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AMAZON: Launches “RxPass” Generic Drug Subscription Program

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Dr. Marcinko

PRIME MEMBERSHIP

By Staff Reporters

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Yesterday, Amazon announced the launch of RxPass: an add-on to Prime memberships that provides subscribers with access to 50 generic prescription drugs for a $5 monthly fee.

RxPass will launch immediately in most states (though not California and Texas, the most populous ones) and include generic drugs that treat common conditions like high blood pressure, anxiety, acid reflux, and hair loss. About 150 million US residents have a prescription for one of the drugs included in RxPass, according to Amazon.

But the service is not available to people on Medicare or Medicaid, and it doesn’t offer insulin.

RxPass is Amazon’s answer to the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (which offers significantly more medications—1,100 of them) and is likely part of an effort to attract more users to Amazon Pharmacy. Amazon Pharmacy could use the boost—it launched in 2020 but ranked at the bottom of a list of which Prime perks drew members to the service, a Morgan Stanley survey found last summer.

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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Breaking News, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Health Insurance | Tagged: Amazon, Amazon Pharmacy, Amazon Prime, AMAZON: Launches "RxPass" Generic Drug Subscription Programs, Mark Cuban, pharmacy, RxPass | Leave a comment »

ELIXIR: Rite Aid’s New PBM [mail order pharmacy]

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Dr. Marcinko

By Staff Reporters

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When Rite Aid dropped roughly $2 billion in 2015 to buy its pharmacy benefit management (PBM) subsidiary now known as Elixir, the company had framed the investment as a strategic move to compete in the healthcare marketplace among rivals like CVS and Walgreens.

The deal quickly helped make Rite Aid $4.1 billion in its newly formed pharmacy services segment—including Elixir and other pharmacy services, according to the company—bolstering its financial standing the next fiscal year. Maybe it would no longer be the ugly duckling next to the cooler, sleeker swans.

It seemed to be working—for a while at least. But by 2018, analysts were recommending Rite Aid sell off Elixir to reduce the parent company’s debt. Still, Rite Aid stuck with Elixir in hopes of boosting its competitiveness in the retail pharmacy scene.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

This year, Rite Aid President and CEO Heyward Donigan was still painting a rosy picture of Elixir, saying in earnings calls that the PBM was gaining more members and Elixir’s operating margins were improving.

But a month after its latest earnings call in September, Rite Aid was hit with a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of making “false and/or misleading statements” to investors about Elixir’s status between April and September of this year.

READ: https://www.healthcare-brew.com/stories/2022/12/09/rite-aid-faces-a-class-action-lawsuit-over-its-pharmacy-benefits-subsidiary

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ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Health-Information-Technology-Security/dp/0826149952/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254413315&sr=1-5

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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", "Doctors Only", Drugs and Pharma, Health Insurance, Health Law & Policy, Healthcare Finance | Tagged: Elixir, mail order pharmacy, order, PBM, pharmacy, Pharmacy Benefits Managers, Rite Aid, Rite Aid's PBM | Leave a comment »

PHARMACIES: Consumer Centric in the Future?

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Dr. Marcinko

By Staff Reporters

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Rina Shah has been working at Walgreens her entire career—close to 25 years—but this year she got a shiny new title: vice president of pharmacy of the future. The role was created as part of what CEO Rosalind Brewer said in Walgreens’ latest earnings call is the company’s top priority: creating a consumer-centric healthcare company. The retail pharmacy giant essentially wants to free up its pharmacists’ time so they can go from filling prescriptions all day to engaging more directly with patients.

Shah is heading up these efforts, and she sat down with Neal Feyman to talk about what Walgreens sees when it pictures the pharmacy of the future.

What does “the pharmacy of the future” mean? When we talk about the future of pharmacy, it’s to leverage our pharmacists in a much more data-driven, effective way to lower costs in the system.

For example, in certain states where there’s higher pollen counts and pollution, we’re seeing higher emergency room visits because of asthma. We can educate people on the difference between a rescue inhaler and a maintenance inhaler—and how they can understand triggers—and ultimately impact lower emergency room visits because of that.

What problems are you trying to solve in this role? Prior to the pandemic hitting, we had been asked by providers and payers and other organizations for our pharmacists to do more. We were being asked to provide testing services and in-depth consultations with patients.

However, our operating model didn’t really account for that. Our pharmacists were busy doing many more administrative tasks. We made the decision that we needed to transform the model, which meant really freeing up the capacity of our pharmacists so they could spend time with patients delivering care, as it’s always intended to be. Keep reading here.—NF

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ORDER: https://www.routledge.com/Comprehensive-Financial-Planning-Strategies-for-Doctors-and-Advisors-Best/Marcinko-Hetico/p/book/9781482240283

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Filed under: "Doctors Only", Alternative Investments, Career Development, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Experts Invited | Tagged: Consumer Centric, future, Neal Freyman, pharmacies, pharmacy, pharmacy future | Leave a comment »

PHARMA: Will Americans Finally See Drug Prices Decrease?

