looks like a blueprint of how or guidelines of how patients are assessed and treated ..... looks like a lot of bs in there too :)
hep c GOAL for anyone that has it no matter what stage or viral load... is WE want the virus gone and we want svr12 and undetectable status
i dont care if you are F 1-2-3- or 4 the Goal is DEATH to Dragons ... this whole selective commitee is just totaly not right ....
proving once again that money trumps our well being... or at least it seems like that in sum peoples eyes... not everyone...... I hope those senators really lean on Gillead so they lower the damn price of their 1000 pill rediculous COST.....
They postponed their decision .... Imagine that :)
An Oregon Medicaid committee on Thursday significantly scaled back access to an effective but expensive new drug used to treat hepatitis C.
The decision allows only a narrow set of Medicaid patients to be treated with the $1,000-per-pill drug known as Sovaldi, made by Gilead Sciences Inc.
Medical experts on Oregons pharmaceutical review committee question whether the drug is worth the price tag, and officials worry it would break the bank. They say treating all Medicaid patients with the liver-wasting disease would cost almost as much as last years entire drug bill.
Oregons guidelines would allow the drug to be used only for patients with later stages of liver damage who have been drug-free for at least six months. The drug could only be prescribed by a liver or gastrointestinal specialist, which often requires months of waiting for an appointment.
The moved drew an angry reaction from hepatitis patients and groups that work with them. Lorren Sandt, director of Caring Ambassadors, a hepatitis C resource group based in the Portland suburb of Oregon City, called the guidelines horrific.
Can you imagine if you were a cancer patient and they said, Were going to wait until youre Stage 4 before well treat you? Sandt told The Associated Press. Thats what theyre doing.
Allowing liver damage to advance to late stages puts patients at a high risk for cancer and lowers their quality of life, she said.
The cost of a 12-week regimen of Sovaldi along with two companion medications that patients must also take is around $100,000. Competing regimens with other drugs cost in the mid- to high five figures, and some are far less effective and harder to tolerate.
Oregon took up the issue a day after Illinois Medicaid program put in place tight restrictions on the use of the drug, including requiring patients to meet 25 criteria and get prior approval before the government program will pay.
A separate Oregon panel could go even further next month, removing Sovaldi from the list of treatments covered under Medicaid and requiring doctors to make an individualized appeal to obtain the coverage. Oregon can take such a strong stance because of a federal waiver that allows the state to prioritize treatments for medical conditions based on their cost-effectiveness.
Tom Burns, director of pharmacy programs at the Oregon Health Authority, said its impossible to know how many patients will make it over the hurdles officials are establishing.
Hepatitis develops slowly over years or decades. Oregon officials say that while they wait for the price to drop or for new treatments to come on the market, they want the drug available only to those who face imminent severe liver problems.
Medicaid officials are used to covering expensive treatments, but theyre usually for relatively rare conditions, said Matt Salo, director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.
Its always been 50 people or 500 people or 1,000 people, not hundreds of thousands like were seeing (with Sovaldi), Salo said. So this is kind of a game-changer.
In a statement, Gregg Alton, executive vice president at drugmaker Gilead, did not directly address Oregons decision but said regimens containing Sovaldi reduce total treatment costs for hepatitis C, including medication costs for dealing with side effects from alternative drugs and managing advanced liver disease.
Oregon had about 5,600 Medicaid patients with hepatitis C at the end of 2013, before 300,000 people joined the system under the federal health care overhaul. State officials say it would cost $360 million to treat all of them with Sovaldi, and total Medicaid drug spending was $377 million in 2013.
Hepatitis C surpassed AIDS as a cause of death in the U.S. in 2007, claiming an estimated 15,000 lives that year. The illness is complex, with distinct virus types requiring different treatments. While it advances gradually, it can ultimately destroy the liver, and transplants cost an average of $577,000 each.
Hepatitis C is a public health concern because the disease can be transmitted by contact with infected blood, by drug users sharing needles, and sometimes through sexual activity. Many people are unaware that they carry the virus. Health officials advise all baby boomers to get tested.
Isiscat2011 said
Aug 15, 2014
Hi Josh:
F-2s are considered "High Priority" under the new guidelines so you won't have long to wait.
This sure worked out well for pharma. Not only do they get to charge whatever they want but they will have even more patients lined up to test their experimental drugs on because people won't want to wait.
Isiscat2011 said
Aug 15, 2014
Now that the new AASLD guidelines are out the rationing plan has started. It won't be limited to Oregon. It will also apply to federal and other states as well as private insurance. In some states it will be more stringent than others depending on budgetary constraints. Keep in mind, however, that this is a temporary solution until drug prices come down.
Milliganus said
Aug 15, 2014
I had seen one of the articles a week or so ago. It's kind of scary, rationing of care, but lots of things are pretty scary nowadays, right? Anyway, I had the same concern which is why I jumped on a clinical trial. You may want to keep an eye open in your general area, or if you can travel, for something coming up. Clinicaltrials.gov is the website which gives all the current and upcoming trials for the drug manufacturers.
