Fed Up With Drug Companies, Hospitals.....

[kadee79]

Decide to start their own!  Is this a step in the right direction?

For years, hospital executives have expressed frustration when essential drugs like heart medicines have become scarce, or when prices have skyrocketed because investors manipulated the market. 


Now, some of the country’s largest hospital systems are taking an aggressive step to combat the problem: They plan to go into the drug business themselves, in a move that appears to be the first on this scale.

“This is a shot across the bow of the bad guys,” said Dr. Marc Harrison, the chief executive of Intermountain Healthcare, the nonprofit Salt Lake City hospital group that is spearheading the effort. “We are not going to lay down. We are going to go ahead and try and fix it.”

While Intermountain executives would not name the drugs they intend to make, hospitals have long experienced shortages of drugs like morphine or encountered sudden price increases for old, off-patent products like the heart medicine Nitropress. Hospitals have also come under criticism for overcharging for their services, including for some drugs.

www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/fed-up-with-drug-companies-hospitals-decide-to-start-their-own/ar-AAuQHfT?li=BBnbfcL

[swamp]

I think it's a great idea.  DH is a hospital pharmacist and continually frustrated by the lack of common drugs.   China and India and rapidly joining the big boy countries and have purchasing power.   They're diverting supplies. 

Now if we could just solve the IV bag shortage, since they are all manufactured in Puerto Rico. 

[bean29]

I am happy to see someone doing something, but I also think if Congress really wanted a solution, they could do something about it.

I think the drug companies spread some lobbying $$ around liberally.

[bean29]

Jan 18, 2018 15:13:32 GMT -5 swamp said:

I think it's a great idea.  DH is a hospital pharmacist and continually frustrated by the lack of common drugs.   China and India and rapidly joining the big boy countries and have purchasing power.   They're diverting supplies. 

Now if we could just solve the IV bag shortage, since they are all manufactured in Puerto Rico. 

and getting power back to the island is not a priority as the people who live there, mostly have brown skin.

[swamp]

Jan 18, 2018 15:18:01 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Jan 18, 2018 15:13:32 GMT -5 swamp said:

I think it's a great idea.  DH is a hospital pharmacist and continually frustrated by the lack of common drugs.   China and India and rapidly joining the big boy countries and have purchasing power.   They're diverting supplies. 

Now if we could just solve the IV bag shortage, since they are all manufactured in Puerto Rico. 

and getting power back to the island is not a priority as the people who live there, mostly have brown skin.

once enough people with fat wallets and some political power suffer adverse effects of no IV bags, there will be changes.    But until then, pfft, it's just Puerto Rico. 

[haapai]

Do shortages lead to excessive stockpiling and outdating?  Or is the opposite tactic taken i.e. that kind of waste is unacceptable, so orders go unfilled? 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Make America great again!  Bring back IV bag production to the states!

Or is that only the coal industry?

I think it's a great idea.  There needs to be more competition.   You're not going to be able to jack the price of an Epi-pen 300% and still have people buy it if there is another manufacturer that can charge less.


I imagine though that Big Pharma is going to do some heavy palm greasing if this really takes off.  No way are they going to give  up the monopoly they enjoy and no way are our elected officials going to bite the hand that feeds them.

[Lizard Queen]

Makes a lot of sense, for any business. Big buyers of certain supplies run into problems with their suppliers, look into supplying their own.

[OldCoyote]

Here is what it really means,, The hospital Corporations want to cut out the middle man,, Make all the super high dollar profits themselves.
Do you really think that hospital Corp.  have your financial health as their main concern?

[midjd]

Jan 19, 2018 7:31:56 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

Here is what it really means,, The hospital Corporations want to cut out the middle man,, Make all the super high dollar profits themselves.
Do you really think that hospital Corp.  have your financial health as their main concern?

Of course not, but neither do the pharmaceutical companies. At least the hospitals have some vested interest in patient health and outcomes.

[OldCoyote]

Jan 19, 2018 7:45:46 GMT -5 midjd said:

Jan 19, 2018 7:31:56 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

Here is what it really means,, The hospital Corporations want to cut out the middle man,, Make all the super high dollar profits themselves.
Do you really think that hospital Corp.  have your financial health as their main concern?

Of course not, but neither do the pharmaceutical companies. At least the hospitals have some vested interest in patient health and outcomes.

Not the Corps,, surgically extracting every dollar  possible from the patient..

[OldCoyote]

How many time here have there been complaints about over charges from hospitals.

[thyme4change]

I'm guessing they will start with the commonly used generics. That is a big undertaking. For new drugs, the pharmaceutical companies can still charge exorbitant amounts to cover R&D, which is very expensive.

I wonder if this will slow down innovation.