Bio: Huseyin Naci, M.H.S., Ph.D., is a 2018-19 U.K. Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he conducts research and teaches on health policy and practice in Europe and the U.S. Naci also serves as the Director of LSE's Executive M.Sc. program in Health Economics, Outcomes and Management in Cardiovascular Sciences. His research to date has evaluated the quality and quantity of the evidence base underpinning the approval, adoption, and reimbursement of new health technologies in Europe and the U.S. Naci's research has appeared in leading health policy and general medical journals including JAMA, BMJ, Health Affairs, and The Milbank Quarterly. He has a Ph.D. in Health Policy from the Department of Social Policy at the LSE and an M.H.S. in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2012-13, he was a Fellow in Pharmaceutical Policy Research at the Harvard Medical School.
Placement: Harvard University
Mentors: Amitabh Chandra, Ph.D., Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy and Director of Health Policy Research, Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Aaron Kesselheim, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, Program on Regulation, Therapeutics, and Law, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Project: Accessibility and Affordability of High-Cost Prescription Drugs in the U.S.
Description: Following an era of relatively modest growth in prescription drug spending in the U.S., recent increases in the cost of prescription drugs have been a significant cause for concern among patients, providers, payers and policymakers. In response, public and private payers have embraced both traditional and novel approaches to controling drug costs. The extent to which such approaches restrict access to new medicines remains understudied. This two-part project aims to address this gap by exploring the complex dynamic between the market entry of new medicines and their subsequent availability and affordability in the U.S. health care system. First, the study will quantitatively examine coverage variation for a sample of recently approved high-cost medicines across Medicare Part D plans nationwide and estimate annual cost-sharing requirements. Second, using case studies, the project will document the variation in processes and approaches adopted by Medicaid pharmacy benefit programs in determining whether and how to pay for high-cost drugs. As an increasing number of high-cost drug approvals are anticipated in the next few years in the U.K., this research will provide key insights to this evolving landscape about the intended and unintended consequences of novel payment models and policy solutions.