New Jersey Republican US Senate candidate Bob Hugin is laying out a framework of ideas he says could make health care more accessible to Americans. He believes the current system is dated, and information technology could create more transparency in health care.
“You can’t possibly have value in a system if you don’t know how much something costs and you don’t know the results you achieved from it," Hugin told a roundtable of health care professionals in Glen Ridge, NJ. "We have the availability of that data, but we have to have the policies, the legislation and procedures that allow us interoperability to let information technology revolutionize the economy of health care.”
Hugin says he would like to see changes in the way pharmaceuticals are priced and how health care professionals are compensated.
“Let’s incentivize and pay people for keeping people healthy, not just paying them when you do more activity by treating people more. The same thing with pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals should be priced and compensated based on performance, value, and outcomes, not just on usage,” Hugin said.
The former pharmaceutical executive with the biotech company Celgene has been accused of price gouging patients for cancer medication by his democratic opponent, incumbent Senator Bob Menendez, but Hugin denies those accusations
“Nearly 90 percent of all Celgene patients never paid more than fifty dollars for a prescription. When I go to Washington I hope someday I can say all Americans, nearly 90 percent of all Americans are only paying fifty dollars per prescription.”
Hugin says he’s proud of the New Jersey based company’s ability to manufacture innovative cancer treatment while creating thousands of high-tech jobs.