Some commercial prescription drug plans and Medicaid drug benefit administrators are testing alternative payment models including subscription-type payments, reimbursement based on patient outcomes or fixed per-capita payments for a specific patient population. A study by researchers at Duke University's Margolis Center for Health Policy found that regulatory flexibility and clarity and better methods for measuring outcomes could increase the use of APMs.

A new analysis from the Partnership for Health Analytic Research found hospital outpatient clinics keep 91% of gross profit margins from drugs administered by physicians to commercially insured patients, while physician offices collect 9% of gross profits. Hospital-owned practices also receive higher reimbursement than physician practices, have access to discounts like the 340B Drug Pricing Program and earn more from administering drugs than pharmaceutical firms that manufactured the medicines, according to the report.

A group of senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to closely scrutinize proposed buyouts and mergers between large drugmakers and expressed concern that such deals will reduce innovation and enable drugmakers to raise prices.

A US judge has authorized Purdue Pharma to continue operating as it seeks bankruptcy protection and the settlement of more than 2,600 lawsuits concerning its role in the opioid epidemic. Keeping the company in business is seen as an essential part of the settlement.