Humana and Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs are working on a potential partnership to lower prescription costs by contracting directly with drug manufacturers and bypassing traditional pharmacy benefit managers, starting with direct-to-employer models through Humana's CenterWell business. The companies say the goal is to simplify pharmacy transactions and give patients access to lower medication costs, though details of the deal are still being finalized.

Amazon has launched prescription-dispensing kiosks at select One Medical clinics in Los Angeles, offering a limited selection of medications and providing pharmacist consultations via video chat. National Community Pharmacists Association CEO Douglas Hoey criticized the kiosks, arguing that they reduce pharmacy care to a commodity transaction that lacks the personal pharmacist-patient relationship crucial for effective medication management and limit patient access to a full range of medications.

High-deductible health plans are increasingly common, with half of employers offering them in 2024, up from 38% in 2015. For patients like David Garza, these plans mean paying thousands of dollars out of pocket before insurance provides coverage. As a result, Garza has had to skip important diabetes treatments and delay doctor visits, leading to poorly controlled blood sugar levels.

A Senate bill with bipartisan support would unlink pharmacy benefit managers' compensation from negotiated rebates, increase reporting requirements and require PBMs to pay pharmacies directly for Medicaid beneficiaries' medications.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has proposed ending automatic hepatitis B vaccination at birth for babies whose mothers test negative for the virus, recommending that those infants wait until at least 2 months old for their first dose. Experts argue the change ignores decades of safety data and could increase infections, since some pregnant people receive false-negative test results or are never screened at all, and babies can be exposed in their first weeks of life through infected caregivers, household contacts or even surfaces where the virus can survive for days.

The CMS recently proposed updates to Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D, including removing 12 measures from star rating calculations that the CMS says focus on administrative processes or don't reflect quality. A new depression screening and follow-up measure would be added starting with the 2029 ratings. The CMS is accepting feedback on the proposals.

All-cause mortality was 25% lower among adults younger than 60 who received at least one dose of a messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine over a median follow-up of 45 months, compared with those who were not vaccinated, according to a nationwide cohort study in France. The reduced risk persisted even after adjusting for age, comorbidities and socioeconomic differences, with a weighted hazard ratio of 0.75. The protective effect was most pronounced within the first six to nine months after vaccination and gradually declined but remained significant throughout the study period.

Vaccination rates for US adults have dropped significantly, with only 34% having received a flu shot, 25% a COVID-19 vaccine, 8% a pneumococcal vaccine and 6% an RSV vaccine, according to a National Foundation for Infectious Diseases survey. IQVIA data show a 34% decline in RSV vaccinations, a 27% drop in COVID-19 vaccinations and a 6% reduction in flu shots over the past year, while pneumococcal vaccinations rose by 27% after the CDC lowered the eligible age to 50.

Lakeland Regional Health in Florida has launched its own specialty pharmacy to give patients quicker access to complex medications and closer support for staying on treatment, starting with oncology and rheumatology. A key feature is the introduction of pharmacy liaisons -- dedicated staff members who serve as the main point of contact for patients, clinicians and financial staff -- to assist with enrollment and paperwork related to authorizations.

Pharmaceutical companies have committed more than $370 billion to US projects over the next five years, driven by US tariff policies. The investments, highlighted in a report by DPR Construction, are primarily focused on manufacturing but also include research and development. Johnson & Johnson leads with a $55 billion commitment, followed by Roche, Genentech and AstraZeneca. The FDA has introduced programs such as PreCheck to streamline regulatory processes and support domestic production.