Interviews

Debbie Stern, RPh, Vice President, Rxperts Inc, states that the utilization of prior authorizations, developing pathways, and relationships with specialty pharmacies all assist in the management of specialty pharmaceuticals.

Jeff Lemieux, Senior Vice President, Center for Health Policy and Research, AHIP, and Jon Bumbaugh, Director of Statistics & Actuarial Services, MedAssurant, Inc, address preventing hospital readmissions.

In this video, David Nau, PhD, RPh, CPHQ, Senior Director, Quality Strategies, Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), speaks about the Electronic Quality Improvement Platform for Plans and Pharmacies (E-QuIPP). E-QuIPP will allow health plans and pharmacies to improve adherence and performance measurement.

Beckie Fenrick, PharmD, MDA, Senior Director, Medical Operations, Care Models and Affordability Solutions, Florida Blue, says that the trending increase in companion diagnostics allows for more personalized medicine.

Keith Dunleavy, MD, President and CEO, Inovalon, discusses the importance of comparative effectiveness research in order to improve chronic disease management at both the individual and population levels.

Barry Kinzbrunner, MD, Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, VITAS Corporation, discusses the use of payment reform models to reduce hospital readmissions.

Sarah Thomas, Vice President, Public Policy and Communications, NCQA, says that this year the NCQA has a targeted interest in health insurance exchanges and delivery system reforms, such as accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes.

Robert Margolis, MD, Managing Partner and CEO, HealthCare Partners, says there needs to be a movement toward managing patients based on population.

Keith Dunleavy, MD, President and CEO, Inovalon, addresses the importance of healthcare data and the digitization of medicine. Dr. Dunleavy states that having quality data allows for more accurate care on an individual level, along with cost savings and a better risk score.

Sarah Thomas, Vice President, Public Policy and Communications, NCQA, says there are three options for states looking to initiate health insurance exchanges (HIX): federally facilitated, state sponsored, and partnership models.

Karen Ignagni, President and CEO, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), states that higher costs and reductions in health plan options were consequences of states that did not link Affordable Care Act insurance market reforms and the individual mandate.

In this video, Mary Walsh, Member of the American College of Cardiology Board of Trustees and Chair of the organization's Patient-Centered Care Committee, talks about the efforts being made to truly individualize patient care and move away from a "one-size-fits-all" model in cardiology care.

James C. Capretta, MA, answers what process can be put in place for continual improvement in the productivity and quality of patient care.

Dr. Fenrick discusses the current and forthcoming trends in specialty pharmacy management.

In this video, Steve Marciniak, RPh, speaks of the challenges and value of specialty drugs.

Dr. Lewis addresses reasons why physicians have trouble when getting patients involved in decision making.

Cathleen Biga states that with a good amount of work and significant cost meaningful use can be achieved.

Dr. Nichols thinks a shared savings model without a straight fee cut could be a promising solution to the sustainable growth rate.

In this video, Dr. David Valle, speaks about how genetic variations impact patients' antibodies and immune systems in different ways. "We are beginning to gather the knowledge that is necessary to recognize the key individual differences that determine why patients behave in different ways, even though they have the same diagnostic label," says Valle.

Dr. Singh discusses CVS Caremark's strategies for managing oncology spending.

Michael Einodshofer, RPh, MBA, points out the benefits to members from Site of Care Optimization programs.

Dr. Butler answers why he is not confident that costs will ever be controlled.

Jeff Lemieux discusses health system partnerships that work to control costs in a managed care setting.

Mr. Geraghty points out a variety of ways to engage a health plan's members.

Dr. Dobesh addresses the challenges of achieving efficacy without having the patient bleed when combining anticoagulant and antiplatelet treatments.

Dr. Nichols states that bundling works as an affective payment reform model in cardiology.

Dr. Lewis shares his thoughts on how the patient/provider relationship can be improved.

In this video, Cathleen Biga defines meaningful use and compares the rates of transitions between the hospital setting and smaller practices.