Data Stream
Business as Usual
Pharmaceutical companies rang in the new year by increasing prices on hundreds of drugs.
After a brief, self-imposed ban on price hikes, list prices are
growing by an average of 6.3%, compared with 2018 prices,
according to an analysis from The Wall Street Journal.
The report singled out Allergan and Pfizer for increasing prices on dozens of their drugs:
Of the companies analyzed, Allergan had the highest number of drugs with price increases
higher than 9%, and Pfizer increased prices on 41 of its products, by 3% to 9%.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, January 1, 2019.
An Open-Notes Quiz
Results from a survey of patients who were treated at a cancer center that
gave patients access to their physicians’ notes offer more support for the
“OpenNotes” initiative, which encourages centers to give patients access to
their complete electronic medical records in real time.
Nondisclosure Disagreements
Patients are not always forthcoming with
their own medical information. Two surveys
published in JAMA Network Open asked
people if – and why – they failed to disclose
information relevant to their care.
Of 220 patients surveyed:
reported an
improved
understanding
of treatment
side effects
Of 4,510 respondents:
61.4% to 81.1% avoided disclosing at least one
type of information.
The most common reasons for nondisclosure included:
reported an
improved
understanding
of their
diagnosis
not wanting to be judged or lectured (64.1%-81.8%)
not wanting to hear how harmful the behavior is
(61.1%-75.7%)
being embarrassed (49.9%-60.9%)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
“A better understanding of how to increase patients’ comfort with reporting [medical] informa-
tion may improve the clinician-patient relationship and patient care,” the authors concluded.
Source: Levy AG, Scherer AM, Zikmund-Fisher BJ, et al. Prevalence of and factors associated with patient
nondisclosure of medically relevant information to clinicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1:e185293.
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ASH Clinical News
reported
feeling more
reassured
about their
treatment
There were, however, a few downsides of letting patients review doctors’
notes: Approximately 11%, 6%, and 4% of patients noted increased worry,
increased confusion, and regrets about the information they found,
respectively.
Source: Shaverdian N, Chang EM, Chu FI, et al. Impact of open access to physician notes on
radiation oncology patients: results from an exploratory survey. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2018 October
17. [Epub ahead of print]
January 2019 Annual Meeting Edition