Medicare needs authority to negotiate drug prices to support its value-based healthcare strategy
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Despite majority public support for authorizing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, legislators struggle to reverse the non-interference clause that makes it illegal.
The non-interference clause
Medicare is legally prohibited from negotiating drug prices directly with manufacturers thanks to the non-interference clause in the 2003 law that created Part D, the prescription drug program for Medicare beneficiaries. The non-interference clause disallows Medicare from negotiating drug prices directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers, interfering in negotiations by Medicare contractors, or publishing any information about negotiated drug rebates.
Instead, the private health insurance plans and prescription drug programs Medicare contracts to implement benefits conduct negotiations for discounts with drug manufacturers. Meanwhile, other government programs — Medicaid and the Veterans Administration—have successfully lowered drug costs by negotiating directly for discounted drug prices and rebates.
Strong public support stands for allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices
According to a KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) poll published in October 2021, there is broad-based public support for ending the non-interference clause. The poll showed that 83% of the survey participants favored allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers. Those in favor included a mix of 71% Republican, 82% of independents, and 95% Democrats.
Proponents of allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices in Parts B and D see Medicare’s ability to negotiate value-based drug pricing as an important part of the overall strategy for driving the U.S. health system towards value-based healthcare and lower drug prices, especially if the outcomes of the negotiations are made known to commercial insurance plans, the Marketplace, and self-insured employers.
Opponents believe that the Medicare system of price negotiations through contracted health plans and prescription drug plans promotes competition among drug manufacturers and protects patient access to drugs. They also cite a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) letter that states giving broad Medicare negotiating authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) would, by itself, “likely have a negligible effect on federal spending”.
Recent legislative actions attempting to eliminate the non-interference clause
In 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed bill H.R.3, The Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act. Among other proposed fixes, the bill would authorize the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary to negotiate prices for single-source, brand-name drugs that met certain criteria. When H.R.3 went to the Senate for approval, its progress stalled. In 2021, H.R.3 was reintroduced in Congress.
In November 2021, the the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) passed the U.S. House of Representatives but was also stopped dead in the Senate. Within that bill was an exemption to the non-interference clause to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for expensive drugs covered under Medicare Parts B and D. Despite the defeat of the BBBA, President Biden used his State of the Union address on March 1, 2022 to keep up the pressure and repeated his call to lawmakers to address the problem of drug pricing.
Value-based administrative levers
In 2016 a pilot project for Medicare Part B drugs was created to test the results of allowing Medicare to conduct drug pricing negotiations. It was designed to institute value-based drug pricing using an international pricing index for the few drugs covered under Part B. The prices of some Part B biologics and single-source drugs were tied to their lower average overseas price.
Although the pilot project could have been implemented without congressional approval, several lawsuits and injunctions prevented the implementation of the model. Finally, the Biden administration rescinded the proposed model in August 2021.
Besides the recent unsuccessful legislative efforts for Medicare drug price negotiations, HHS outlined some other possible administrative actions for drug pricing reforms based on President Biden’s September 2021 Executive Order 14036, Promoting Competition in the American Economy. Among the proposals suggested is the use of value-based pricing models:
• To improve transparency about pricing, rebates, and out-of-pocket spending through data collection from health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers
• Implementing Medicare total cost of care models to find ways to reduce spending, affect drug utilization, and improve patient outcomes
The need for drug pricing reforms in Medicare holds bipartisan support, especially as it relates to lowering out-of-pocket expenses for seniors. However, passing the legislation needed to realize those reforms remains a controversial and complicated matter. While work continues to pass drug price reform legislation, value-based payment models can provide data analytics to support drug price reductions in both the public and private sectors.
Lyfegen’s value-based contracting platform
The Lyfegen platform helps organizations join in the healthcare industry’s movement towards value-based care. Our contracting platform organizes the actionable, real-time data needed to implement value-based contracting while relieving the complexity and administrative burden of transitioning out of fee-for-service models.
Contact us for more information about our software solutions and to book a demo.
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With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Medicare Part D (outpatient drug benefit) will be undergoing a comprehensive redesign, which will be implemented in 2025. There will be a dramatic shift towards payer responsibility of costs, particularly in the catastrophic phase of the Medicare Part D benefit.
Currently, during the calendar year there are four phases a Medicare beneficiary goes through when obtaining coverage of outpatient drugs: Deductible, initial coverage, coverage gap, and catastrophic. Here, catastrophic refers to the point when a beneficiary’s total prescription drug costs for a calendar year have reached a set maximum level. At present, the catastrophic threshold is set at $7,100. In a given year, once beneficiaries hit the threshold they will have spent $3,250 out of pocket, at which point they begin paying 5% co-insurance in the catastrophic phase.
Over a five-year period from 2016 to 2021, nearly three million enrollees in Medicare Part D spent above the catastrophic threshold at least once. And, currently more than 1.5 million beneficiaries are in the catastrophic phase. That number is expected to grow steadily in the coming years. Moreover, at present, spending in the catastrophic phase now accounts for about 45% of total Medicare Part D expenditures.
The redesigned Medicare Part D benefit features a $2,000 hard cap on beneficiary out-of-pocket spending. At the same time, there will be a massive shift in cost management liability in the catastrophic phase. Currently, Medicare picks up the tab for 80% of costs in the catastrophic phase (the government is essentially the reinsurer in the catastrophic phase); plans, 15%; and beneficiaries, 5%. In the restructured Part D benefit, starting in 2025, the drug manufacturer will be responsible for 20% of catastrophic costs; plans, 60%; Medicare, 20%; and Medicare beneficiaries, 0%.
This $2,000 cap will obviously reduce Medicare beneficiaries’ financial burden considerably, especially those who are prescribed high-priced specialty cancer drugs, many of which put them in the catastrophic phase by the end of January in a given year, with no limit on out-of-pocket expenditures. In all probability, the $2,000 cap will lead to more utilization of specialty drugs and better patient adherence.
The Part D overhaul will also force payers and drug makers to rethink their strategies vis-à-vis cancer drug pricing and reimbursement. Payers will have to strike a harder bargain with drug makers when purchasing specialty pharmaceuticals. As payers won’t be able to fully offset their higher burden of cost management by raising premiums – there will be a 6% annual cap on premium increases. There will very likely be increased use of utilization management tools. And, perhaps most importantly, a more competitive market with more use of utilization management tools, such as prior authorization, step edits, and quantity limits. Also more use of outcomes-based pricing models. Partnering with Lyfegen may be the solution for manufacturers and payers alike, as its platform can put users on the right track towards successful implementation of value-based pricing arrangements.
Historically, as new checkpoint inhibitors, anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 agents, have gained approval – such as Jemperli (dostarlimab) in April of 2021 - price competition has not been a factor. This is extraordinarily unusual, given how relatively crowded the various oncology indications targeted by checkpoint inhibitors have become; from breast, renal, and colorectal cancer, to melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Several companies, including traditional ones like Lilly but also new entrants such as EQRx, are seeking to disrupt this space by offering lower-priced alternatives.
Outside the U.S., oncology drug pricing is generally heavily regulated. And, we observe that certain drugs may not be reimbursed by government (monopsonist) purchasers if there isn’t sufficient clinical benefit to justify the price. Moreover, in international markets, outcome- or value-based pricing strategies for cancer drugs are commonplace, which they aren’t yet in the U.S.
