Could Big Data be the Future of Pharmacy?

Janna Lawrence of The Pharmaceutical Journal recently published an interesting article that highlights the importance of Big Data and how it can aid in prescription adherence. Express Scripts has collected over 22 petabytes of data from 83 million patients.

Lawrence writes, "The data include medical and pharmacy claims from Express Scripts patients, clinical and behavioural characteristics, and even tweets directed to the company. In fact, within three milliseconds of a patient picking up a prescription from a pharmacy, Express Scripts has logged the  event."

 

Learn more about this data and the findings in the full article HERE!  

Performance Pharmacy Solutions (PPS) is a unique pharmacy benefit procurement platform developed by HORIZON Health Ventures to efficiently and effectively place, manage and oversee our self-funded client's pharmacy benefit management programs. The PPS platform provides turnkey solutions with proven market-leading PBM partners that offer, on average, 10-15% savings.

Healthcare Issue Briefings

In today's blog we're informing you of the 2017 Healthcare Issue Briefings being held in Philadelphia, PA on May 17th that will cover solutions to help the opiod crisis.

Modern Healthcare writes, "The opioid crisis, which claims 10 lives a day in Pennsylvania, does not discriminate. Overdoses have been reported for people of all races, income levels, ethnicities and ages. Multiple forces are driving the epidemic: prescriptions for chronic pain and short-term injuries; saving pills for a “rainy day”; a lack of sites for disposing unused medicines; cheap street substitutes; and the absence /underuse of mental health support for those suffering with addiction."

Click HERE to for more information, to learn about the panelists and how to register.

Performance Pharmacy Solutions (PPS) is a unique pharmacy benefit procurement platform developed by HORIZON Health Ventures to efficiently and effectively place, manage and oversee our self-funded client's pharmacy benefit management programs. The PPS platform provides turnkey solutions with proven market-leading PBM partners that offer, on average, 10-15% savings.

The Five Fundamentals of Pharmacy Contracting

Pharmacy benefits are confusing and ever-changing. To aid in the decision-making process we have developed a list of the “Five Fundamentals of Pharmacy Contracting.” When considering pharmacy benefits, all plan sponsors, even when carving-in, should be able to answer the following:

1) Do I have a contract specific to my pharmacy benefit? 

2) Does my contract clearly list out the discounts/fees/rebates that are applied to my claims utilization?

3) Does my contract clearly define under what circumstances those discounts/fees/rebates are

applied to my claims? In short, what are the contracts terms, conditions and assumptions?

4) Does my contract clearly state what detailed information I will have access to relative to my claims
     utilization and experience?

5) Does my contract contain audit rights that allow me to validate that my carrier or PBM is                 compliant with their financial obligations to our plan under the contract terms?

 

7 New FDA Approvals from March 2017

Courtesy of Pharmacy Times, today we're bringing you 7 important FDA approvals from last month. These approvals include:

1. Bavencio

2. Dupixent

3. Keytruda

4. Kisqali

5. Noctiva

6. Xadago

7. Zejula

Learn about all these new drugs in the full article HERE!  

Performance Pharmacy Solutions (PPS) is a unique pharmacy benefit procurement platform developed by HORIZON Health Ventures to efficiently and effectively place, manage and oversee our self-funded client's pharmacy benefit management programs. The PPS platform provides turnkey solutions with proven market-leading PBM partners that offer, on average, 10-15% savings.

Carve-In vs. Carve-Out: What’s the Difference?

It used to be that carving-out pharmacy benefits was just for the ‘big guys” and, if you weren't one of them, you had to accept the pharmacy plan that came with your health plan.  That’s not the case anymore. Plans sponsors of all sizes are looking at their pharmacy benefit plans, often carving-out a different option.

Adopting a carve-out strategy offers several significant advantages for the plan sponsor and plan participants. The advantages of choosing a stand-alone Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) include:

• Better control of drug costs and stronger, disease-specific cost- management programs

• Competitive drug pricing with guaranteed financial and operational obligations on the part of  the PBM

• Detailed analyses and reporting to help explain cost drivers and identify savings opportunities

• Greater innovation focused on controlling drug costs 

• Greater proactivity in recommending patient and plan specific solutions that save money and improve the quality of care realized by patients

• Greater flexibility in plan design and clinical program offerings

As with any aspect of business, it is critical to understand the relationship that you are engaged in. And pharmacy is no different. As self-funded plan sponsors, it is critical to understand and capitalize on the contractual relationship between you and your insurance carrier, health plan and/or PBM.

New Mexico to Require Officers to Carry Overdose Antidote

Last week New Mexico became the first state to require all local and state law enforcement agencies to provide officers with opiod antidote kits. This law is in an effort to prevent more deaths from opiod and heroin overdoses. This law was approved unanimously by law makers during their most recent session.

Governor Susana Martinez expressed, "We're making progress but it's never enough," she said. "We have to keep working hard at this problem and reducing the number of overdoses. Signing this bill is an important step to fight the scourge of drug abuse and overdose fatalities."

Read the full article HERE! 

Performance Pharmacy Solutions (PPS) is a unique pharmacy benefit procurement platform developed by HORIZON Health Ventures to efficiently and effectively place, manage and oversee our self-funded client's pharmacy benefit management programs. The PPS platform provides turnkey solutions with proven market-leading PBM partners that offer, on average, 10-15% savings.

Ohio's Opiod Epidemic Addressed

Ohio lawmakers are getting serious about the continuing opiod epidemic. Elizabeth Schmitt of The News Record shares that Ohio recently just passed a law that will limit opiate prescriptions by doctors, dentists, and other licensed health professionals.

Schmitt writes, "The law limits the amount of days that doctors can prescribe narcotic pain pills to seven days for adults and five days for minors. The limits apply to patients experiencing acute pain, with exceptions for cancer, hospice or addiction patients."

State officials also revealed that 74 percent of those who died of a drug overdose in 2015 had a previous prescription for a controlled substance.

Will this law help the epidemic or is it too much? Make your decision after reading the full article HERE! 

Performance Pharmacy Solutions (PPS) is a unique pharmacy benefit procurement platform developed by HORIZON Health Ventures to efficiently and effectively place, manage and oversee our self-funded client's pharmacy benefit management programs. The PPS platform provides turnkey solutions with proven market-leading PBM partners that offer, on average, 10-15% savings.

Pharmacists and Heart Failure: Room for Intervention in Every Practice Setting

This afternoon's blog highlights the recently published Pharmacy Times article, "Pharmacists and Heart Failure: Room for Intervention in Every Practice Setting." Jeannette Y. Wick, RPh, MBA, FASCP writes that heart failure caused 1 out of 9 deaths in 2009 and that this disease can be deadly in 50% of patients unless care and adherence to drugs is sought out.

Just this year a team of researchers from Adelaide, Australia published a report of the pharmacist's role in heart disease management.

Wick continues, "Their review focuses on drug adherence, discharge counseling, medication reconciliation, telephone follow-up, and recommendation from evidence-based medicines. Although these are not the only ways in which pharmacists can help manage HF, they are the most common interventions."

Read the full article HERE to find more information on this study.

Performance Pharmacy Solutions (PPS) is a unique pharmacy benefit procurement platform developed by HORIZON Health Ventures to efficiently and effectively place, manage and oversee our self-funded client's pharmacy benefit management programs. The PPS platform provides turnkey solutions with proven market-leading PBM partners that offer, on average, 10-15% savings.