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Managed Care April 2006 Martin Sipkoff	Blues Plan's Bold Move Brings Generics Savings Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina is waiving its copayments for generic drugs in a unique six-month pilot program.
Managed Care May 2005 MargaretAnn Cross	Are Consumers Really Directing Their Own Care? In theory, consumer-directed health plans put the reins of decision making into the hands of their members. But medical management departments are alive and well inside CDHPs -- and may even expand under these plan designs.
Managed Care May 2006 John Carroll	Effective Ways To Increase Usage of Generics Generics is one of the few areas where insurance plans can economize effectively. BlueCross & BlueShield of North Carolina is one of many insurers that are changing members' and prescribers' behavior.
Managed Care January 2007 Martin Sipkoff	Employers Want Plans & PBMs To Push Hard for Generics Health insurers' aggressive stand on members' use of generic drugs can attract new clients, but does it interfere with the physician-patient relationship?
Managed Care August 2004 Martin Sipkoff	Bad Tiered Formulary Designs Yield Poor Outcomes, High Cost Now that tiered formularies rule the land, what many suspected is being demonstrated: Compliance is suffering and so, too, are patients.
Managed Care September 2003 Tony Berberabe	Pharmacy Benefit Starts To Reflect Push for Consumer-Directed Care Health insurance plans looking for a low-risk way to experiment with new benefit designs might start with the pharmacy benefit.
Managed Care August 2007	Consumer-Directed Health Plans: Built to Last or Designed to Fail? A point-counterpoint debate about the effect of CDHPs on overall health and health care costs.
Managed Care July 2000 John Carroll	Physicians Reconsider Taking On Pharmacy Risk They've been burned here in the past, but physicians - and the HMOs that they contract with - may have learned some lessons.
Managed Care December 2005	Pharmacy Cost Increases Below Medical for the First Time in Four Years According to a survey of 70 health care insurers, prescription costs are expected to increase at a lower rate than medical costs during the next 12 months.
Managed Care September 2007	Income Said To Influence Use of Generics An observational analysis of pharmacy claims collected from 2001 to 2003 finds that where a person lives and the socioeconomic implications of that location have a lot do with his use of generic drugs.
Managed Care December 2003 Tony Berberabe	Why Do FEHBP and Big Unions Excel at Managing Drug Costs? Pharmacy benefit managers can do only so much to keep drug price increases in the single digits. Initiatives instituted by health plans can help in this effort.
Managed Care August 2004 Alan Lotvin	Specialty Pharmacy Presents Unique Set of Challenges Only a small percent of a typical health plan's population takes medicine for conditions outside the generalist's scope. But it's a big portion of the drug bill.
Managed Care November 2007 MargaretAnn Cross	The Evolving Health Plan The consumer-directed health care model isn't taking the country by storm, but its innovations are influencing other coverage designs.
Managed Care May 2003 Wayne Miller	Higher Drug Copays Now Might Cause Problems Later The long-term impact of noncompliance must be considered before copayments are increased. This is especially true where chronic conditions are concerned.
Managed Care November 2005	Recently Introduced Generics Helped Pbm Control Its Costs The top five generic drugs released over the past three years reduced pharmacy spending by 4.8 percent largely due to the timing of the release of generic products to the market.
Managed Care May 2001	Old Ideas About Formulary Structure Gone as Humana Tests 4-Tier Model Humana is phasing in a four-tier formulary that categorizes prescription drugs by costs, rather than generic or brand status. The higher the drug's acquisition cost -- regardless of whether it's a branded or generic product -- the higher the tier it lands in...
The Motley Fool January 12, 2010 Dayana Yochim	6 Ways to Score Cheap(er) Drugs Stop overpaying for the pills you have to pop with these simple ways to trim your prescription-drug tab.
Managed Care October 2001 Patrick Mullen	Interview: Pharmacists in Need The executive vice president and CEO of the American Pharmaceutical Association says pharmacists are being inundated and need help...
Managed Care July 2002 Thomas Kaye	Managing the Drug Benefit: One Company's Experience The pharmacy director of Blue Cross of Oklahoma shares his company's success with using three tiers and coinsurance to promote member responsibility.
Managed Care March 2004 MargaretAnn Cross	Consumer-Directed Plans Begin Measuring Patient Satisfaction Initial results are promising. Employees turn toward preventive medicine and away from expensive drug therapies.
Managed Care October 2004 Martin Sipkoff	Not So Much of a Reach: Let Sick Pay Less for Drugs The idea is radical and simple: Those who need medication the most should pay the least. There is evidence that this is cost-effective.
Managed Care March 2006	Study: No Need To Burden Consumers To Cut Drug Bill A study by Express Scripts shows that changing the prescription benefit copayments can reduce costs by encouraging more use of generic drugs. All without shifting costs to consumers.
The Motley Fool August 15, 2007 Mary Dalrymple	Drug Costs Giving You a Headache? If you want to cut your prescription drug costs, you can do more than just switch to generic brands. Shop around and ask questions. It's your health, and it's your money.
Managed Care March 2006 MargaretAnn Cross	Deciding Factor: How Much Health Care is Discretionary? Defining discretionary health care is no easy task, but it may be imperative for 'consumer' health plans seeking to get patients more involved.