However, Medicare Part D restructuring alters the competitive landscape considerably. For high-priced specialty pharmaceuticals, in particular, it will become increasingly important for payers to contain costs by way of utilization management, promote the use of generics and biosimilars, and negotiate value-based prices. The Lyfegen Platform enables more efficient and transparent management of value-based drug pricing contracts by using intelligent algorithms to capture and analyze patient-level drug cost data.
About the author
Cohen is a health economist with more than 25 years of experience analyzing, publishing, and presenting on drug and diagnostic pricing and reimbursement, as well as healthcare policy reform initiatives. For 21 years, Cohen was an academic at Tufts University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Amsterdam. Currently, and for the past five years, Cohen is an independent healthcare analyst on a variety of research, teaching, speaking, editing, and writing projects.
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Through the eyes of Simon Amstutz, briefly dive into the history of Michael Porter’s value-based healthcare theory.
For those who follow Lyfegen and our blog, chances are that you already fully grasp the concept of value-based healthcare (VBHC). That said, I came to Lyfegen from a completely different field, banking, and was intrigued by the history of how this theory came to be. While my intention is not to bore you with a history class, for all future posts it is important to have a common knowledge of the framework that lies behind VBHC.
In 2006, Harvard Professor Michael Porter and his fellow academic Elizabeth Teisberg published the book Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results . This book set the fundament of VBHC.
In this book they argue that competition in healthcare should be occurring in diagnosis, treatment (outcomes), and prevention of certain health conditions rather than between insurance plans and hospitals. They propose that the healthcare system should be restructured by having competition focus clearly on improved patient outcomes. The proposed model focuses on the value (yes, hence the name) that the medication or care brings to the patient. In other words, value is measured by the best outcome for the patient per dollar spent.
This being a monumental change from the current healthcare model, which operates on a fee-for-service/product basis. Under the conventional model, drugs and therapies have to be paid for regardless of whether they actually helped the patient. .
In order to achieve such a change, Porter argues that the healthcare system needs to be able to quantify health-care processes, outcomes, patient’s experiences, and organizational systems to evaluate the effectiveness of delivered care/medication as it benefits for the patient – this seeming like the greatest challenge back in 2006. But since then, technology and processes have evolved. This is where Lyfegen comes in: the challenges that our system was faced with 14 years ago now have a clear solution: Lyfeapp and Lyfevalue.
While Porter is most definitely not the only thought leader in the VBHC sector, his book shook and rattled the healthcare industry, identifying a clear need for solutions like those proposed by Lyfegen.
To find out more about our solutions:
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Lyfegen’s CFO, Michel Mohler, enlightens us on the recent measures presented by Switerland's Interior Minister Alain Berset against rising healthcare costs in Switzerland and what this means for Lyfegen.
In recent months it is difficult to ignore that various countries, also greatly due to the current pandemic, are challenging and revising their healthcare systems.
End of June, Nico reported on the Trump administration’s signed executive orders towards improving the healthcare system in the United States.
However, the wind is changing also in Switzerland as healthcare costs continue to rise. On August 19th, Switzerland’s Interior Minister Alain Berset (who also has healthcare under his responsibility) proposed a package of measures which would save the country approximately 1 Billion Swiss Francs (CHF), whilst boosting efficiency and the quality of health services.
The proposed plan includes the following measures:
1) Specialist care will only be covered if the patient first consults a general practitioner, HMO practice or a telemedical center. This will increase transparency and cost awareness throughout the entire process, ensuring that the patient only gets the treatment he/she needs from the right healthcare professional.
2) Networks of experts for coordinated care of chronic diseases are to be created on national level in order to improve the quality and efficiency of treatments, minimizing error in treatment.
3) Access to innovative but costly medication is improved through the legal consolidation of pricing-models. Pharma companies have to reimburse part of the costs to insurance companies however, until now, these were not regulated by the government. The legally set pricing models for Switzerland will be defined for reimbursement on price, sales volume, or pay-for-performance.
Overall, Berset aims at a closer cooperation between different players in the healthcare industry, increasing transparency and cost awareness.
What does this mean for Lyfegen?
Pay-for-performance is getting national recognition and legal regulation in the Swiss system. The proposed measures are now sent to cantons, political parties, institutions and organisations for consultation before the government presents its bill to parliament.
That said, this is a big step in the right direction for Lyfegen. Pay-for-performance would become a nationally recognized pricing model, meaning that Insurances will be more likely to adopt this model going forward – making the solutions of Lyfegen a necessity. Lyfeapp would allow for a facilitated methodology to collect data necessary for the value-based contracts on our Lyfevalue contracting solution. Lyfegen being the key pillar between pharma companies, insurance companies, and patients.
While we wait to see if this proposal is passed in parliament, we can now state with absolute confidence that Minister Berset’s clarity on pricing models goes hand in hand with Lyfegen’s mission: Doing what’s right for patients!
To find out more about our solutions:
Sources:https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-80111.html
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On Friday, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders aimed at lowering the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States. Our COO, Nico Mros, dives into the four executive orders.
“The four orders I’m signing today will completely restructure the prescription drug market in terms of pricing and everything else to make these medications affordable and accessible for all Americans,” Trump said at the White House last Friday.
Trump goes on to state that Americans often pay up to 80% higher prices for prescription drugs than countries like Germany and Canada.
And while the timing seems anything but coincidental, Lyfegen does not intend to discuss political views but rather understand what this could mean specifically for healthcare innovation, value-based contracting and the patients whose life depend on access to innovative therapies.
Let us briefly and in simple terms dissect the four executive orders, which are subject to the regulatory review process post Friday’s signature:
The first order targets high insulin prices and EpiPens, requiring federal community health centers to pass discounts they receive directly to patients.
The second order would allow states, pharmacies and wholesalers to import drugs from Canada, where prices are drastically lower. Importing drugs would increase competition and cause drug prices in the United States to decrease. Up until now, prices were maintained high because importing medications from other countries for personal use was illegal according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The third order is aimed at preventing “middlemen,” more commonly known in healthcare as health plan sponsors and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), to pocket “significant discounts” negotiated — these being “up to 50 percent of the cost of the drug” while retailing them without a discount.
The fourth order, which has been signed but is being held back until Aug. 24 to give the healthcare industry time to “come up with something” to reduce drug prices, would allow Medicare to purchase drugs at the same price as other countries by implementing a “international pricing index”.
The international pricing index would align U.S. prices to those of other countries, such as Britain, France and Canada – countries where the cost of the same drugs are substantially lower because Governments cap drug prices.
So what does this mean for pharmaceutical innovation?
Simply aligning prices to countries where governments cap drug prices (in the case of the fourth executive order) or opening the import of prescription drugs from neighboring countries (in the case of the second executive order) will result in billion dollar losses for pharmaceutical companies within the next decade, increasing the risk of losing the funds necessary to drive innovation substantially (specifically the Research & Development of cutting edge innovative therapies).
“We pay for all of the resources and all of the development and foreign countries pay absolutely nothing,” Trump said. “Americans are funding the enormous cost of drug resource for the entire planet.”
But could this mean that pharmaceutical companies, trying to compensate their losses, would (or better said, should) be forced to focus on the root problems of healthcare pricing and come up with more wide-spread innovative pricing models for a more sustainable future.
Value-based contracting and technological solutions, such as those of Lyfegen, could support such a future.
In a world where value-based pricing is the norm, world leaders would not only look over to neighboring countries for pricing levels but rather would have to focus on the value of drugs and how they improve patient health outcomes.
