Berkeley Center for Health Technology - BCHT

2014

December

Keynote Speeches at the University of Paris 9th Annual Colloquia on Biopharmaceutical Pricing and Digital Health

James Robinson and Kim MacPherson gave keynote speeches at the University of Paris colloquia on biopharmaceutical pricing and digital health, respectively. These colloquia, hekd in December, 2014, are the ninth in an annual series of collaborative events in Paris between BCHT and the University of Paris-Descartes, Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine. Other speakers this year included Dr. Dominique Giorgi, Executive Director of the French Economic Committee on Medical Products (which negotiates drug and device products for the French national health insurance system with manufacturers); and Emma Garde, Solutions Director, Integrated Care Center of Excellence, SANOFI. Emma Garde, Kimberly MacPherson, François Lhoste, Francis Megerlin, and James C. Robinson participated in a round table discussion.

Colloquium Held at Roche in Basel, Switzerland

Robinson and MacPherson presented lectures on the US health insurance and pharmaceutical markets at Roche in Basel, Switzerland.  This  December, 2014, colloquium brought together the market access and pricing staffs for the global Roche/Genentech organization, based in Basel.  This colloquium builds on  a  similar presentation in Basel by Dr. Robinson two years ago, plus the many collaborative educational activities between BCHT and Genentech in the United States.

November 

BCHT London "Health Trek" Study Tour of the British National Health Service

IN November, 2014, James Robinson led a ‘health trek’ of MBA/MPH students on a week-long study tour of the British national health service and related policy institutions in London.  Francis Wong MD, a British surgeon currently studying for an MBA/MPH at Berkeley, helped organize and facilitate the meetings.  Robinson gave speeches at the Kings Fund and Roche UK.  Additional meetings were held at the Nuffield Trust, NICE International, Monitor, Imperial College (mobile health incubator), Proteus (digital therapeutics firm), Digital Stitch (mobile health start-up), and Soma Analytics (digital health start-up).  BCHT plans to build on this experience and organize more health treks for students to other sites, and is discussing funding options to help the students with travel expenses.

October

Costs Increase in Hospital-Owned Medical Groups

Article by James Robinson published in JAMA

The trend of hospitals consolidating medical groups and physician practices in an effort to improve the coordination of patient care is backfiring and increasing the cost of patient care, according to a new study led by a UC Berkeley health policy expert, BCHT Director James Robinson.

The new findings, published October 22, 2014, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, come as a growing number of local hospitals and large, multi-hospital systems in this country are acquiring physician groups and medical practices.

For more information, visit:

Hospital mergers and acquisitions increase patient costs – UC Berkeley Media Relations

Costs 20% higher in hospital-owned medical groups – LA Times

Full JAMA article and abstract(link is external)

NEW BOOK by JAMES ROBINSON

Purchasing Medical Innovation:

The Right Technology, for the Right Patient, at the Right Price

BCHT Director James Robinson’s new book, Purchasing Medical Innovation: The Right Technology, for the Right Patient, at the Right Price(link is external), is now available!  

Innovation in medical technology supplies the health care industry with a remarkable pipeline of new drugs, devices, and diagnostics that improve health, reduce risk, and extend life. But these technologies are often priced at excessive levels and frequently used on the wrong patient, at the wrong time, or in the wrong setting. The only way to moderate cost growth without undermining innovation is to improve the process of assessing, pricing, prescribing, and using new technologies. 

Purchasing Medical Innovation analyzes the contemporary revolution in the purchasing of health care technology, with a focus on the roles of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), insurers, physicians, hospitals, and consumers themselves. The FDA is now more thoroughly assessing product performance under real-world conditions as well as in laboratory settings. Insurers are designing payment methods that reward efficiency in the selection and administration of new treatments. Hospitals are aligning more closely with physicians. Patients are becoming more engaged and accountable.

In this book, Dr. Robinson describes both the strengths and deficiencies of the current system and highlights opportunities for buyers, sellers, and users to help improve the value of medical technology.

May

Several news organizations recently called on Center Chair James Robinson in May, 2014, to discuss the implications of new health care cost-control plans being planned for the Affordable Care Act:

First up was Bloomberg Businessweek(link is external), which quoted Dr. Robinson on "reference pricing," a cost-control strategy that the California health and retirement benefits agency CalPERS pioneered. He studied the CalPERS experiment and found that many patients shifted to lower-cost hospitals, saving money, while expensive hospitals responded by cutting their prices. Although insurers don’t appear to be using reference pricing on the new health exchanges, Professor Robinson believes it’s only a matter of time before they do. The AP story also appeared in Yahoo Finance(link is external), Boston.com(link is external), and The Salt Lake Tribune(link is external).

Next was a visit to "30 Rock" [the fabled CNBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City], where Dr. Robinson provided on-air comments on the proposed caps on medical coverage for the Nightly Business Report program. You can watch the segment online(link is external) at the NBR website.

April

Center Chair James Robinson was awarded a new grant entitled “The Impact of Reference Pricing on Consumer Choice and Provider Pricing Strategies for Laboratory Test and Diagnostic Imaging” from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's(link is external) Health Care Financing & Organization in April, 2014. This study will examine reference pricing as implemented for lab tests and diagnostic imaging by Safeway, a national food retailer with locations in 17 states and the District of Columbia. Safeway has approximately 40,000 employees, retirees, and dependents in its self-insured health benefits plan. The Center’s Associate Director for Research, Tim Brown, is Co-Investigator on this project. 

Tim Brown has also been awarded a very competitive new grant entitled,“The Impact of Reference Pricing on High Cost Medical Procedures” from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality(link is external), which extends the pilot work published in Health Affairs on the impact of reference pricing on knee and hip replacement surgery. This research will extend the examination of the reference pricing program implemented by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) to colonoscopies, cataract surgery, and arthroscopic surgery. Center Chair James Robinson is Co-Investigator on this project.