The September issue of Health Affairs includes articles describing the growing role of nurses in care delivery, the prevalence of low-value care, the role of patient pharmaceutical assistance programs, the effects of risk adjustment, and more.

In particular, one article by Leemore Dafny and coauthors examines Medicare's Anti-Kickback Statute. Under this statute, drug manufacturers may donate to patient financial assistance programs for specific diseases that their drugs treat, so long as they are not directly covering enrollees’ out-of-pocket spending.

The authors find that these donations are likely profitable for manufacturers, as average assistance-eligible spending per patient nearly doubled from 2010 to 2017, while cost sharing per patient declined.

Furthermore, half of the drug spending within each condition was attributable to a single manufacturer, and most of the remainder was attributable to two or fewer manufacturers.

The authors indicate that manufacturers could effectively assist in the purchase of their own medications by contributing to condition-specific charities.

You can listen to Dafny discuss her research findings on the 100th episode of A Health Podyssey, which was published earlier this week.

Make sure you stay informed on all things health policy this month by purchasing the latest issue of Health Affairs or becoming a subscriber.