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Dr. Marcinko

By Health Capital Consultants, LLC

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According to the White House, “Americans pay two to three times as much as people in other countries for prescription drugs, and one in four Americans who take prescription drugs struggle to afford their medications. Nearly 3 in 10 American adults who take prescription drugs say that they have skipped doses, cut pills in half, or not filled prescriptions due to cost.” In an effort to combat this growing crisis, both the federal government and private companies have taken a number of steps over the past year aiming to lower drug prices. This Health Capital Topics article will review those actions and the potential unintended consequences of these actions.

(Read more…)

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CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/Hospitals-Healthcare-Organizations-Management-Operational/dp/1439879907/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334193619&sr=1-4

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Filed under: "Doctors Only", Drugs and Pharma, Experts Invited, Glossary Terms, Health Economics, Health Insurance | Tagged: drug prices, Drugs, Health Capital Consultants LLC, PBM, pharma, pharmacy, Pharmacy Benefits Managers, Will Americans Finally See Drug Prices Decrease? | Leave a comment »

PODCAST: How Prescription Drug Coverage Really Works

Posted on March 20, 2022 by Dr. Marcinko

By Eric Bricker MD

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DICTIONARY HEALTH INSURANCE: https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Health-Insurance-Managed-Care/dp/0826149944/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275315485&sr=1-4

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Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Experts Invited, Health Economics, Health Insurance | Tagged: drug rebates, Drugs, Formulary, Health Insurance, PBMs, pharmacy, Pharmacy Benefits Managers, prescription drugs, tier one drugs, tier two drugs | Leave a comment »

56% of Patients Attempted to Stretch Out a Prescription

Posted on February 22, 2022 by Dr. Marcinko

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By Staff Reporters

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56% of Patients Attempted to Stretch Out a Prescription According tot a Recent CoverMyMeds Survey of 1,000 patients. It found:

• 79% of patients said they’ve gone to the pharmacy only to discover a prescription cost more than they expected.
• When faced with an affordability challenge, 56% of patients attempted to stretch out a prescription.
• When faced with an affordability challenge, 52% of patients skipped bills or other essential items to afford medications.
• When faced with an affordability challenge, 51% of patients sacrificed medications to pay bills and other essentials.

Source: CoverMyMeds, “2022 Medication Access Data Guide,” February 2022

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CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

Rx Podcast: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2022/02/20/podcast-how-to-write-a-medical-prescription-rx/

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Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Health Economics, Health Insurance | Tagged: CoverMyMeds, MCOL, medical bills, medication bills, medications, pay medical bills, pharmacy, prescribed drugs, prescriptions, Rx | Leave a comment »

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on 340B Drug Pricing Cuts

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Dr. Marcinko

BY HEALTH CAPITAL CONSULTANTS, LLC

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Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on 340B Cuts

On November 30, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the challenges arising from the cuts made by the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to the 340B Drug Pricing Program.

The 340B Drug Pricing Program allows hospitals and clinics that treat low-income, medically underserved patients to purchase certain “specified covered outpatient drugs” at discounted prices (applying a ceiling to what drug manufacturers may charge certain healthcare facilities) – 25% to 50% of what providers would typically pay – and then receive reimbursement pursuant to the rates set forth in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) at the same rate as all other providers. (Read more…)

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HEALTH ECONOMICS CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

PODCAST: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2021/08/27/podcast-hospital-340-b-drug-programs/

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Filed under: Accounting, Breaking News, Drugs and Pharma, Experts Invited, Videos | Tagged: 340-B Drug Program, Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services, CMS, CMS drug pricing program, Drugs, Health Capital Consultants LLC, Health Economics, OPPS, Outpatient Prospective Payment System, pharma, pharmacy | Leave a comment »

PODCASTS: How Prescription [Rx] Coverage Works

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Dr. Marcinko

Formulary Tiers, PBM, Rebates, Spread-Pricing Explained

By Dr. Eric Bricker MD

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CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/082610254

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Filed under: Drugs and Pharma, Experts Invited, Funding Basics, Glossary Terms, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Practice Management, Videos | Tagged: Anthem, Caremark, Cigna, CVs, DEA, drug rebates, drug tiers, Drugs, Eric Bricker MD, Express Scripts, Formulary, Health Insurance, medications, Optum, PBM, PBMs, pharmacy, prescription coverage, Rx, spread drug pricing, UHC, United Health Care | Leave a comment »

PHARMACISTS: Leaving this Public Health Workforce

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Dr. Marcinko

By NIHCM Foundation

This infographic takes a close look at the pharmacist workforce and its role in the COVID-19 response.

Pharmacists are trusted and accessible, with 90% of Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy. They are well-positioned to address vaccine hesitancy and ensure equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution and access. Leveraging and supporting pharmacists could help address public health priorities both during and after the corona virus pandemic.

Hello Psychologist Career Counselling Centre - 9369160546 ...

