Applied Policy has welcomed Alison Falb, J.D. as Health Policy Director for Pharmaceuticals, effective August 22. Prior to joining Applied Policy, Alison was a regulatory counsel at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). During her tenure at FDA, she worked in both the Office of Therapeutic Biologics and Biosimilars, which oversees the development and implementation [...] Read More
As the Applied Policy team grows to better serve our clients, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Steven Johnson as Health Policy Director. Steven comes to Applied Policy from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), where he most recently served as division director responsible for the quality reporting requirements for the [...] Read More
Current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fees for prescription drugs, generic drugs, biosimilars, and medical devices are set to expire at the end of September and draft legislation for their reauthorization is moving forward in both houses of Congress. The looming deadline for passage is important not only in terms of the user fees’ [...] Read More
For many Americans, it is taking longer than ever to get an appointment with a doctor, if they can find one. Rural areas and economically disadvantaged populations are already feeling the impact of what has been described as a looming national physician shortage. As policy makers, healthcare systems, and families grapple with the implications of [...] Read More
Two years ago, in my role as Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for Aging Research, I wrote about the failure of CMS to adequately reimburse for the use of PET amyloid scans to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. At that time, I noted that with the appropriate use of PET scans, which can detect [...] Read More
Alexandria, VA, February 11, 2020 – Brady Augustine, formerly Chief of Health Systems Development for Florida’s Medicaid Program and Senior Advisor to the Administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has joined Applied Policy to lead its healthcare services division. “Brady is an accomplished leader with more than 20 years of experience in [...] Read More
Recent announcements from two giants in the healthcare field offer important insights into the growing focus on the social determinants of health, or SDOH, as they are widely known. According to the CDC, these social determinants are “economic and social conditions that influence the health of people and communities” and are shaped by the amount [...] Read More
Smart phones, social networks and internet applications help us communicate with family, friends and colleagues, but they can do so much more to improve our lives. Advances in technology and connectivity offer new methods for monitoring and accessing information about our health and well-being. Earlier this year, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced that the Centers [...] Read More
At the end of June, the Alliance for Aging Research (the “Alliance”) announced the results of a Medicare claims study which found that families and state Medicaid programs, not Medicare, are burdened with the majority of costs associated with Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s) The study, conducted by the Alliance and Milliman, was published in the July issue of Journal of [...] Read More
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website includes a photograph that shows what can only be described as an idealized version of rural America: a beckoning country lane leading past well-fed, grazing cattle to a large, beautifully maintained and attractively landscaped house and barn. But the statistics superimposed over this bucolic scene reveal a very [...] Read More