Pain Meds and The Opioid Epidemic: 10 Things To Know

There’s a lot in the news these days about what’s referred to as the opioid crisis or epidemic. Just yesterday for instance —  highly respected healthcare consultant (and close friend) Joe Paduda, fresh off of speaking at a national drug summit in Atlanta, wrote...

New Source of Over-Utilization? Study Indicates Use of Retail Clinics May Be Increasing Healthcare Costs

Use of retail clinics leads to higher costs. Seems a bit counter-intuitive doesn’t it? You’d think that the use of retail clinics like those found in some CVS and Kroger stores and typically staffed by nurse practitioners would be apt to lower total costs. In fact...

HHS Publishes Out-of-Pocket Regs for 2017

This is hot off the presses. The most important announcement this past week is that HHS published the increased out-of-pocket regulations for 2017. Originally, the ACA was to cap deductibles at $2,000. That seems like a long time ago and was never really followed. In...

Rx Shock: Ever Faced A 900% Increase Nearly Overnight? You’re Not Alone.

We are finding some crazy Rx trends that are translating into real world cost and care issues for our clients and their employees. Here’s a prime example. We recently found that a type 2 diabetes drug (GLUMETZA) increased in cost by 900%, nearly overnight. After...

S&P Report Another Indicator of ACA Nearing Tipping Point?

I doubt I’m going out on a limb by saying that the “kid in the candy store” perspective that insurance companies may have had about the Affordable Care Act has all but vanished.   A new Standard & Poor’s report released this week supports that the “candy...