Pharmaceuticals

Governors have a vested interest in ensuring access to high quality health care to improve the health and wellbeing of their residents while also being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. Persistent growth in health care costs, including pharmaceuticals, has placed significant pressure on state budgets and can result in difficult trade-offs between maximizing the availability of numerous services and treatments and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of programs. To address rising and unpredictable pharmaceutical costs, states have been exploring approaches that bring greater transparency to the market, enhance purchasing power across programs, and offer new ways to pay for evidence-based interventions. As new approaches are pursued, states are eager to gain deeper understanding of complex market and purchasing dynamics and learn from one another about effective ways to safeguard access while managing costs. NGA Health is supporting states by facilitating cross-state learning and collaboration and providing targeted technical assistance on implementation of strategies.

Publication and Resources

Projects and Meetings

  • Pharmaceuticals Learning Collaborative | March 2019 – May 2020
  • Pharmaceuticals Summit | December 2018
  • Public Health Crises and Pharmaceutical Interventions: Improving Access While Ensuring Fiscal Sustainability | 2017 – 2018

 

The NGA Center is assisting governors in using the convening, payment and programmatic levers at their disposal to create a health care workforce that meets the needs of their residents.