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Mississippi, You’re On My Mind
New research by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts has found that the “U.S. wasted $418 billion in 2012 based on bad medication-related decisions, and the impact was most deeply felt in those states that could least afford it.” The Express Scripts analysis looked at pharmacy-related decisions …
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A Look At Drug Spending Trends and the Impact of Pharmacy Benefit Management Tools
The release by Express Scripts of its 2012 Drug Trend Report gives us an opportunity to look at trends in drug spending in the United States. Here is the press release announcing the new drug trend report. First the good news. Among the commercially insured population, …
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New Study Shows Specialty Pharmacy Beats Retail Pharmacy in Hepatitis C Patient Adherence
An estimated 3.2 million Americans suffer from chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Hepatitis C virus is a common cause of cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer and the most common cause for liver transplants in the United States. On average, patients with HCV …
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Over-the-Counter Products Become More Important to Independent Pharmacy Profits
Independent pharmacies make up 38% of all pharmacies in the U.S. with a total of 23,106 stores in 2011. Sales of prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and all other items sold in the front of the house totaled $88.5 billion in 2011. Many independent pharmacies survive …
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Narrow Pharmacy Networks Widen Payer Savings
In earlier pieces we talked about the trend towards narrow pharmacy networks and the recent decision by Tricare to use such networks. Now we have a new report from Visante quantifying just how much narrow pharmacy networks could save payers. And the number is breathtaking. The …
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Emerging Threats to Prescription Drug Affordability
A new Business Insurance article details the strategies mid-size businesses are relying upon to mitigate pharmacy costs including increased generic drug utilization, specialty pharmacy utilization programs, value-based insurance design, and narrower pharmacy networks. Taken together, these tools and techniques (along with many others like mail-service …
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More Thoughts on 2011 National Health Expenditures & Prescription Drugs
The latest annual CMS report on national health expenditures for 2011 released last week has generated lots of media and wonk attention about the historic lows in health spending increases and questions about whether these trends can be sustained. The best analysis we have seen …
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Co-pays Increase, but not as much as Drug Costs
With Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts now limited to $2,500 per plan participant, making wise decisions about healthcare spending becomes even more important. This is especially a concern for consumers making prescription co-payments. With drug costs themselves increasing, it is not surprising that patient co-pays for …
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Retail-Pharmacy Clinics’ Popularity Growing
New data confirms the growing acceptance and popularity of retail pharmacy-based health clinics, particularly among those age 45 and older seeking preventive care and/or vaccines. The new study tracking retail-clinic visits from 2007 to 2009 was posted online by the respected health policy journal, Health …
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National Business Group on Health 2013 Health Plan Design Survey Looks at Pharmacy Benefits
The National Business Group on Health (NBGH), has just released its “Large Employers’ 2013 Health Plan Design Survey.” NBGH is a non-profit representing the large employer perspective on national health policy issues. The survey is available only to members of NBGH, but a release summarizing …
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