Insurance Denials for New Hepatitis C Drugs Remain High Nationwide, Study Suggests - InsuranceNewsNet

InsuranceNewsNet

Sign in
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Home Now reading newswires
Topics
  • Life Insurance
  • Annuity News
  • Health/Employee Benefits
  • Property & Casualty
  • Advisor News
  • Washington Wire
  • Fiduciary Rule
  • INN Exclusives
  • Newswires
  • INNsider
  • INN Exclusives
  • NewsWires
  • Magazine
Sign in or register to be an INNsider.
  • INN Exclusives
  • NewsWires
  • ★ Regulation News
  • Podcast
  • Magazine
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Staff
  • Contact
  • Susbcribe

Get Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+
Insider
newswires
newswires RSS Get our newsletter
Order Prints Share
June 8, 2018 newswires No comments Views: 190

Insurance Denials for New Hepatitis C Drugs Remain High Nationwide, Study Suggests

Targeted News Service (Press Releases)

ARLINGTON, Virginia, June 7 -- The Infectious Diseases Society of America issued the following news release:

Highly effective drugs that can cure chronic hepatitis C infection in approximately 95 percent of patients first became available in the U.S. in 2014. But both public and private insurers continue to deny coverage for these costly drugs at high rates nationwide, despite efforts to remove treatment restrictions, according to a new study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. The findings suggest that all chronic hepatitis C-infected patients' access to these medications, known as direct-acting antivirals, must be improved if the public health goal of eliminating hepatitis C infection is to be achieved.

For the prospective cohort study, researchers used data from Diplomat Pharmacy Inc., which provides specialty pharmaceuticals, including direct-acting antiviral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C, to patients in 45 U.S. states. Their analysis included 9,025 patients who had prescriptions for these drugs submitted to the pharmacy between January 2016 and April 2017. The researchers calculated the incidence of absolute denials for coverage of these prescriptions by insurance type (Medicaid, Medicare, or a commercial insurer). If an insurer requested an alternative drug regimen because of formulary restrictions, these instances were not counted as denials in the analysis.

During the study period, about one-third (35.5 percent) of patients who were prescribed a direct-acting antiviral regimen for chronic hepatitis C were denied the treatment by their insurer, the study found. Denials were more common among patients with commercial insurance: 52.4 percent of these patients' prescriptions were denied compared to 34.5 percent among Medicaid beneficiaries and 14.7 percent among Medicare patients, respectively. The overall incidence of denials for the hepatitis C drugs across all insurance types also increased during the study period, from 27.7 percent in the first quarter to 43.8 percent in the last quarter.

"From a clinical standpoint, patients who are denied access to hepatitis C treatment are going to remain at risk for the development of liver complications like cirrhosis, hepatic decompensation, and liver cancer," said study senior author Vincent Lo Re III, MD, MSCE, an associate professor of Infectious Disease and Epidemiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "The denial of this treatment can also lead to ongoing hepatitis C-associated liver and systemic inflammation, which could increase the risk of other extra-hepatic complications, like cardiovascular disease, bone and joint disease, and kidney disease."

Current guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) recommend treatment with direct-acting antivirals for all patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. In a 2017 report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine laid out a strategy to eliminate hepatitis B and C infections as public health problems by 2030 and called for eliminating access restrictions that are not medically indicated for direct-acting antiviral drugs for hepatitis C.

"Failure to treat and cure chronic hepatitis C infection also maintains a reservoir for transmission, which certainly can add to increasing incidence of the infection, especially given the growing opioid epidemic" said Dr. Lo Re, who also serves on the IDSA/AASLD Hepatitis C Guidance panel and was a member of the National Academies committee that developed last year's report. "If we want to achieve the goal of hepatitis C elimination, then access to hepatitis C therapy must be improved."

Older

FY2019 MilCon-VA Appropriations Bill Approved by Committee

Newer

Young Invincibles Issues Statement on Virginia Medicaid Expansion

Advisor News

  • Going Broke Remains Top Concern In Retirement: CPA Survey
  • More Than 1 In 4 Americans Would Consider Divorce Over A Financial Secret
  • Financial Advisors Can Do Some ‘Life Coaching’
  • Commonwealth Financial Network Licenses Its 360° Software To MassMutual
  • The Way We’ve Always Done It Won’t Work With Millennials
More Advisor News

Annuity News

  • Securian Financial Posts Solid 2018
  • SEC Extends Comment Period For Proposed Rules On VA And Variable Life Disclosures
  • ‘Dream House’ Raffle Winner Choice: Historic California Home Or $5M Annuity?
  • RGA Announces Longevity Transaction With Manulife
  • Jackson National Inks Deal To Distribute Annuities To RIAs
More Annuity News

Health/Employee Benefits

  • Insurance Networks, Doctor Referrals Don’t Always Offer Full Picture
  • What Medicare For All Might Look Like If It Really Happened
  • Furloughed Workers Withdrew From Retirement Funds: Study
  • Democrats Roll Out Bill To Let Americans Buy Into Medicare At 50
  • Survey Finds Health Plans Are Struggling With Value-Based Reimbursement
More Health/Employee Benefits

Life Insurance

  • Securian Financial Posts Solid 2018
  • Understanding The Benefits Of Whole Life Insurance
  • Allianz Life Reports Solid 2018 Financial Results
  • Man Who Defraud Union In Life Insurance Scam Sentenced To Probation
  • SEC Extends Comment Period For Proposed Rules On VA And Variable Life Disclosures
Sponsor
More Life Insurance

Sign up for our FREE e-Newsletter!

Get breaking news, exclusive stories, and money- making insights straight into your inbox.
select Newsletter Options

Most Popular

  • NAIC Group Puts IUL Illustration ‘Multipliers’ Under Microscope
  • What If The Market Goes Up? Why An FIA Is Better Than Stocks
  • Understanding The Benefits Of Whole Life Insurance
  • 3 Life Settlement Trends To Watch In 2019
  • Treading Carefully In An Uncapped FIA World

Featured Offers

Text Ads

Press ReleasesAll press releases

  • Great American’s Annuity Customers Share Their Secrets to a Great Retirement
  • Securian Financial Introduces Affordable, Protection-Focused IUL with No-Lapse Guarantee
  • TD Ameritrade Institutional Integrates with iPipeline to Automate New Account Opening
  • RFP R2019-78
  • Bunker Launches Live Certificates of Insurance, A Modern Solution to Insurance Fraud and Non-Compliance
Add your Press Release >

Topics

  • Life Insurance
  • Annuity News
  • Health/Employee Benefits
  • Property and Casualty News
  • Advisor News
  • Washington Wire
  • Regulation

Top Sections

  • INN Exclusives
  • INN Insider

Our Company

  • About
  • Editorial Staff
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Sign up for our FREE e-Newsletter!

Get breaking news, exclusive stories, and money- making insights straight into your inbox.

select Newsletter Options
Facebook Linkedin Twitter Google+
© 2019 InsuranceNewsNet.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • AdvisorNews

Sign in with your INNsider Account

Not registered? Become an INNsider.