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A federal watchdog has warned - yet again - that financial incentives in Medicare may be warping the ways that hospice care works in the U.S. In a report released Wednesday, the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services warns that some hospices appear to have sought higher profits by focusing on patients living in assisted living facilities. (Whoriskey, 1/14)

The world's biggest drugmakers face a new reality when it comes to U.S. pricing for their products as insurers use aggressive tactics to extract steep price discounts, even for the newest medications. Big Pharma executives acknowledged the depth of change this week during public presentations and interviews with Reuters at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco. Drugmakers have long relied on their ability to charge whatever they deemed appropriate in the U.S., the world’s most expensive health care system. (Beasley and Humer, 1/15)