Managed Care March 2004 Tony Berberabe	Safeguards Against Stockpiling Now Have Global Ramifications Y2K, 9/11, anthrax scares -- these events crystallized the problem of medication stockpiling. How does managed care respond?
CIO September 26, 2013 Stephanie Overby	Big Data Project Cuts Prescription Costs Express Scripts analytics portal helps doctors prescribe more cost-effective medicines.
The Motley Fool February 25, 2010 Brian Orelli	An Untouched Market Waiting to Be Captured Unfilled prescriptions are a potential boon to drug companies.
Managed Care March 2008 John Carroll	Should Plans Pay Physicians To Switch Patients to Generics? The AMA calls it a kickback, but the industry sees it as just good practice to give doctors an incentive to get patients on equivalent generics
Managed Care April 2002 Paula Sirois	HMOs Should Prepare Now To Get Handle on Injectables With more than 360 biotech products in the pipeline, high-cost injectable drugs are about to flood the market. How will we control the expenditure?
The Motley Fool May 6, 2008 Brian Orelli	Free Drugs Free over-the-counter drugs are a win-win for health insurers and their members.
Managed Care April 2002 Rhonda Greenapple	HMOs Have Stake in Quelling Anger at Drug Store Counters Dissatisfied customers have a tendency to lash out and not be very discriminating about their targets. Prescription: Reduce the hassle...
Managed Care December 2003	Electronic prescribing has no effect on formulary compliance A retrospective analysis of claims data from Aetna indicates that systems that allow physicians to enter prescriptions electronically on a handheld device that also provides drug information and formulary status have no significant effect on compliance with formularies and utilization of generics.
Managed Care June 2005	PBMs Get Thumbs up From Satisfied Customers Pharmacy benefit managers that educate physicians on the safety and efficacy of generic drugs or provide them with generic drug samples to increase the use of generics get higher satisfaction ratings than those that don't.
Managed Care June 2003 Thomas Kaye	Mail Order Pharmacy -- Savings or Added Cost? Mail order programs can provide savings, but HMOs need to ensure that they are actually receiving sufficient value.
Managed Care October 2007 Martin Sipkoff	Asheville's Legacy: Pharmacy Moves From Dispensing to Clinical Management It is an idea whose time has finally come: Today's clinical pharmacists are involved in virtually all aspects of medical care.
The Motley Fool May 4, 2011 Jason Knapp	Generic Drugs and Old People Could Make You Rich CVS hasn't generated market-beating returns yet -- but it will.
The Motley Fool January 13, 2009 Dayana Yochim	Fiscal Fitness '09: 6 Ways to Score Cheap(er) Drugs Save more than $200 on prescriptions.
Managed Care March 2000 Tim Sawyers	Test Prospective PBM Before Signing Contract How to select, then monitor a pharmacy benefit management company, from a consultant and former HMO director of pharmacy services.
Pharmaceutical Executive June 1, 2014 Ben Comer	Take as Directed: From Force to Finesse in Promoting Adherence Healthcare players tout patient education and engagement as the keys to better drug adherence rates. Patients agree, as long as that translates to convenient and affordable access to therapy.
Managed Care December 2000	How To Save Money on Prescriptions There are ways for low-income groups to avoid paying top dollar for prescriptions. Here's one way physicians can educate consumers...
Managed Care May 2006	Many More CDH Plans to Include Pharmacy The number of plan sponsors that will offer consumer-directed health plans that integrate pharmacy and medical benefits increased more than 16-fold, from 3 to 50, between January 2005 and January 2006, according to Medco Health Solutions.
Managed Care December 2005 Martin Sipkoff	Reports Confirm High Value of Step-Therapy Programs Tiered benefit design and mail order pharmacy are useful, but don't overlook this other significant vehicle for savings: step therapy programs.
Managed Care September 2005 Martin Sipkoff	Mail Order Pharmacy Saves Money, Says PCMA, but at What Cost? The savings to consumers and employers are apparent, but are health plans left holding the bag in mail-order pharmacy?
Managed Care January 2008 Thomas Kaye	Now Is the Time for Pharmacy Performance Incentives We've made strides in increasing the transparency of pricing in the pharmacy supply chain, and now we need to change dispensing behavior.
The Motley Fool March 22, 2010 Brian Orelli	Health-Care Reform Passes! Here's Where to Invest Now Some healthy suggestions for your portfolio.
The Motley Fool July 30, 2009 Brian Orelli	A Good Business Model for Bad Times Some businesses benefit when people are hurting. It's a beautiful time to be a pharmacy benefit manager, since that business model essentially results in them making more money when their customers save money.
Managed Care August 2001 Steve Perlstein	Four-Tier Approach Injects Consumerism Into Drug Benefit In tying copayments closely to the actual cost of medications, Humana takes a step toward promoting awareness of resource use...
Managed Care October 2003	Medco Health Solutions tops consumer survey The 2003 WilsonRx Survey reports that patients have identified Medco Health Solutions as the top pharmacy benefit manager for the third year in a row.
Managed Care May 2004	Biologics Among Fastest Growers Managed care plans and pharmacy benefit managers can benefit from the strong generic presence in the market, but also face challenges relating to biotech drugs.
Managed Care June 2006 John Carroll	When New Drugs Are Costly, How High to Raise Copays? As some pretty costly, yet very useful, drugs are introduced, will new formulary designs deny access to needy patients?