by Tom Barrett | Apr 1, 2016 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Health Policy, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Managed Care - Group Health, National News, News and Events, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs, Providers, Uncategorized
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...
by Tom Barrett | Mar 9, 2016 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Health Policy, Healthcare Issues, Managed Care - Group Health, Providers
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...
by Mike Barrett | Mar 7, 2016 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Health Policy, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Managed Care - Group Health, National News, Uncategorized
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...
by Mike Barrett | Feb 8, 2016 | Employer Issues, Health Policy, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Managed Care - Group Health, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs, Providers, Uncategorized
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...
by Tom Barrett | Dec 18, 2015 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Health Policy, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Managed Care - Group Health, National News
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...
by Tom Barrett | Feb 12, 2015 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Managed Care - Group Health, Providers
Healthcare consumerism is good. We should all work to get better at it. Transparency tools that are provided by the carriers and by innovative up and comers like CareTrader can be quite helpful. We should take advantage of these tools and use them wisely. But, if you...