Pharmaceutical company executives were scheduled to meet at the White House today to discuss the executive orders but the meeting was cancelled. Moving forward, one can only hope that healthcare innovation can start coexisting with sustainable expenditure and patient access.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/07/27/us/27reuters-usa-trump-drugprices-explainer.html/
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Basel, Switzerland / Boston, USA – December 11, 2024
Lyfegen, a global leader in drug rebate management technology, today announced the successful close of its additional CHF 5 million Series A funding round. The round was led by TX Ventures, a leading European fintech investor, with additional participation from aMoon, a global health-tech venture capital firm, and other institutional investors. This funding represents a significant milestone for Lyfegen, enabling the company to accelerate its global expansion and innovation efforts, with a focus on extending its reach beyond Europe into new markets worldwide.
Addressing Rising Drug Costs with Intelligent Drug Pricing and Rebate Solutions
The healthcare industry faces increasing challenges with rising drug costs and the complexity of managing growing volumes of rebate agreements. For payers and pharmaceutical companies, manual processes often lead to inefficiencies, compliance risks, and operational delays. Lyfegen is transforming this process with its fully automated platform that ensures secure, real-time tracking, compliance, and operational efficiency at scale.
Today, 50+ leading healthcare organizations across 8 geographical markets rely on Lyfegen’s solutions to streamline 4'000+ rebate agreements while tracking over $1 billion in pharmaceutical revenue and managing over $0.5 billion in rebates annually. These solutions enable healthcare organizations to improve pricing strategies, accelerate access to modern treatments, and better manage rebate complexities.
Learn more about Retrospective Payment System
Scaling Globally with a Leading Rebate Management Platform
Already used by healthcare payers and pharmaceutical companies in Europe, North America, and the Middle East, Lyfegen’s platform is poised for broader global deployment. By automating rebate management, the platform enables healthcare organizations to simplify complex agreements, save time, reduce errors, and enhance financial performance.
“The market for innovative and personalized treatments is expanding rapidly, but with that comes increasingly complex and costly pricing models,” says Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen. “Lyfegen’s automated solution simplifies this complexity, helping payers and pharmaceutical companies unlock the full potential of rebates while improving patient access to modern treatments. With this funding and our new partners, we’re ideally positioned to accelerate our growth and make a meaningful impact globally.”
Jens Schleuniger, Partner at TX Ventures, adds: “Lyfegen is at the forefront of innovation, offering payers and pharmaceutical companies a powerful solution to address the rising complexities of pharma rebates. We’re proud to lead this funding round and support Lyfegen’s mission to bring greater efficiency and cost savings to healthcare systems worldwide.”
About Lyfegen
Lyfegen is an independent provider of rebate management software designed for the healthcare industry. Lyfegen solutions are used by health insurances, governments, hospital payers, and pharmaceutical companies around the globe to dramatically reduce the administrative burden of managing complex drug pricing agreements and to optimize rebates and get better value from those agreements. Lyfegen maintains the world’s largest digital repository of innovative drug pricing models and public agreements and offers access to a robust drug pricing simulator designed to dynamically simulate complex drug pricing scenarios to understand the full financial impact. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the company was founded in 2018 and has a market presence in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. Learn more at Lyfegen.com.
About TX Ventures
TX Ventures is one of Europe’s emerging leaders in early-stage fintech investing. The venture capital fund invests predominantly in B2B Fintech across Europe - preferably in seed to series A stage.
For more information about Lyfegen’s solutions or to schedule an interview, please contact:
marketing@lyfegen.com
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In an industry often characterized by incremental changes, Girisha Fernando, the CEO and founder of Lyfegen, is making leaps. We sat down with Fernando to discuss the recent landmark partnership between Lyfegen and Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services—a collaboration that heralds a significant shift in the Canadian healthcare landscape.
Your partnership with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is quite a milestone. Can you share with us what this means for the current state of rebate management in Newfoundland?
Girisha Fernando (GF): Absolutely. This partnership is a transformative step for rebate management in Newfoundland. The current system, largely manual and complex, is ripe for innovation. With our digital platform, we're bringing a level of automation and accuracy that was previously unattainable. This means more efficient processing, less room for error, and a better allocation of resources, which is critical in healthcare.
That’s quite an advancement. And how does this impact the management of drug products, especially in areas like oncology?
GF: It’s a game-changer, especially for critical areas like oncology. Newfoundland and Labrador, as the first in Canada to use our platform, sets a precedent. The region, through the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, has been managing complex product listing agreements for drugs, including those for oncology. These agreements are vital for making treatments affordable. Our platform simplifies this, managing the various terms of these agreements efficiently, which is crucial for timely and affordable access to treatments.
It seems like a significant step forward for healthcare management. How does this align with the broader goals of Lyfegen?
GF: This partnership aligns perfectly with our goal to make healthcare more accessible and efficient. Automating the rebate process in Newfoundland and Labrador, especially for critical treatments in oncology, directly contributes to the sustainability and accessibility of healthcare treatments.
Looking to the future, what does this partnership mean for Lyfegen and healthcare systems globally?
GF: This is just the beginning. We're looking to extend our platform to healthcare systems around the world. Our aim is to make this technology a standard in healthcare management, fostering more efficient, sustainable, and equitable healthcare systems globally.
Read more about the partnership in the official press release.
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New York, NY - March 29, 2023 - Lyfegen, a global healthtech SaaS company driving the world’s transition from volume to value-based healthcare for high-cost drugs, announced at the World EPA Congress the launch of its latest solution: the Model & Agreement Library. The purpose of the library is to help payers and pharma negotiate better drug prices while providing an in-depth view on current international drug pricing models and value-based agreements. The database library serves as the basis for successful drug pricing negotiations, resulting in accelerated access and drug prices better aligned to their value for the patient.
The shift towards value-based healthcare, rather than volume-based, has been steadily increasing over the years. This evolution has further reinforced Lyfegen's mission to remain at the forefront of analytics and digital automated solutions for the healthcare sector. Indoing so, Lyfegen’s solutions help to accelerate access and increase affordability of healthcare treatments.
“Because of rising healthcare costs and the increase of medical innovations, the thirst for knowledge and need for value-based healthcare capabilities has surged among healthcare payers, and pharma companies across the world”, said Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen. “That is why we are so excited about launching the world’s largest database of real-world value-based agreements. It gives payers, and pharma a unique insight into how to structure value-based agreements.”
The Lyfegen Model & Agreement Library was developed as an accelerated negotiation resource for both manufacturers and payers – allowing them to save on time, money; and for the first time – an opportunity to learn at their own pace without incurring large research projects or hiring expensive external experts. Users of the library are now enabled to make informed decisions in determining the most suitable drug pricing models and agreements for their products.
The database holds over 2'500+ public value-based agreements and 18+ drug pricing models – spanning across 550 drugs,35 disease areas and 150 pharma companies. Its search capabilities are spread across product, country, drug manufacturer and payer – with all the knowledge, insights, current pricing and reimbursement activities shown in near real-timeacross the industry.
“Just an academic taxonomy of models is intellectually exciting but it's not really helping your typical customer”, said Jens Grüger, Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). “The Lyfegen Platform goes several steps further. Payers and pharma have a problem and they want a solution. The Lyfegen Model & Agreement Library is practical. It offers case examples.”
Learn more about Pharmaceutical Healthcare Solution
The Model & Agreement Library lets the user see the specifics of agreements reached between manufacturers and payers, including which disease areas and drug/device innovations were targeted. This market-leading database allows for one-to-one comparisons of agreements while heightening increased leverage during the negotiations process.
“I like having a palette of contracts that fall under different domains, like disease state, the way the drug is administered, or available evidence. There are different ways to make a contract attractive to us, to pharma, and to our physicians”, said Chester Good, Senior Medical Director Center for Value Based Pharmacy Initiatives at UPMC Health Plan.
