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Upcoming Events featuring
National CooperativeRx
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Health and Welfare Plan Management for Midsize Employers Conference
September 13-16
Las Vegas, NV
Learn more
2011 Wisconsin SHRM State Conference
October 12-14
Madison, WI
Learn more
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National CooperativeRx is a not-for-profit coalition founded and owned by plan sponsors to achieve higher value prescription benefits through volume purchasing, clinical solutions, actionable data and unparalleled customer service. For your sales and marketing needs, please contact us at 866-679-9479, extension 223
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| Back to School
August is National Immunization Month, and it's a great time to remind your participants to think about getting their loved ones vaccinated before heading back to school or going off to college.
Many people mistakenly believe that vaccines are only for young children, but even teenagers need vaccines, such as Tdap, Meningococcal, HPV and flu.
It's also good to remind adults that they should visit their doctor at least four weeks before traveling to another country in case there are vaccines they should get ahead of time.
If you'd like supplemental material to educate your participants about vaccinations, the CDC has informational handouts available on vaccines for children, teenagers and adults.
Click here to for handouts and more information.
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Kaiser Health News. Lawmakers in around a dozen states are debating whether or not to ban tiers for specialty drugs. Some plans have participants pay a percentage of the drug cost instead of a flat specialty drug rate in attempt to control drug spend. Lawmakers say this can cost participants thousands of dollars per month and lead to non-adherence, yet at the same time, plans are trying to find ways to cope with the rising cost of drugs. (Appleby, 8/22) Full story
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HealthDay. Obesity is costing states millions of dollars. When looking at a state's total annual medical expenses, Hawaii and Colorado attribute 7% of their state's medical expenses to obesity, and they have the lowest percentages. Other states figure that over 10% of their state's medical costs come from obesity. California alone spends over 15M in medical expenses due to obesity, which emphasizes the importance of preventing and controlling obesity to fight costs. (8/24) Full story
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HealthDay. There's a drug shortage taking place, and it's getting worse. Most alarming is that some cancer-fighting drugs are in short supply, potentially putting patients at risk. The shortages are due to different factors, such as manufacturing problems, contamination, label misprints and late delivery of raw materials. (Reinberg, 8/24) Full story
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Health. On a positive note, less women are being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Those who are diagnosed with the cancer have better odds of beating it. The falling prevalence of ovarian cancer is being credited to the Pill; the less a woman ovulates, the lower her chance of getting ovarian cancer. As far as treating the disease, the medications are now more targeted, there are more chemotherapy options and surgeons are getting more aggressive when removing the cancer. (8/10) Full story
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American Medical News. The childhood Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine has made bacterial meningitis almost nonexistent in children. A bigger concern is now for seniors, who are 12 times more likely to contract the infection than young adults. This demonstrates the need to develop a vaccine for adults. (Moyer, 8/23) Full story
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New England Journal of Medicine. One of the payment reforms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) concentrates on episode-based payment. Episode-based payment is different from a fee-for-service system because the costs for medical services delivered during defined episodes of care are bundled together. For example, a knee-replacement 'episode' would start days before surgery and end a month after discharge, grouping all of the costs from the hospital, physician and home-care into a single payment. This is an attempt to create efficiency and better care coordination. (Mechanic, 8/24) Full story
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American Medical News. Now that adults ages 19-26 are allowed to join their parent's health insurance plans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 600,000 have joined as of May. In 2010, 45% of this group couldn't afford the care they needed. With the expansion of this younger group of people able to seek care, some physician's are changing the way they reach out to their patients. (Cash, 8/8) Full story
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