Prescription Drugs & Other Medical Products

Prescription drug shortages are an ongoing concern in the United States (U.S.). While prior analyses explore the frequency of drug shortages in the U.S., little is known about the extent to which U.S. shortages impact consumer costs and healthcare systems. Drug shortages impact consumer costs in various ways.

Understanding Coverage Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments (Updated May 2023)

This issue brief provides a primer on FDA user fees, presents findings of how user fees affect the cost of medical product development, and summarizes the research literature on user fees, most notably in expediting medical product development and approval.

Effective January 1, 2023, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) eliminated enrollee cost-sharing for recommended vaccines covered under Medicare Part D. In 2021, 3.4 million people received vaccines under Part D, and annual out-of-pocket costs were $234 million.

Effective January 1, 2023, out-of-pocket costs for insulin are capped at $35 per monthly prescription among Medicare Part D enrollees under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). A similar cap takes effect in Medicare Part B on July 1, 2023.

This report examines the utilization of oral antiviral medications, Paxlovid and Lagevrio, for the treatment of COVID-19. The analyses include an examination of time trends of COVID-19 antiviral use as well as breakdowns by age cohorts and gender. The report finds that utilization in the U.S.

This Report to Congress examines the critical role that insulin plays in the treatment of diabetes, reviews evidence on how insulin affordability affects adherence to insulin treatment and affects downstream health consequences, and describes policy efforts to improve the affordability of insulin.

In April 2021 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued revised Practice Guidelines for the Administration of Buprenorphine for Treating Opioid Use Disorder (Practice Guideline).

In this brief, we highlight experiences and practices from substance use treatment providers and their human services partners when serving people of color. We selected providers that focused on serving people of color, and this study was not intended to assess outcomes or effectiveness of any of the practices highlighted.

This updated 2022 vignette provides examples of how a range of Office of the Secretary Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund (OS-PCORTF) cross-agency projects are working to address the opioid overdose crisis by 1) Improving Timeliness and Quality of Outcomes Data 2) Building Capacity for Collection of Patient-Reported Outcomes 3) Building Linkages to Address Co-Morbidities