This resource represents a breakthrough in the healthcare industry that facilitates the sharing of knowledge – a strong point of discussion that is becoming increasingly more important. Lyfegen is currently providing a limited time opportunity for industry professionals who are interested to try out the Model & Agreement Library with a complimentary 7-day trial.
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Basel, Switzerland, October 27, 2021
Lyfegen announces that Swiss health insurance Sympany is using the Lyfegen Platform to implement & execute complex drug pricing models. Sympany applies the Lyfegen Platform to execute and efficiently manage all value and data-driven pricing models. Sympany gains efficiency and transparency in managing pricing models with the Lyfegen Platform. It offers many pricing models, including pay-for-performance, combination therapy and indication-based models.
The Lyfegen Software Platform digitalises all pricing models and automates the management and execution of these agreements between health insurances and pharmaceutical companies. This is done using real-world data and machine learning enabled algorithms. With the Lyfegen Platform, Sympany is also creating the basis for sustainably handling the increasing number of value-based healthcare agreements for drugs and personalized Cell and Gene therapies. These new pricing models allow health insurances to better manage their financial risk by only paying for drugs and therapies that benefit patients.
"The Lyfegen Platform helps Sympany execute complex pricing models efficiently, securely and transparently. We are pleased to extend our pioneering role in the health insurance industry by working with Lyfegen. This is another step for Sympany to provide our customers with the best possible access to therapies in a sustainable way," says Nico Camuto, Head of Benefits at Sympany, about the use of the Lyfegen Platform.
Girisha Fernando, CEO of Lyfegen, says: "We are very proud to support Sympany in strengthening its focus on value creation, efficiency and transparency amidst the growing complexity of pricing models. It is clear that the trend is increasingly towards complex pay-for-performance arrangements. Ultimately, our goal is to help patients receive their much-needed treatments while helping health insurances better manage risk and cost."
The Lyfegen Platform aims to help patients access innovative medicines and treatments by enabling innovative drug pricing agreements. The Platform collects and analyzes real-time pricing data, allowing health insurances and pharmaceutical companies to obtain relevant information on drug benefits and related financial planning.
About Sympany
Sympany is the refreshingly different insurance company that offers tailored protection and unbureaucratic assistance. Sympany is active in the health and accident insurance business for private individuals and companies, as well as in the property and liability insurance business, and is headquartered in Basel. The group of companies under the umbrella of Sympany Holding AG comprises the insurance companies Vivao Sympany AG, Moove Sympany AG, Kolping Krankenkasse AG, and Sympany Versicherungen AG, as well as the service company Sympany Services AG.
In 2020, profit amounted to CHF 68.8 million, of which Sympany allocated CHF 27.5 million to the surplus fund for the benefit of its policyholders. Total premium volume amounted to CHF 1,058 million. With 575 employees, the company serves around 257,100 private customers, of which around 204,500 are basic insurance policyholders under the KVG. In the corporate customer business, Sympany offers loss of earnings and accident insurance.
More about Sympany: https://www.sympany.ch
About Lyfegen
Lyfegen is an independent, global software analytics company providing a value and outcome-based agreement platform for Health Insurances, Pharma, MedTech & Hospitals around the globe. The secure Lyfegen Platform identifies and operationalizes value-based payment models cost-effectively and at scale using a variety of real-world data and machine learning. With Lyfegen’s patent-pending platform, Health Insurances & Hospitals can implement and scale value-based healthcare, improving access to treatments, patient health outcomes and affordability.
Lyfegen is based in the USA & Switzerland and has been founded by individuals with decades of experience in healthcare, pharma & technology to enable the shift away from volume-based and fee-for-service healthcare to value-based healthcare.
Contact Press: press@lyfegen.com
Contact Investors: investors@lyfegen.com
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Basel, Switzerland, August 3rd, 2021
Lyfegen announces that its value-based healthcare contracting platform has been implemented together with Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies Switzerland (Johnson & Johnson) and a leading Swiss Hospital.
Through this new value-based healthcare approach, Lyfegen and its partners drive the shift towards what matters most to patients: improved patient health outcomes and more efficient use of financial and human resources, enabling a sustainable post-COVID-19 healthcare environment.
The shift towards a value-based healthcare in Switzerland and globally can only be achieved through the support of innovative technologies. Lyfegen’s platform is a key enabler for this transition. The platform digitalises and automates the execution of value-based healthcare agreements, paving the way for the resource-efficient scaling of such novel agreements.
“COVID-19 has shown us the urgent need for a more sustainable healthcare system. With the implementation of value-based healthcare agreements on the Lyfegen platform, we are extremely proud to help Johnson & Johnson and hospitals to accelerate the transition to value-based healthcare and improve patient health outcomes at reduced cost.” says Lyfegen’s CEO, Girisha Fernando.
Lyfegen's compliant, secure and patent-protected value-based healthcare contracting platform automates the collection and analysis of patient-level data. Users receive transparency on actionable health outcomes and agreement performance. Lyfegen’s contribution to this partnership is a blueprint for the scaling of value-based healthcare models across hospitals, health insurances, medical device & pharma companies globally. The partnership marks another important milestone for Lyfegen, as the company continues to grow and has recently opened its next investment round.
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He loves innovative tech and spending his free time reading Hi-tech books! Yes, we are proud to announce Lyfegen’s latest addition to the Kiev team: “Full-Stack Developer”, Dima Guzyk!
“Dima is extremely talented and with his passion to develop new and exciting technology that helps patients, Lyfegen’s products will reach new levels. We are very proud to have him in the team! ” says Lyfegen’s CEO, Girisha Fernando.
We sat down with him to give you a little more insight behind the book-loving “Full-Stack Developer”:
Hi Dima! Tell us a little about yourself: where are you from and what is your work experience background?
Hello! I’ve lived in Kiev almost all my life. This is such a beautiful city. For any lifestyle or interest, the city offers amazing opportunities to live out your dreams!
Regarding my work experience: After I graduated from university, I started working at Intellect Service, the biggest electronic document flow solutions developer in Ukraine. Gradually, my professional and communication skills developed and I became Team Lead of the company’s product. It was a great experience and led me to stay with them for 5 years!
My latest experience was at KPMG as a Software Engineer, where I participated in the development of various corporate information systems. Only after a short year, I had the fantastic opportunity to grow and take over the role of Senior Software Engineer.
This is your first experience in the Health Tech industry – what triggered this move?
This is my first experience in the Health Tech industry and I’m so happy! Working at Lyfegen gives even a tech development job a greater purpose: my work will indirectly support greater access for patients to innovative therapies – helping to save lives!
You are joining Lyfegen as a Full-Stack Developer. In simple terms: what will you be working on?
I participate in all the stages of software development, following the business requirements. In addition, I also analyze the domain in detail, propose architectural solutions to the problems we discover, write code, write unit tests, and help with creation of a reliable, scalable and secure application environment! In simple terms, I will bring the technical solutions of Lyfegen to life!
What are your next personal goals with Lyfegen?
My goal is to constantly discover new approaches and technologies, being able to make comparisons between them and implement the best to the work I do.
What motivated you to join?
When I discovered what Lyfegen was doing, giving patients worldwide access to innovative therapies, I knew I had to be a part of the team! Innovative therapies are necessary for humankind – it’s just that no one has been able to make these more accessible to a wider range of patients. This greater purpose and the impact that this technology has, was the key driver!
Enough about work! What passions do you have outside of Lyfegen?
