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Upcoming Events featuring
National CooperativeRx
Health Care Administrators Association
Anaheim, CA
July 10-12, 2013
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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National CooperativeRx Manages Specialty Drug Spend Better than Industry Average in 2012 (part 2)
As we discussed in last week's newsletter ( available here) National CooperativeRx is succeeding in helping members manage their pharmaceutical investments better than the industry average. The National CooperativeRx business model encourages plan sponsor engagement and active management of pharmaceutical investments; the average 7 year over-all trend is negative (-.33%). The influence of specialty drugs on a plan sponsor's over-all trend is becoming greater each year. The trend forecast for specialty medications over the next 3 years is in the range of 15-28%. While specialty medications are only used by about 1% of a population, they represent nearly 20% of the pharmacy drug spend.
National CooperativeRx promotes a multi-pronged approach for the management of specialty and helps members with sound recommendations and mitigating costs for clinical programs. Some methods the cooperative helps members put into play include:
- Limit of one fill or 30 day's supply per month
- Specialty cost share tier
- Evidence-based guidelines (Specialty Guideline Management)
- Exclusive provider arrangement (CVS Caremark Specialty)
- Step therapy (Specialty Preferred Drug Plan Design)
If you do not recall what your plan is currently doing or to find out what else could be done to manage specialty, contact your Strategic Account Executive here at the coalition. Christopher Schanz can be reached at 608-204-7722 or cschanz@nationalcooperativerx.com.
Thank you for being a member of the cooperative.
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Wall Street Journal. The US government began funding the Human Genome Project in 1988, and has put $14.5B into funding it. The Project has in turn generated $965B in direct and indirect economic output from 1988 to 2012. It has also led to 4,850 diseases or health conditions with an identified cause linked to genes. (Naik, 6/12) Full Story
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HealthDay. A less-invasive test for the presence of colon cancer is showing promise. A blood test that looks for levels of miR-21 (DNA known as microRNA) has proven to diagnose colon cancer with 92% accuracy and to diagnose colon polyps with 82% accuracy. More than 102K Americans will be diagnosed with colon cancer this year, and 51K will die from it. (6/19) Full Story
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HealthDay. Since the HPV vaccine's approval in 2006, the rate of new infections with strains of HPV targeted by the vaccine have dropped 56% among females 14-19. About 19K cases of cancer occur in women each year due to HPV, and 8K cases of cancer occur in men due to the disease. (Thompson, 6/19) Full Story
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CNN. A new breakthrough drug for people with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) may be close to market. About 15K Americans are diagnosed with the blood and bone marrow cancer each year. The drug, ibrutinib, appears to slow or halt tumor growth while also having fewer side effects than chemotherapy. (Sifferlin, 6/20) Full Story
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Time. A new study has linked prenatal exposure to pollution with an increased risk of autism. The national study found that kids with autism were two to three times more likely than other kids to have been exposed to car exhaust, smog and other air pollutants early on. (Sifferlin, 6/18) Full Story
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Kaiser Health News. The U.S. spends $200B each year (8% of US health care) on medical care stemming from improper or unnecessary use of prescription drugs. Medical costs are driven up by patients who don't get the right medications or fail to take their drugs, the misuse of antibiotics, medication errors and inadequate oversight when patients take multiple drugs. (Appleby, 6/19) Full Story
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