-
Seniors Not Getting Wasted in Part D
Private and public payers seeking value in pharmacy benefits should be heartened by a recent study about medication waste in Medicare Part D. Commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the study found that less than 1 percent of all medications dispensed for Medicare beneficiaries …
Read More -
Salaries of $117,000 (and rising)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently published new data about 2012 occupations and wages, including pharmacist income levels. In 2012, the average pharmacist salary across retail, mail-service, and specialty pharmacy was $117,000. As always, the inimitable Adam Fein has an excellent analysis of the …
Read More -
NCPA Endorses Bill to Increase Medicare Drug Costs
With Medicare spending representing a massive and growing part of federal deficits, why would anyone want to increase Medicare costs? But that’s just what new legislation backed by the National Community Pharmacists Association would do. The bill, S. 867, introduced on May 6, 2013, by Senators …
Read More -
Health Care Fraud Costs Everyone
Without a doubt, our nation’s health care system faces an array of challenges related to quality, affordability, and access. Given the breadth of our challenges, it makes the prevalence of fraud, waste, and abuse in our system that much more frustrating and galling. Depending on …
Read More -
New Report Details Potential Medicaid Savings from Using PBM Tools
In addition to offering significant savings for private health insurers, pharmacy benefit management (PBM) tools could save the Federal government and state governments $74.4 billion in Medicaid costs over ten years according to a new report by the Menges Group prepared for the Pharmaceutical Care …
Read More -
Ignore the Fine Print, Just Sign Here Please…
Every so often, we come across an innocuous news article that highlights a divergence between Washington lobbying rhetoric and marketplace practices. Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article about Procter & Gamble moving to extend its payment terms with suppliers from an average …
Read More -
New Developments on Improving Health and Reducing Costs through Vaccines
As the Affordable Care Act celebrates its third anniversary, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced the extension of preventive services coverage to approximately 105 million Americans, including 34 million Medicare beneficiaries. Currently, the U. S. spends close to 18% of the …
Read More -
Forcing Seniors & Disabled People to Pay Higher Prescription Drug Costs
Every once in a while, independent drugstores push a policy argument that leaves us scratching our heads. The NCPA’s latest notion is the idea that Medicare Part D preferred pharmacy networks might threaten access to quality care and threaten the survival of community pharmacies. In …
Read More -
What Might Walgreens-ABC-Boots Deal Mean for Consumers & Payers?
While much of the scrutiny of the recent Walgreens-AmerisourceBergen (ABC)-Alliance Boots long-term distribution contract has focused on each company and the implications for their respective competitors, far less attention has focused on the implications for individuals and businesses that actually use the products and pay …
Read More -
Generic Pharmaceutical Association Suggests Alternatives to Medicare Part D Sequestration Cuts
Under the Budget Control Act sequestration spending cuts that went into effect at the beginning of March, federal payments to Medicare Part D (prescription drug) plans and much other Medicare spending will be subject to a 2% haircut. But the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) says …
Read More