I am an incredibly curious person! I have a wide range of passions that interest me but most of all I enjoy reading historical and Hi-tech books and magazines.
We are proud to have the Lyfegen team continue to grow with such fantastic team-members!
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The Lyfegen Team is proud to announce that as of this month, Simon has taken on the new role of “Customer Success Hero” at Lyfegen!
Simon joined Lyfegen 6 months ago as a working student and very quickly, full of motivation and enthusiasm, took on important responsibilities. Supporting Nico in the management of Lyfegen’s customer relations, which include some of the largest pharma companies worldwide, Simon will be accompanying the customers during the entire journey starting with supporting the customer’s in identifying suitable models up to the continuous support of Lyfegen's solutions. By gaining a comprehensive understanding of Lyfegen's customers' needs, he will also be working together with the technical development team to further enhance Lyfegen's solutions.
We are proud to have him as part of the team and sat down with him to give you a little more insight behind the bike-riding, FIFA-loving, “Customer Success Hero”!
Hi Simon, so tell us: why are you leaving large corporates like Roche and UBS to join the start-up Lyfegen?
After working at these two large corporates for several years I felt like I needed to see something completely different outside the corporate world. I was getting too much into a routine and wanted to take on a new challenge. I always had this entrepreneurial spirit in me and when I got the chance to start at Lyfegen, I didn’t have to think twice. Lyfegen offers me the perfect environment and has a great purpose.
You are working already since January 2020 at Lyfegen; what fascinates you the most?
I am really fascinated by the huge enthusiasm and passion of the whole team! Everyone here is very dedicated to leading Lyfegen to success and to driving value-based healthcare forward. I am also fascinated with how many new things I learn every single day and I am very delighted about how much responsibility I could already take over in this short time.
How do you experience the collaboration with the team?
The team has a great spirit and I felt very welcome and involved from the first second. The communication within the team is very transparent and open-minded. Issues can be addressed openly and critique is always given in a constructive way.
Healthcare is changing to value- and data driven models. How do you experience this change with our customers?
Our customers are all very interested in value- and data driven healthcare, but these models are often a new experience for them. With our technical solutions and our know-how, we support our clients to make the transition to value-based healthcare happen. We are now at a stage where we are pioneers and proactively shape the future environment for such models together with our clients.
What are your personal next goals with Lyfegen?
My personal goal is to further grow with the company. Growing not only personally by gaining more experience and continuously taking over more and more responsibility, but also to help Lyfegen achieve its next milestones. I am looking forward to be part of this journey.
We currently have two open positions - What are your recommendation for other talents that are applying at Lyfegen?
If you are applying at Lyfegen I recommend you to be aware of what it means to work in a start-up. You need to be ready to step outside your comfort-zone, be willing to actively drive things forward and take ownership. If this is what you are looking for, then Lyfegen is the perfect fit for you. Lyfegen offers you the perfect environment to further develop yourself and to work on exciting projects that have a real impact and a great purpose, helping patients to access innovative therapies.
Enough about work! What passions do you have outside of Lyfegen?
I love bike racing and being in nature! I can often be found on weekends biking my way up hills and testing my limits! It’s a great way to disconnect and focus on nature. But I’m not always in nature – I must admit, I do love playing video games too, especially FIFA (and am the proud winner of our last Lyfegen FIFA tournament – yes, the team got together for a 8 hour challenge one weekend!). Work hard, play hard!
We are proud to have the Lyfegen team continue to grow with such fantastic team-members!
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We are pleased to welcome the latest addition to our tech team! Andrei joins Lyfegen as a full-stack developer. He brings his wealth of backend and frontend experience to elevate our platform.
"I am excited to welcome Andrei to our Tech Team as a talented and motivated Full-Stack developer. Andrei brings great skills and knowledge to our team and will support us in further building our applications." Says CTO, Frederico Braga.
To introduce our newest addition, we interviewed Andrei.
Welcome to the Team, Andrei! Tell us a little about yourself.
Hi! My name is Andrei. I am from Romania, and I graduated from the Technical University of Cluj Napoca. In the last seven years, I have worked as a software developer at different companies and with different technologies like .net, iOS, Angular, Typescript, MSSQL, Mongo DB, SoapUI.
What drives you to be a full-stack developer?
I chose to be a full developer because I like to be involved in every phase of a software application, from the UI side to the server. In the last eight years, the modern technologies used for building stack server-side applications and client-side applications became much easier to use, which allows us to learn multiple technologies on both sides.
What motivated you to join Lyfegen?
At the beginning of my career, I worked for another startup company. I remember my satisfaction when someone used our product, and I want to feel that again. Lyfegen is giving me many opportunities to positively impact the world because we are driving things in the right direction. I consider value-based contracts the best solution for patients, healthcare payers and Pharma companies.
What is your first impression as of now?
I like and appreciate the whole team. All my colleagues have brilliant ideas that are bringing the Lyfegen platform to its best form. The Lyfegen platform is one of the strongest I have seen so far in my career, and this is because everyone has a voice within the team.
How will your know-how help the Lyfegen customers experience our platform the best way possible?
Throughout my career, I have worked on several big projects in different fields providing technical solutions for different problems on the frontend side and the backend side. These experiences have taught me the importance of accessibility features, and I would like to bring that knowledge to improve the user experience of Lyfegen users. I can help the Lyfegen customers better interact with the platform in terms of performance.
What is something you want to learn or improve this year?
I am looking forward to improving my understanding of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. From a technical perspective, I'm excited to work and learn Grandstack technologies.
What passions do you pursue outside of work?
I love to play board games, tennis and football. During the summer weekends, I like to go hiking, and in winter, I enjoy skiing. I also have an interest in politics, and I try to stay updated with trends in the IT industry because of my passion for new technologies.
What else are you looking forward to?
I look forward to deepening my relationship with my teammates. I strongly believe that working in an atmosphere that promotes teamwork makes our lives much more enjoyable. At the same time, it has a positive impact on the project.
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He loves innovation and thrives on solving problems using code. Besides developing and studying he plays basketball, travels and reads. We are proud to welcome the newest talent to the Lyfegen team: “Junior Developer” Thungu!
“The motivation and the skills of Thungu are undisputed. Among other things, that is what makes him and Lyfegen a perfect match. Constant evolution and progression are some of the most important objectives at Lyfegen, that is why Thungu will join our Team to help us add new UI components to our products and automate our testing processes in coordination with the UI/UX designers and Business Analysts, resulting in a higher overall quality and user satisfaction of our products. We are looking forward to work with Thungu here at Lyfegen.” Says CTO, Frederico Braga
To introduce our newest talented team member, we virtually sat down with Thungu for an interview.
Welcome to the team Thungu! Tell us a little about yourself.
Hi, my name is Thungu, and I am from Colombo, Sri Lanka. I am a Software Engineering undergraduate at the University of Westminster in my second year while working here at Lyfegen. I also volunteer for the IEEE student branch of my university to organize hackathons, webinars and other tech related events.
What drives you to be a developer?
I love figuring things out, exploring new technologies and solving problems with code. When facing challenges as a developer I always explore the “yes” and try to figure things out before accepting a “no”. That figuring out part is what drives me to be a better developer and what I enjoy mostly about being a developer.
What was your motivation to join Lyfegen?
I wanted my first work experience to be in an innovative company which has a positive impact on the world and when I got to know what Lyfegen does, I knew this was it. With value-based healthcare in its early stages, I see it’s huge potential and the unprecedented value it brings towards humanity. I knew I had to be a part of this great journey!
What are your first impressions so far?
