On January 7, Dr. Simon was quoted in MedPage Today for her view of the Trump Administration’s “most favored nation” rule for aligning drug prices with prices paid by other advanced industrialized countries. She noted in an email that “the current reimbursement for physician administered drugs is deeply flawed in that it incentivizes doctors to choose the higher-cost drug” since they are paid a percentage of the drug’s average sales price (ASP). “The higher the ASP, the higher the reimbursement.”
Under the interim final rule, physicians instead receive a flat fee — starting at $148.73 this year. “I think Trump did a service by making this proposal and I hope the Biden administration will not let it drop,” Simon added. “However, Biden has not been a leader on drug pricing — he has been more interested in bringing new cancer drugs (many of them physician-administered) to market, than in the cost.”