excited to be attending ISPOR 2026 next week. I’m looking forward to some great plenary sessions, presenting my research on “The Extent of Treatment Response and Preference Heterogeneity in Major Depressive Disorder: Implications for Population-Level Resource Allocation” with co-authors Nadine Zawadzki and Cheryl Neslusan, and meeting up with old colleagues. See you in Philadelphia!

  • How will Europe’s economies compare to the US by 2030?
    by Jason Shafrin on May 13, 2026 at 5:43 am

    That is the question Luis Garicano asks in his recent post. He relies on projections from the 2025 IMF World Economic Outlook. On the positive side, Eastern European countries’ economies are likely to converge with the US. While we have spent a decade complaining about Europe’s stagnation, a real positive convergence story has been unfolding…