It has been a very pleasant experience. I am enjoying the startup culture - everyone is very close, friendly and welcoming. The flexibility at Lyfegen is one of the things that I appreciate most, as it is really important for me to have an evenly work and university life balance. I am also very impressed by how dynamic and motivated the team is. Everyone is ready to move mountains for patients!
How will you improve the customer experience on the Lyfegen platform?
I will be focusing mainly on Frontend Development and Testing which includes building new components with the help of our Kateryna, our UI/UX designer and testing the functionalities of our products together with Pavlo.
What do you want to learn and improve this year?
I am looking forward to improving my skills and helping Lyfegen in other stages of Software Development in addition to Frontend Development and Testing. I also want to improve my understanding of the healthcare industry.
What are you especially looking forward to as you take on this new role?
Although I enjoy all the virtual coffees, I am very much looking forward to meeting everyone in person someday. I’m also looking forward to grow as a professional and becoming a better and experienced developer. I feel very grateful to work with such an amazing team of experienced developers and other team members.
What passions do you pursue outside of work?
I love to play basketball, create travel videos and also photography is my passion. I read books focusing on life and spirituality, I learn new technologies, and sometimes I play the guitar.
We are proud to welcome Thungu to the Lyfegen team!
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We are thrilled to announce that our tech team continues to grow: A warm welcome to Giancarlo, Lyfegen’s new Full-Stack Developer! With his background as a security engineer, he knows how to make our platform even safer!
“I am excited to welcome Giancarlo to our Tech Team as a Full-Stack developer. Giancarlo’s experience in the areas of Machine Learning, Security and Software Development are critical to our long term success and development of the Lyfegen Platform.” Says CTO, Frederico Braga
To introduce our newest team member, we virtually interviewed Giancarlo.
Welcome to the team Giancarlo! Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Giancarlo and I live in Chur, Switzerland. I hold a bachelor’s degree in computer science. I previously worked as a security engineer, designing and implementing big data applications at a Swiss telecom company. At Lyfegen I will be working on improving our platform as a full stack developer.
What drives you to be a full stack developer?
For me, the variety of tasks is the biggest appeal of being a full stack developer: One day you could be working on low level database tasks and the next day on implementing user-interface (UI) elements. This keeps the job challenging and interesting!
What motivated you to join Lyfegen?
Until now, I was working for a rather big company where my impact was small. I wanted to change that. At Lyfegen I am able to create something meaningful from the ground up.
What is your first impression as of now?
My first impression was very positive: The people at Lyfegen are kind, helpful and smart. A perfect mix in my opinion! I’m looking forward to all the interesting tasks, complex problems and engaging conversations with my colleagues.
How will your know-how help the Lyfegen customers experience our platform the best way possible?
As a former security engineer, I know the most common threats and pitfalls when it comes to creating a software. I hope to use my expierence and knowledge to make our platform safer and more resilient to potential threats in the future.
What is something you want to learn or improve this year?
In previous jobs I was mainly developing backend applications. This year I want to improve on the frontend side and learn new technologies when it comes to graph databases. I always wanted to improve my Italian, so maybe 2021 is the year where I take some time to do just that!
What passions do you pursue outside of work?
I play lacrosse in our local club twice a week. Food is another passion of mine: I also love to cook and try new restaurants. On rainy Sundays, you’ll find me playing boardgames or Dungeons and Dragons with my friends.
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Introduction
The UK is taking critical steps to standardize the evaluation of AI technologies in healthcare. Last year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) conducted a systematic review of health economic evaluation (HEE) studies on AI-based technologies, revealing variability in study quality. To address this, NICE introduced CHEERS-AI (Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards for Interventions that Use Artificial Intelligence), a set of standards aimed at study authors and reviewers. Additionally, the UK Government has announced initiatives to boost exports, benefiting industries like pharmaceuticals by removing trade barriers, with a particular focus on entering the Brazilian market.
Key Takeaways for Pharma and AI Developers
1. CHEERS-AI Standards for Consistent AI Evaluation
• What’s Changing: The CHEERS-AI standards, announced by NICE, provide a framework to improve the quality and consistency of economic evaluations for AI-based healthcare technologies. By addressing gaps in reporting and methodology, NICE aims to make these evaluations more reliable, which is essential for determining the cost-effectiveness of AI solutions in healthcare.
• Impact: For AI developers and pharmaceutical companies, CHEERS-AI sets clearer expectations for the economic evaluation of AI products. A standardized approach facilitates more consistent assessments and could expedite the integration of effective AI technologies into healthcare settings. This initiative also ensures that AI innovations meet rigorous health economic standards, which could build trust among stakeholders and speed up adoption.
2. Removing Trade Barriers for Pharmaceutical Exports
• What’s Changing: The UK Government’s plan to eliminate certain trade barriers is expected to enhance export opportunities across several industries, with a focus on easing access to Brazil’s pharmaceutical market. This initiative includes a £2.3 million fund to support trade growth, with an anticipated boost of £5 billion over the next five years. For the pharmaceutical industry, this includes efforts to improve Brazil’s drug evaluation processes, particularly for cancer treatments.
• Impact: For UK pharmaceutical companies, the removal of trade barriers presents an opportunity to expand into Brazil—a significant and emerging market. Streamlined access to Brazil could lead to increased revenue and greater market diversity. Moreover, improving Brazil’s evaluation standards for cancer drugs aligns with the global shift toward ensuring drugs meet consistent, evidence-based criteria, promoting patient access to high-quality therapies.
Conclusion
The UK’s efforts to standardize the economic evaluation of AI technologies in healthcare and remove international trade barriers represent a proactive approach to fostering innovation and expanding market access. NICE’s CHEERS-AI standards provide the healthcare industry with a reliable framework for assessing AI interventions, setting a high standard for future health economic evaluations. Additionally, the government’s trade initiatives offer UK pharmaceutical companies promising avenues for growth in markets like Brazil. Together, these measures underscore the UK’s commitment to advancing healthcare technologies and supporting the global reach of its pharmaceutical industry.
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Introduction
Italy’s recent healthcare reform introduces a transformative approach to tackling longstanding challenges such as healthcare workforce shortages, regional disparities, and the modernization of infrastructure. As Italy prepares for these changes, pharmaceutical companies, payers, and other stakeholders will need to adapt their strategies for market access and contracting. Lyfegen’s Agreements Library and Drug Contracting Simulator provide essential tools to navigate these evolving demands with precision and efficiency.
Key Takeaways for Pharma and Payers
1. Workforce Expansion and Regional Equity
• What’s Changing: The reform aims to attract healthcare professionals to underserved regions and improve patient access across Italy.
• Impact: Pharma and payers will likely see more consistent healthcare delivery across Italy, leading to greater access to therapies. This broader market reach emphasizes the need for adaptable, data-driven contracting models.
2. Updated Training and Enhanced Medical Infrastructure
• What’s Changing: Italy’s healthcare workforce will benefit from enhanced training and infrastructure improvements, which could accelerate the adoption of innovative therapies.
• Impact: Pharma companies may experience streamlined pathways for introducing new treatments, while payers will benefit from a more robust healthcare system capable of supporting outcome-based agreements.
3. Digital Transformation and Outcome-Based Metrics
• What’s Changing: Emphasis on digital health infrastructure and outcome-based measures will create a more transparent and efficient healthcare environment, particularly for high-cost therapies.
• Impact: This focus on measurable outcomes provides pharma and payers with an opportunity to adopt innovative contracts based on real-world evidence, ensuring alignment with healthcare goals while managing financial risk.