Good luck!
Josh Haynie said
Aug 15, 2014
sumthin may be announced today dont know when or where theyll post results
waiting till December being 6 months clean of alcohol is a pre requisite so i kinda did it to myself..... lol hate waiting ..waiting 3 months is long enough ....
course by the time Decem hits i may get SL combo .... or hold out for dear abby im not worried bout TX just the waiting is annoying...
not to mention i may not be damaged enough to meet criteria but ... 1 way or another i shall get sovaldi or abbie V..... i know a few tactics i have not mentioned
and if i dont get what i want on a technacality i will straight challenge people in court ... totaly bury them and make them regret me coming after them ...
i will in the very least waste thier time if they so choose to do it to me come January.... so like i said sumthing will happen 1 way or another...
i dont put up with unfiarness very well... after that all sighns of decentcy or cordialness go right out the window... thats state level way over the gastros head but it clearly states u can challenge rulings...
i understand why they have to be selective though im not dumb... if you gave everyone that has Hep C sovaldi you would bankrupt your state ... and True fault is Gillead for charging a unreasonable 30,000 a month for there sovaldi that is just total flight suregeon horse $#@&--------- Apolo 13 quote---- or as a wise man once said No worries mate
gastro said shes never been denied sovaldi so im pretty sure ill get it now i did order results of my biopsy and im sure it will in detail tell me if i meet most of the criteria ....
that and i like details..... so as stated im not really worried but if sumthing i dont like happens i will be ready to retaliate against said health boards aka decision makers....
your gastro or hepatologist is always on your side... they have to submit pre approval to get you these high dollar drugs and thats where you can be tripd up....
so i researched the process....... another reason why i know iLL be getting sovaldi is because like you guys said they are phasing out victrellis and other 1gen DAA...
when i get my biopsy reports in the mail in about a week .. i shall in detail go over my F2 Medavair findings.... since alot of you know alot about that stuff...
Thanks for taking the time to read this and checking out my links :) have a good Friday everyone
-- Edited by Josh Haynie on Friday 15th of August 2014 01:21:44 PM
Thanks for checkin this out
looks like a blueprint of how or guidelines of how patients are assessed and treated ..... looks like a lot of bs in there too :)
hep c GOAL for anyone that has it no matter what stage or viral load... is WE want the virus gone and we want svr12 and undetectable status
i dont care if you are F 1-2-3- or 4 the Goal is DEATH to Dragons ... this whole selective commitee is just totaly not right ....
proving once again that money trumps our well being... or at least it seems like that in sum peoples eyes... not everyone...... I hope those senators really lean on Gillead so they lower the damn price of their 1000 pill rediculous COST.....
They postponed their decision .... Imagine that :)
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/health-care-inc/2014/08/state-committee-tables-decision-on-1k-hep-c-pill.html
-- Edited by Josh Haynie on Friday 15th of August 2014 09:55:54 PM
Here's an Oregonian article.
News | Local
Oregon Medicaid Targets Expensive Hepatitis Drug
AP | Aug. 1, 2014 8:08 a.m. | Wilsonville, Oregon
Contributed By:
AP
An Oregon Medicaid committee on Thursday significantly scaled back access to an effective but expensive new drug used to treat hepatitis C.
The decision allows only a narrow set of Medicaid patients to be treated with the $1,000-per-pill drug known as Sovaldi, made by Gilead Sciences Inc.
Medical experts on Oregons pharmaceutical review committee question whether the drug is worth the price tag, and officials worry it would break the bank. They say treating all Medicaid patients with the liver-wasting disease would cost almost as much as last years entire drug bill.
Oregons guidelines would allow the drug to be used only for patients with later stages of liver damage who have been drug-free for at least six months. The drug could only be prescribed by a liver or gastrointestinal specialist, which often requires months of waiting for an appointment.
The moved drew an angry reaction from hepatitis patients and groups that work with them. Lorren Sandt, director of Caring Ambassadors, a hepatitis C resource group based in the Portland suburb of Oregon City, called the guidelines horrific.
Can you imagine if you were a cancer patient and they said, Were going to wait until youre Stage 4 before well treat you? Sandt told The Associated Press. Thats what theyre doing.
Allowing liver damage to advance to late stages puts patients at a high risk for cancer and lowers their quality of life, she said.
The cost of a 12-week regimen of Sovaldi along with two companion medications that patients must also take is around $100,000. Competing regimens with other drugs cost in the mid- to high five figures, and some are far less effective and harder to tolerate.
Oregon took up the issue a day after Illinois Medicaid program put in place tight restrictions on the use of the drug, including requiring patients to meet 25 criteria and get prior approval before the government program will pay.
A separate Oregon panel could go even further next month, removing Sovaldi from the list of treatments covered under Medicaid and requiring doctors to make an individualized appeal to obtain the coverage. Oregon can take such a strong stance because of a federal waiver that allows the state to prioritize treatments for medical conditions based on their cost-effectiveness.
