AMCP: The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

Chelsee Jensen, PharmD, pharmaceutical formulary manager at Mayo Clinic, explains how the process of implementing biosimilars may differ depending on practice size.

Soumya Vishwanath, PharmD, senior manager of formulary strategy at Magellan Rx Management, highlighted the therapeutic gaps that need to be addressed to ensure that patients with behavioral health disorders are well cared for.

In 2022 and 2023, there are a number of big therapies losing patent exclusivity, which opens the door to generics that could save as much as $30 billion.

While the pandemic will have lasting impacts on the US health care market, much of it has bounced back and returned to normal, said Doug Long, MBA, of IQVIA, during the Thursday keynote at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy annual meeting.

Although the medication therapy management program in Tennessee's Medicaid population did not reduce costs, some adherence to medication improved and emergency department visits improved.

Jeffrey Casberg, vice president of pharmacy at IPD Analytics, discussed some of the regulatory and legal hurdles that generic and biosimilar companies have to face on the road to market launch.

Patients with severe asthma continue to have residual disease despite initiating treatment with biologics, and severe uncontrolled asthma is associated with higher economic burden compared with controlled asthma, according to 2 posters.

Racial and ethnic health disparities are documented and substantial, but the data are out there to create programs that successfully address these disparities, said panelists.

Michael Ciarametaro, MBA, vice president of research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, discusses the balance between lowering drug prices and encouraging innovation in new drug classes for serious diseases.

Melissa Andel, principal at CommonHealth Solutions, previewed her session on policy making and pricing reform at the upcoming Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's annual meeting.

The annual spring meeting of AMCP 2022 will include keynote sessions on health care and marketplace trends and the specialty pharmaceutical pipeline, with a featured preconference session on bias in health care.

Administrative claims data in oncology often lack sufficient information to conduct postmarketing comparison studies of biosimilars with their reference product, suggesting that other sources are needed to answer critical research questions.

Three cell and gene therapies were among the drugs included in a specialty drugs pipeline forecast at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2021 meeting.

Changes to naming conventions and interchangeability labels are just some of the regulatory barriers standing in the way of biosimilar uptake, according to Kaiser Permanente researchers.

Megan Olsen, MPH, principal at Avalere, discussed how gene and cell therapies can offer new treatment options for patients with cancer.

With President Joe Biden marking his 100th day in office at the end of the month, a health policy strategist sat down for a conversation to discuss the new administration’s achievements and challenges.

Rebecca Borgert, PharmD, BCOP, and Jim Rebello, PharmD, from Magellan Rx Management, discussed what evidence they believe could persuade payers to include biosimilars as preferred formulary products.

A poster at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2021 meeting examined the impact of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) on access to health care and resource use in the United States and the interaction of race, ethnicity, and income.

Karen Coderre, PharmD, and Madhavi Manduru-Rao, PharmD, detail how CMS' increased weighting for Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems surveys impacts Star ratings.

The pandemic reduced visits to specialists last year, which in turn reduced the volume of prescriptions, according to a presentation at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2021 meeting.

Compared with when Medicare Part D launched, therapies today are more expensive. A panel at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2021 meeting discussed how the benefit needs to adapt to keep up with the future.

Brenden O’Hara, RPh, BCACP, from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, talked about the pharmacist’s role in improving outcomes in value-based contracts and why collaboration is needed.

PIE, or a preapproval information exchange, is aimed at streamlining payer and health plan involvement so that it happens at the same time a drug developer submits an application to the FDA, instead of after a drug is approved, with the intent of speeding patient access to therapies.

Christina Polomoff, PharmD, BCACP, BCGP, discusses the differences between manufacturer coupons and cash cards and how they financially affect health plans and pharmacies.

COVID-19 has affected the pace of clinical trials, and the FDA’s most recent notice has been that there will be no “near-term” affect on approvals, said Leslie Fish, RPh, PharmD, who co-presented with Jeffrey Casberg, MS, RPh, in Tuesday’s session, "Drug Pipeline: Traditional Pharmaceuticals and Bisoimilars," at AMCP eLearning Days, which replaced the annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

Douglas M. Long, MBA, vice president of industry relations for IQVIA, surveyed the effects of COVID-19 as he kicked off AMCP eLearning Days, a webinar series held in place of the annual meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP).

At the end of the day, the focus should be on improving the efficiency of our healthcare system and bringing cost-effective care to patients, said Jane Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, EVP and Chief Clinical Officer for Real Endpoints.

Sebastian Schneeweiss, MD, ScD, professor of medicine and epidemiology, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and co-founder of Aetion, discusses current use of rapid-cycle analytics and what efforts are needed to improve understanding and uptake.

Crescent Moore, PharmD, PhD, BCPS, senior consultant, BluePeak Advisors, explains efforts by CMS to address the opioid epidemic put forward by their 2020 Call Letter.

There’s a lot of room to move in terms of improving management of medications, said Michael Steinman, MD, professor of medicine, University of California, San Diego.