How Lyfegen’s Solutions Can Support Your Strategy
1. Agreements Library: The world’s largest digital repository of drug pricing agreements, the Agreements Library offers over 6,000 public agreements and 20 unique pricing models from 33 countries. With data on more than 550 drugs and access to historical pricing trends, pharma and payers can confidently explore and tailor pricing agreements to the specific demands of Italy’s regions, ensuring that new market strategies meet regulatory requirements and regional healthcare needs.
2. Drug Contracting Simulator: The Drug Contracting Simulator enables teams to create simulations for various pricing models, from value-based to outcome-based. With the ability to run real-world scenarios and compare results, stakeholders can craft business cases that reflect real-world complexities and financial outcomes. This empowers teams to make informed contracting decisions, achieve faster negotiations, and support Italy’s focus on sustainable, transparent healthcare.
Conclusion
Italy’s healthcare reform marks a critical step toward a more equitable and efficient healthcare system. For pharmaceutical companies, payers, and other healthcare players, this shift opens doors to new contracting possibilities and requires a deep understanding of innovative market access models. Lyfegen’s Agreements Library and Drug Contracting Simulator offer the tools needed to stay competitive, adapt to regulatory shifts, and deliver patient-centric solutions that align with Italy’s healthcare goals.
Book your demo today to see how the right tools can transform your approach under this new reform: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
Sources
• Anaao Assomed. (2023). Healthcare reform in Italy: Key changes and impacts on the medical workforce. Retrieved from https://www.anaao.it/content.php?cont=41425
• Quotidiano Sanità. (2023). Italy’s healthcare reform: Implications for science and pharmaceuticals. Retrieved from https://www.quotidianosanita.it/scienza-e-farmaci/articolo.php?articolo_id=125281
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Gene therapies are redefining modern healthcare, offering the potential to address the root causes of genetic disorders through targeted treatment rather than symptom management. For patients, this represents a profound improvement in quality of life, while for payers and pharmaceutical companies, gene therapies introduce new challenges in contract structuring, reimbursement, and financial planning. In this blog, we’ll explore how gene therapies are reshaping patient outcomes, impacting payer expectations, and how Lyfegen’s solutions, such as the Agreements Library and Drug Contracting Simulator, are enabling pharma and payers to navigate this evolving landscape.
A New Horizon for Patient Outcomes with Gene Therapies
Gene therapies bring transformative potential to patient care by addressing the underlying genetic causes of diseases. Unlike traditional therapies that require ongoing treatment, many gene therapies promise long-lasting effects from a single intervention. This shift enables patients to move away from chronic management, experiencing a better quality of life, fewer medical interventions, and improved long-term health.
Why It Matters: For patients with rare genetic conditions, gene therapies offer a new chance at health. However, the high upfront costs and uncertain long-term efficacy make it challenging for payers to determine optimal reimbursement models. Balancing patient access with financial sustainability is crucial as healthcare systems adjust to the realities of high-cost gene therapies.
Payer and Pharma Contracting: Managing Uncertainty with Precision
With the high cost of gene therapies, payers and pharmaceutical companies face increased pressure to implement contracts that account for uncertain outcomes and long-term impact. Traditional pricing models often fall short in accommodating these complexities. Today, payers need new contracting frameworks that incorporate clinical and financial outcomes over extended timeframes, while pharma companies seek efficient ways to communicate the value and manage the financial implications of these therapies.
Shifting Expectations in Payer-Pharma Relations: To mitigate risk, payers and pharma companies are exploring innovative drug contracting models that tie payment to therapeutic outcomes. However, implementing such models requires robust data, effective scenario planning, and tools that support transparent, collaborative processes across stakeholders.
Lyfegen’s Role in Optimizing Drug Contracting for Gene Therapies
To address the complexities of gene therapy contracts, Lyfegen offers tailored tools that support payers and pharma companies through every stage of the contracting process. Our Agreements Library and Drug Contracting Simulator streamline research, analysis, and contract execution, allowing stakeholders to engage in informed, data-driven decision-making.
1. The Lyfegen Agreements Library: As the world’s largest digital repository of drug pricing agreements, the Lyfegen Library gives users access to over 6,000 public agreements and 20 unique pricing models.
• Accelerate Effective Contracting: With a comprehensive database covering over 550 drugs and real-world agreements from 33 countries, payers and pharma teams can find, compare, and analyze pricing models that meet specific market and therapeutic needs.
• Support Pragmatic Contracting: By exploring data from more than 150 drug manufacturers, users can identify successful contracting models and structures that match the challenges of gene therapies. This ensures informed choices that support sustainable access to innovative treatments.
2. Lyfegen Drug Contracting Simulator: Our simulator enables pharma and payer teams to model various drug pricing scenarios, providing real-time insights to drive negotiations.
• Accelerate Negotiations with Real-World Simulations: The simulator allows users to run multiple pricing models, delivering scenario-based insights that reflect real-world financial implications. This helps pharma and payers create compelling business cases and select pricing models that suit both patient needs and budget constraints.
• Improve Collaboration Across Teams: With flexible, secure access, the Drug Contracting Simulator enables local and global teams to work collaboratively. Users can save and share simulations, compare scenarios, and make evidence-based decisions quickly.
By equipping stakeholders with essential tools for research and analysis, Lyfegen’s solutions reduce the complexities of payer-pharma contracting, allowing stakeholders to navigate the high stakes of gene therapy reimbursement effectively.
Shaping the Future of Gene Therapy Access with Lyfegen
Gene therapies represent a future of precision medicine and improved patient outcomes. Yet, making this future accessible requires innovative approaches to contracting and reimbursement. By leveraging Lyfegen’s solutions, payers and pharma companies can structure contracts that maximize patient access to these therapies while managing financial risk.
Lyfegen is committed to supporting stakeholders as they navigate the challenges of gene therapies, providing solutions that bring real-world data, evidence-based simulations, and efficient contracting processes to the forefront. With the Lyfegen Agreements Library and Drug Contracting Simulator, payers and pharmaceutical teams have the tools they need to secure the future of gene therapies in a way that’s both financially sustainable and patient-centered.
To explore how Lyfegen’s Agreements Library and Drug Contracting Simulator can support your contracting needs for gene therapies, connect with our team or schedule a demo today.
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With rising healthcare costs around the world, value-based care (VBC) is a paradigm shift poised to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. It’s a departure from the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) model, which pays providers each time they perform a service. In this type of care model, providers are rewarded for the volume of care they provide, rather than the quality.
Value-based care shifts the priority of healthcare to patient wellbeing and patient centeredness. Value-based care agreements incentivize healthcare stakeholders to achieve better outcomes, and may even penalize excessive spending or unnecessary procedures.
There are many approaches to providing and paying for value-based care, and they will be the subject of this article. Let’s take a broad look at what VBC is, its benefits, its challenges, and future directions.
Why value-based care is needed
Healthcare costs are rising across the globe, and patients are bearing the brunt of it, with out-of-pocket healthcare costs rising faster than costs to insurers. Drugs are also becoming more expensive, and insurers and employers are concerned about high-cost claims. Many insurers are refusing to cover expensive treatments, like cell and gene therapies, or GLP-1 agonists.
Although the fee-for-service model is still important, value-based care can fill the gaps to bring medicines to patients faster. Using cell and gene therapies as an example, VBC could prevent patients like Forrest VanPatten from dying during the process of jumping from insurer to insurer, hoping to find one that will cover the treatment.
Alternative payment models (ABMs), a core element in the delivery of VBC, help these therapies get to market faster, by lowering the financial burden of expensive therapies. This could include installment payments, among several types of value-based contracts.
