
Rising Costs and Improved Measurements: Top AJPB Papers of 2015
The rising cost of drugs was in the spotlight in 2015, and the manuscripts in The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits highlights the growing concerns of the healthcare industry in regards to rising expenditures.
The rising cost of drugs was in the spotlight in 2015, and the manuscripts in The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits highlights the growing concerns of the healthcare industry in regards to rising expenditures.
The most-read manuscripts of the year included a discussions on hepatitis C drugs, a look at medication therapy management, and an analysis of the trend in rising generic drug costs.
10. Implementing Guideline-Recommended Therapy for Patients With CKD: Is Hope on the Horizon?
March/April
They point out that the gap between guidelines and actual use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors may increase the societal burden of chronic kidney disease. While hyperkalemia may be a reason for the underuse of this therapy, new agents to manage hyperkalemia could help close the treatment gap.
9. What Roles Do Patient Characteristics Play in Value-Based Performance?
As the healthcare system evolves into one based on delivering better care at a lower cost, measurement is important for determining payment to hospitals, health plans, physicians, and others. However, the healthcare industry cannot overlook the importance of outside factors that affect health outcomes, such as sociodemographic status.
The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA)’s Woody Eisenberg, MD, and Kristen A. Butterfield, MPH,
8. Medication Management: Measuring What Matters
Medication-related measures do not address mediation optimization, medication coordination, and medication follow-up, but as new care delivery models evolve, there is room to develop new measures to close these gaps.
In this paper,
7. Pharmacist Glycemic Control Team Associated With Improved Perioperative Glycemic and Utilization Outcomes
Using a pharmacy-led management team improved glycemic control and postoperative outcomes for noncritically ill postoperative surgical patients.
The intervention was associated a decline in hypoglycemia in year 1 post implementation, and in years 1 and 2 after intervention, post-discharge hospital admissions, emergency department utilization, and per patient per month medical costs all declined.
6. Trends in High-Cost Generic Drug Utilization and Spend
With the rising price of generic drugs receiving considerable press coverage in 2015, Sara C. Erickson, PharmD, and colleagues
Overall, high-cost generics account for 13.8% of all generic fills and 54.1% of general spend. They accounted for a large proportion of generic drug costs in all plan types. In addition, the authors wrote that the causes of rising generic drug costs is multifactorial, and the various factors are unlikely to resolve in the coming years.
5. Toward a Better Understanding of High-Risk Medications in the Elderly
Plans are seeking strategies and innovation to limit potentially inappropriate medications in older adults to help improve patient outcomes and ease the economic burden. The Pharmacy Quality Alliance and the National Committee for Quality Assurance
4. Proposed Rule Changes for 340B Programs: Overview and Impact (1,559)
Recent proposed change to the 340B drug discount program could result in lower savings and more rigorous compliance oversight requirements, which entities should be aware of,
In his paper, Dr Zappa looked at several changes to the 340B program, which could remove 30% to 40% of currently included prescriptions and increase administrative oversight.
3. The Formularies Fight Back: AJMC Panelists Discuss How Discounts, Exclusivity Deals Should Expand HCV Treatment (1,798)
The rising prices of drugs became a big issue in 2015, and it all stems back to the $1000 pill: Sovaldi. In
2. Strategies to Improve PBM Management of an Employee Prescription Drug Plan
Better informed employers will be able to better manage the prescription drug benefit they offer to employees. The authors explain that employers with internal expertise can assume greater management to the benefit of the company. Some things that the employer should become knowledgeable about include: the fundamentals of the pharmaceutical supply chain and the role of pharmacy benefit managers.
1. Implementation Strategy to Bring Medication Therapy Management Into High-­Volume Community Pharmacies (2,420)
The most-read article from The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits observed the work flow in a high-volume community pharmacy and created a strategy to implement medication therapy management (MTM) services.
The researchers conducted MTM services at 3 stores and assessed the outcomes 1 month later to evaluate the potential change in Medicare Star ratings.
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