Benefits Think Will specialty drug pricing be the straw?
The possibility of specialty drug pricing financially overwhelming business and union health plans is very real.
Brian Klepper
Worksite Health Advisors
Pharmacy benefits
Benefits Think The secret weapons every payer should use to fight rising drug costs
Is your PBM contract up for renewal? Heres what you need to know.
CVS to buy Omnicare in pharmacy expansion deal
CVS Health Corp., the biggest U.S. retailer of prescription drugs, agreed to acquire nursing-home pharmacy Omnicare Inc. for a total enterprise value of $12.7 billion.
Feds release detailed guidance on birth control coverage
A new FAQ from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury offers quite prescriptive guidance on the types of contraceptives plans must offer and pay for, and to whom they must be offered.
Opioid abuse costing U.S. employers billions
Finding ways to deter painkiller abuse has been a high priority for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent years. And with opioid abuse costing U.S. businesses close to $26 billion a year, health plan sponsors should take note as well.
UnitedHealthcare opens up telehealth coverage options
As technology and health care become more intertwined, a visit to the doctor can be as easy as a touch of an app. UnitedHealthcare Thursday announced an expansion of telehealth coverage options for virtual physician visits.
Plan design changes required to curb rising Rx drug prices
Prescription drug prices continue to rise in 2015, compelling employers and their advisers to take action through innovative plan designs.
Generic drugs beat explosive price trends in health plans
Generic pharmaceuticals have maintained their laggard status compared to branded and specialty drugs with respect to rising prices.
UHC acquisition of Catamaran may lead to lower PBM costs
UnitedHealth Groups $12.8 billion purchase of pharmacy benefit manager Catamaran Corp. continues a trend of PBM acquisitions, and theres more to come, industry consultants say. In the long term, that may mean lower costs and more data availability for employers.
UnitedHealth pays $13B for Catamarans drug clients
UnitedHealth Group Inc. agreed to buy Catamaran Corp. for about $12.8 billion, bulking up its drug-benefits business to get better negotiating power in talks with pharmaceutical companies over prices.
Biosimilars: What employers need to know
Novartis Zarxio is the first biosimilar product approved in the United States, ushering in a new era for the drug industry, consumers and third parties who manage medical and drug benefits.
Pharmacy benefits eating up bigger portion of health care budgets
The majority of employers spent 16% or more of their total health care budgets on pharmacy benefits last year, up from 71% in 2013.
Specialty drugs present challenges, opportunities for plan sponsors
Specialty drugs are costly for plan sponsors and employees. Can value-based insurance design deliver better cost and clinical outcomes?
How specialty drugs are changing the role of the benefit adviser
How high-cost specialty drugs are altering the duties of the benefit adviser and pharmacy benefit manager
Rite Aid to buy PBM EnvisionRx, boasts expansion of services for employers
Eight years after drugstore chain giant CVS bought PBM Caremark, Rite Aid followed suit yesterday in announcing plans to acquire EnvisionRx, a 14-year-old PBM with estimated 2015 revenue of $5 billion, and 21 million covered lives.
The high price tag of not taking an Rx, and how employers can help
Would saving an extra $200 billion in health care costs a year sound nice? No, its not another ploy to get rid of the ACA for once. Annually, between $100 billion and $289 billion is spent on hospital visits due to patients failing to adhere to their prescription medicines
Backend issues remain for Healthcare.gov, other health issues on horizon
Potential fixes to Affordable Care Act exchange enrollment and tweaks to the law itself are recommended by industry insiders at Washington panel.
5 questions keeping benefits pros up at night
From the launch of the exchanges to the outbreak of Ebola, 2014 brought a number of landmark events that remind us why it is such a fascinating time to work in health care.
Benefits Think Protecting your clients plan from generic drug inflation
Commentary: Why employers need benefit advisers more than ever to fight rising generic drug prices.
Benefits Think Expanded nurse practitioner reimbursements could lower health plan costs
U.S. policymakers have implemented major changes to the health insurance industry with the goal of improving the experiences and outcomes of patients. Yet there are still many health care consumers who express deep dissatisfaction with their plans