Although pharmaceutical companies continue to improve patient outcomes by developing more effective medicines, healthcare costs include more than the price of the drugs. The total cost of care must also be managed and requires a close evaluation of how care is delivered to the patient.
Ultimately, value-based care is a strategy to deliver a better healthcare experience to the patient while utilizing resources more effectively. It is feasible to reward healthcare practitioners for improving patient health, whether it be keeping them out of the hospital, reducing their reliance on medication, or becoming completely disease-free. But there are many challenges in implementing these models, as we’ll discuss.
The types of value-based care
There are many forms of value-based care, and different terms are used interchangeably. Use the glossary table below while reading this article to better understand.
VBC can involve the following:
There are many ways medicine and care can be delivered to people in ways that support better outcomes. Let’s summarize the models above.
Effective care delivery
The accountable care organization (ACO) is a group of clinical entities and providers that in synchronization, aim to deliver efficient and cost-effective healthcare to patients. If the efforts are successful, saved costs can be distributed, providing an incentive to avoid unnecessary procedures. A key component of ACOs is that financial responsibility lies on caregivers. ACOs were a central component of the Affordable Care Act in the United States, and generally describe the American healthcare system. However in several European countries, similar models providing integrative care do exist.
This type of integrated care model may still rely on the fee-for-service model, but aim to reduce the volume of care.
Risk-sharing agreements
Several value-based drug pricing agreements foster risk-sharing between the manufacturer of the drug and the payer. The following are examples:
Many of the above terms overlap with each other. What they have in common is that they can address clinical uncertainty—payers may be reluctant to reimburse therapies with limited clinical evidence from the pivotal trial. However, to ensure patient access, risk-sharing agreements are way to allow patients to be treated for a steep discount, while gathering real-world evidence.
In a pay-for-performance agreement, payers will only have to pay for the treatment if anticipated patient outcomes are achieved. Several hybrid iterations of this type of agreement exist, including milestone payments, where payers receive rebates if disease progresses.
You can find specific examples of these kinds of agreements in our Agreements Library.
Population-based payments
Population-based payments facilitate integrative care delivery. They involve payments for either a specific condition, or for the care of an entire patient. However, unlike an ACO, population-based payments are value-based and are not based on the fee-for-service model.
The Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (HCP LAN) defines population-based payments as a “single payment that encompasses a broad array of services.” This is also more widely referred to as capitation. Capitation can apply to the care for a specific condition, or the entire continuum of care.
NHS England defines capitation as “paying a provider or group of providers to cover the majority (or all) of the care provided to a specified population across different care settings. The regular payments are calculated as a lump sum per patient.”
Capitated payments typically involve a per-member-per-month fee. They provide predictable revenue for hospitals and providers while incentivizing them to provide quality care.
Restricted access
Another way to address clinical uncertainty is to limit who can receive treatment as real-world evidence is being gathered. By refining the eligibility criteria, patients most-likely to benefit from the treatment can receive access.
What are some of the challenges of implementing value-based care?
There are several challenges to implementing value-based care. They include:
One challenge with VBC is deciding on patient eligibility. Insurers may choose to cover a very select group of patients, denying others who may need treatment coverage, to ensure that they are incentivized accordingly. This leads to another challenge: choosing the right outcomes to measure. In the fee-for-service model, billing is tied to the condition and medication being prescribed, whereas in a value-based contract, financial incentives are tied to outcomes measured by a healthcare provider.
The chosen outcomes must be evidence-based and tracked accordingly. Collecting data, sharing it with various stakeholders, and integrating it into a patient’s care is another challenge. Great structural changes are needed to ensure the compliant sharing of this type of data.
For manufacturers and hospitals alike, another challenge is to manage revenues. Pharmaceutical companies may be unclear for example on how drug profitability could vary with a performance-based or utilization cap contract. One of our solutions to this largely manual process was to create a drug price simulator. This tool helps manufacturers of health technologies compare and contrast different value-based contracts during the negotiation process.
For hospitals, it’s imperative to correctly track rebates, especially if they are warranted after upfront payments: our rebate management platform helps hospital systems identify up to 30% more rebates.
Value-based care can balance innovation while lowering healthcare costs, but implementing it involves enhanced coordination of care delivery and significant organizational changes. VBC also involves innovative payment models that share risk with healthcare providers or place the burden of risk on them entirely to incentivize quality care.
Value-based payment models can reduce high upfront costs of expensive therapies while further evidence is gathered to justify the high costs. For providers, VBC may reduce burnout risk by incentivizing them to keep patients healthy.
The integration of value-based care in healthcare systems around the world requires data. At Lyfegen, we help pharma, MedTech, and providers understand the impact of value-based payment models with our innovative software. Let’s make this shift happen together.
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The pharmaceutical industry and its drug market access strategies are continuing to evolve as we move through 2024, driven by mounting pricing pressures, aggressive regulatory shifts, and heightened payer demands. For pharma companies, refining market access strategies is no longer optional—it’s essential to securing rapid market entry and sustained patient access in an increasingly challenging environment. Let’s explore the key considerations for pharma companies within this space.
Evolving Drug Market Access Strategies
Pharmaceutical companies must adapt their drug market access strategies to address a rapidly evolving landscape shaped by policies and regulations across various regions, including the U.S. and Europe. New legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), introduces more stringent reimbursement criteria, which could impact profitability and influence launch decisions for new drugs. To mitigate these challenges, companies need to prioritize earlier and broader data collection efforts, focusing on generating robust real-world evidence (RWE) and health economic outcomes research (HEOR). This comprehensive evidence base is essential for demonstrating the value of new therapies beyond the scope of traditional clinical trials, ultimately playing a critical role in payer negotiations and securing optimized reimbursement (NIH).
Global market variations also demand a tailored approach to launch strategies. In Europe, new regulations mandate shorter market exclusivity periods unless drugs are launched across all member states within two years, compelling pharma companies to align their launch timelines more closely with diverse national pricing schemes (European Parliament). Meanwhile, in markets like Japan, frequent price revisions are pushing companies to adopt dynamic pricing strategies to stay competitive.
The Role of Healthcare Technology Solutions in Market Access
With the industry pivoting towards value-based care and personalized treatments, healthcare technology solutions are essential in aligning stakeholder needs. Platforms like Lyfegen are pivotal in this shift. By offering a comprehensive Healthcare technology solution for outcome-based contracting, the Lyfegen platform supports the efficient implementation of value-based agreements between pharma companies, payers, and healthcare providers. Using platforms like Lyfegen means that the administration of complex pricing models can be simplified, patient outcomes can be tracked in real-time, and transparency can be increased, all of which are crucial for pharma to gain and maintain market access.
We continue to watch as the pharmaceutical industry is shaped by evolving regulations, mounting pricing pressures, and shifting payer demands. But to ensure market access, pharma companies must act now by building robust data portfolios early, integrating clinical trial data with real-world evidence (RWE), adapting to global pricing pressures, and leveraging digital solutions.
Lyfegen’s platform is at the forefront of helping pharma companies tackle these challenges. With Lyfegen’s Drug Contracting Simulator, you can model dynamic pricing strategies, optimize your market access plans, and streamline value-based agreements. Combined with the Lyfegen Library of real-world evidence and pricing models, you’ll be equipped to make data-driven decisions, ensuring faster patient access and successful contract negotiations.
Act Now – Book a demo of Lyfegen’s platform and discover how we can support your market access strategy: https://www.lyfegen.com/demo
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