Hospitals struggle to deal with the uncertainty of CAR-T

My former colleague Ike Swetlitz has a heck of a swansong out today for STAT. Ike looks at the nitty gritty of how hospitals are dealing with the uncertainty around reimbursement for CAR-T therapies. The story is chock full of fun details, like how one hospital did a “test-run” to prepare for administering these treatments, which meant sending a bag of colored water in a cooler across the country to Gilead, just so the company could send back cryogenically frozen, fake cells.

More substantively, Ike has some great reporting on how even CMS has acknowledged that its current process for covering CAR-T is unsustainable. This is an area to keep watching. CMS still hasn't spelled out exactly how much it will pay for the procedures. That uncertainty is the biggest headache for hospitals right now, especially as more and more CAR-T treatments come to market. (Wondering what CMS could do to ease hospitals’ woes? The American Hospital Association wrote to CMS last month with a slew of ideas: You can find those here.)

Read Ike's full story.