Events

Rising Drug Costs: Where Do We Go From Here?

April 2017 – Prescription drugs are already unaffordable for many: The price tag last year in the United States was $425 billion, one out of every 10 health care dollars spent and rising. While the future of health care reform may be up in the air, the high cost of prescription drugs remains a critical issue that continues to price out some consumers, even those with insurance, and place large financial burdens on many others. As part of the original negotiations that created the Affordable Care Act, the pharmaceutical industry agreed to certain price discounts because more people would be insured. With some in Washington still vowing to repeal the ACA, which could leave millions without health insurance, an already perilous situation may only get worse.

Centennial Policy Scholar

July 2015 to November 2016 – Henry A. Waxman, JD, who represented California’s 33rd Congressional District for 40 years in the U.S. Congress, joined the Department of Health Policy and Management to host a monthly seminar series throughout the School’s Centennial year. It brought together public health leaders, policymakers and others to explore some of the most pressing public health topics including long-term care, Medicare, mental health, climate change and tobacco control.

Global Budgeting for Hospital Services: A Webcast Series

November to December 2015 – The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in collaboration with the Maryland Hospital Association and the American Hospital Association’s Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence (HPOE) platform, hosted a series of interactive webcasts about one of the innovative ideas in hospital payment reform today.  When paid through a “global budget,” a hospital does not receive additional revenue for greater volume. The hospital instead has a strong incentive to reduce preventable admissions and Emergency Department visits and to improve the overall health of its community.