- Safety & Recalls
- Regulatory Updates
- Drug Coverage
- COPD
- Cardiovascular
- Obstetrics-Gynecology & Women's Health
- Ophthalmology
- Clinical Pharmacology
- Pediatrics
- Urology
- Pharmacy
- Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Diabetes and Endocrinology
- Allergy, Immunology, and ENT
- Musculoskeletal/Rheumatology
- Respiratory
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
- Dermatology
- Oncology
Rising costs due to behavior-driven conditions significantly impact health plan costs, report says
The rising cost of specialty drugs, challenges with medication adherence, and the utilizations of mail order are among the top trends impacting employers and other health plan sponsors, according to a recent report about prescription benefit management trends.
The rising cost of specialty drugs, challenges with medication adherence, and the utilization of mail order are among the top trends impacting employers and other health plan sponsors, according to a recent report about prescription benefit management trends.
According to Express Scripts' fifth annual report, "Nine Leading Trends in Rx Plan Management," more than 75% of plan sponsors say behavior-driven conditions are the greatest contributors to plan costs.
While the healthcare profession has made great strides in medication adherence, patients are busier and have more information coming at them than ever before, said Tim Wentworth, president of sales and account management for Express Scripts. "It is very difficult to get and keep people's attention," Wentworth said.
Thirty-six percent of plan sponsors cite the rising utilization and cost of specialty medications as the greatest concern in managing their prescription plans. Another 38% cited "overall drug costs" as their chief concern in managing costs. As a result, 74% intend to require preferred pharmacies in the next 2 years, and 59% say they plan to move specialty medications from the medical to the pharmacy benefit over the next 2 years.
Health plan sponsors still consider mail order to be significantly more cost-effective for their members than retail pharmacies. According to the employers and other plan sponsors, mail order has an advantage over retail in improving adherence, reviewing prescriptions, and dispensing safely. "Mail order continues to be an important part of overall care . . . especially when a patient has been diagnosed with a complex or chronic disease," Wentworth said.
Coalition promotes important acetaminophen dosing reminders
November 18th 2014It may come as a surprise that each year Americans catch approximately 1 billion colds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 20% get the flu. This cold and flu season, 7 in 10 patients will reach for an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine to treat their coughs, stuffy noses, and sniffles. It’s an important time of the year to remind patients to double check their medicine labels so they don’t double up on medicines containing acetaminophen.
Support consumer access to specialty medications through value-based insurance design
June 30th 2014The driving force behind consumer cost-sharing provisions for specialty medications is the acquisition cost and not clinical value. This appears to be true for almost all public and private health plans, says a new report from researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID Center) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).
Management of antipsychotic medication polypharmacy
June 13th 2013Within our healthcare-driven society, the increase in the identification and diagnosis of mental illnesses has led to a proportional increase in the prescribing of psychotropic medications. The prevalence of mental illnesses and subsequent treatment approaches may employ monotherapy as first-line treatment, but in many cases the use of combination of therapy can occur, leading to polypharmacy.1 Polypharmacy can be defined in several ways but it generally recognized as the use of multiple medications by one patient and the most common definition is the concurrent use of five more medications. The presence of polyharmacy has the potential to contribute to non-compliance, drug-drug interactions, medication errors, adverse events, or poor quality of life.
Medical innovation improves outcomes
June 12th 2013I have been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the pancreas, a disease that’s long been considered not just incurable, but almost impossible to treat-a recalcitrant disease that some practitioners feel has given oncology a bad name. I was told my life would be measured in weeks.
