by Mike Barrett | Sep 28, 2018 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Issues, Insurance, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs, Uncategorized
Drug Coupons Explained We encourage and help anyone we can to obtain a coupon for their prescriptions.. We know, however, that there are emerging issues with them. Some background Drug manufacturers have some amazing but expensive medications. They have created...
by Mike Barrett | Nov 6, 2017 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Issues, Insurance, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs
This is an example of one Ohio company adjusting how they administer coupons people use at the pharmacy. The program helps make sure members’ out-of-pocket cost for prescription drugs are properly applied to deductibles and maximum out-of-pocket amounts. The benefit...
by Mike Barrett | Sep 14, 2016 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Costs, Healthcare Issues, Medicare Medicaid, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs
We have all heard jokes that begin with “Three guys walk into a bar….” I thought it might make sense to use that model to explain why “referenced-based pricing” and general consumer awareness in healthcare are important to consider. Here...
by Tom Barrett | Jul 25, 2016 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Pharmacy Costs, Research
There’s plenty of cost related analytics available to support the disproportionate cost premise that medical expenses are highly concentrated among a very small proportion of enrolled employees. These highlights, for example, from a Agency for Healthcare Research and...
by Tom Barrett | Apr 8, 2016 | Employer Issues, General Health, General Insurance Issues, Health Policy, Healthcare Issues, Healthcare Reform, Managed Care - Group Health, Medicare Medicaid, National News, News and Events, Pharmacy Costs, Pharmacy, PBMs and Pharma Costs, Providers, Uncategorized
This post follows up on last week’s primer on how abuse of prescription pain medications has led to what’s now recognized as a true national crisis. The new podcast Embedded provides a riveting inside look at how the use of one particularly powerful prescription...
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...