Tom Burns, director of pharmacy programs at the Oregon Health Authority, said its impossible to know how many patients will make it over the hurdles officials are establishing.
Hepatitis develops slowly over years or decades. Oregon officials say that while they wait for the price to drop or for new treatments to come on the market, they want the drug available only to those who face imminent severe liver problems.
Medicaid officials are used to covering expensive treatments, but theyre usually for relatively rare conditions, said Matt Salo, director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.
Its always been 50 people or 500 people or 1,000 people, not hundreds of thousands like were seeing (with Sovaldi), Salo said. So this is kind of a game-changer.
In a statement, Gregg Alton, executive vice president at drugmaker Gilead, did not directly address Oregons decision but said regimens containing Sovaldi reduce total treatment costs for hepatitis C, including medication costs for dealing with side effects from alternative drugs and managing advanced liver disease.
Oregon had about 5,600 Medicaid patients with hepatitis C at the end of 2013, before 300,000 people joined the system under the federal health care overhaul. State officials say it would cost $360 million to treat all of them with Sovaldi, and total Medicaid drug spending was $377 million in 2013.
Hepatitis C surpassed AIDS as a cause of death in the U.S. in 2007, claiming an estimated 15,000 lives that year. The illness is complex, with distinct virus types requiring different treatments. While it advances gradually, it can ultimately destroy the liver, and transplants cost an average of $577,000 each.
Hepatitis C is a public health concern because the disease can be transmitted by contact with infected blood, by drug users sharing needles, and sometimes through sexual activity. Many people are unaware that they carry the virus. Health officials advise all baby boomers to get tested.
Hi Josh:
F-2s are considered "High Priority" under the new guidelines so you won't have long to wait.
This sure worked out well for pharma. Not only do they get to charge whatever they want but they will have even more patients lined up to test their experimental drugs on because people won't want to wait.
Now that the new AASLD guidelines are out the rationing plan has started. It won't be limited to Oregon. It will also apply to federal and other states as well as private insurance. In some states it will be more stringent than others depending on budgetary constraints. Keep in mind, however, that this is a temporary solution until drug prices come down.
I had seen one of the articles a week or so ago. It's kind of scary, rationing of care, but lots of things are pretty scary nowadays, right? Anyway, I had the same concern which is why I jumped on a clinical trial. You may want to keep an eye open in your general area, or if you can travel, for something coming up. Clinicaltrials.gov is the website which gives all the current and upcoming trials for the drug manufacturers.
Good luck!
sumthin may be announced today dont know when or where theyll post results
http://www.bendbulletin.com/home/2288332-151/oregon-poised-to-restrict-hep-c-drug-under#
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/health-care-inc/2014/08/oregon-health-plan-inches-closer-to-limiting-1k-a.html
http://www.dhs.state.or.us/policy/healthplan/guides/pharmacy/pdl.pdf
http://www.dhs.state.or.us/policy/healthplan/guides/pharmacy/pa-criteria.pdf page 179 approval criteria
http://patients.about.com/od/medicalcodes/a/icdcodes.htm
waiting till December being 6 months clean of alcohol is a pre requisite so i kinda did it to myself..... lol hate waiting ..waiting 3 months is long enough ....
course by the time Decem hits i may get SL combo .... or hold out for dear abby im not worried bout TX just the waiting is annoying...
not to mention i may not be damaged enough to meet criteria but ... 1 way or another i shall get sovaldi or abbie V..... i know a few tactics i have not mentioned
and if i dont get what i want on a technacality i will straight challenge people in court ... totaly bury them and make them regret me coming after them ...
i will in the very least waste thier time if they so choose to do it to me come January.... so like i said sumthing will happen 1 way or another...
i dont put up with unfiarness very well... after that all sighns of decentcy or cordialness go right out the window... thats state level way over the gastros head but it clearly states u can challenge rulings...
i understand why they have to be selective though im not dumb... if you gave everyone that has Hep C sovaldi you would bankrupt your state ... and True fault is Gillead for charging a unreasonable 30,000 a month for there sovaldi that is just total flight suregeon horse $#@&--------- Apolo 13 quote---- or as a wise man once said No worries mate
gastro said shes never been denied sovaldi so im pretty sure ill get it now i did order results of my biopsy and im sure it will in detail tell me if i meet most of the criteria ....
that and i like details..... so as stated im not really worried but if sumthing i dont like happens i will be ready to retaliate against said health boards aka decision makers....
your gastro or hepatologist is always on your side... they have to submit pre approval to get you these high dollar drugs and thats where you can be tripd up....
so i researched the process....... another reason why i know iLL be getting sovaldi is because like you guys said they are phasing out victrellis and other 1gen DAA...
when i get my biopsy reports in the mail in about a week .. i shall in detail go over my F2 Medavair findings.... since alot of you know alot about that stuff...
Thanks for taking the time to read this and checking out my links :) have a good Friday everyone
-- Edited by Josh Haynie on Friday 15th of August 2014 01:21:44 PM