LINK: https://nihcm.org/publications/pharmacist-infographic

OPIOID CRISIS RISING: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2019/08/22/the-opioid-crisis-rising-2000-2017/

OPIOID CRISIS COSTS: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2019/10/20/the-opioid-epidemic-cost-distribution/

OPIOID CRISIS PODCAST: https://freemanbeyondthewall.libsyn.com/episode-169-the-opioid-crisis

Your thoughts are appreciated.

THANK YOU

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Filed under: Drugs and Pharma | Tagged: NIHCM, pharmacists, Pharmacists leaving workforce, pharmacy, public health | 2 Comments »

An Economic Picture of Domestic Healthcare Spending

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Dr. Marcinko

By the Numbers

The healthcare component of the U.S. economy continues to expand, with per-capita spending projected to reach $13,000 by 2020. But, at the same, the industry continues to create jobs: 10 of the fastest-growing occupations are in healthcare-related fields.

Driver of the Economy

As one of the largest segments of the US economy, health care accounts for trillions of dollars in spending, both by governments and private individuals. And so, Top Masters in Healthcare decided to take a closer look at where the money goes in this infographic

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[The Calculus]

Billing Department

So who does the spending?

21% of healthcare spending is done by private businesses
28% of healthcare spending is done by individual households
16% of healthcare spending is done by state and local governments
29% of healthcare spending is done by the Federal government

Where did the spending go?

37% of healthcare spending went towards hospital care
23.6% of healthcare spending went towards physician and clinical services
5.9% of healthcare spending went towards other residential / health / personal care services
4.9% was spent on dental services
3.3% was spent on home health care
3.2% was spent on “other” professional services

Per capita spending

Between 1960 and 2011, per capita health care spending rose by about 5,400 percent from $147 in 1960 to $8,311 in 2011. If other prices rose like that, here’s what it might look like today:

Family Dinner: $176.58
Tube of Toothpaste: $13.50
Volkswagen Beetle: $95,526
Gallon of gas: $13.50
Average income: $287,010
Electric can opener: $479.52

Emergency Department

The top 5 causes of death are heart disease (24.5%) cancer (23.3%) chronic lower respiratory diseases (5.6%) stroke (5.3%) accidents (4.8%) Alzheimer’s disease (3.2%).

Cardiology

470,000 is the number of people who have a second or subsequent heart attack
785,000 is the annual estimate of the number of people who have their first heart attack
$444 billion is the cost of heart disease, from health care services to medications to lost job productivity

Oncology

One in two men will get cancer during their lifetimes
One in three women will get cancer in their lifetimes
$226 billion is the annual cost of cancer, including treatment and lost income

Ongoing Care

Nearly 1 billion annual physician visits per year. If you had a doctor visit every minute of every day, it would take 1,902 years to have that many trips.
One out of 2 adults has a chronic illness
Seven out of every ten deaths are a result of a chronic illness

Obesity

The heaviest states by obesity rate are Mississippi (34.4%) West Virginia (32.2%) Alabama (32.3%) Tennessee (31.9%) and Louisiana (31.6%)
The lightest states by obesity rate are Hawaii (23.1%) Massachusetts (22.3%) Connecticut (21.8%) District of Columbia (21.7%) and Colorado (19.8%)

Diabetes

Diabetes can lead to a slew of other serious health problems including neverous system diseases, blindness and eye problems, heart disease and stroke, kidney disease and hypertension.
25.8 million people are current affected by diabetes, 8.3% of the population.
35% of people older than 20 have pre-diabetes
$174 billion is the total cost of treating and ealing with diabetes each year

Personnel Department

Healthcare provided 14.3 million jobs in 2008. And that number is only going to grow. In fact, health care is expected to be the single fastest-growing sector of the US economy through 2018.
Ten of the twenty fastest growing occupations are in healthcare related fields.
4.01 million new jobs are expected to be created in the health care industry by 2018. Compare that to 2.67 million in science/engineering, 1.68 million in education, 1.43 million in administration support and waste management and 1.3 million in construction.
Healthcare professionals earned a combined $886 billion in total salaries in 2010

IT Department

As our world becomes more connected by technology, doctors and patients are increasingly using the Internet and data storage.
57% of doctor’s offices use electronic medical records.
6 out of 10 adults have looked up health information online.

Pharmacy Department

Almost half of Americans take at least one prescription drug.
$35.22 is the average price of a brand name drug which is almost 4x as much as the generic price.
Spending on prescription drugs has gone from $40.3 billion in 1990 to $259 billion in 2010 and is expected to grow to $457.8 billion by 2019.
The cost to bring a new drug to market is between $55 million and $1 billion
The cost of patented drugs in the United States is 35-55% higher than other industrialized nations
80% of FDA approved drugs have a generic counterpart
Only 23% of doctor visits don’t include a prescription.

Assessment

The impact of the healthcare industry on everyday Americans continues to grow, whether they see it in their insurance bill or whether they earn their salaries from the health care industry. The issue also continues to dominate the political conversation… there’s no escaping it.

Conclusion

Your thoughts and comments on this ME-P are appreciated. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

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Filed under: Health Economics | Tagged: An Economic Picture of Domestic Health, cardiology, diabetes, emergency department, healthcare spending, obesity, Oncology, pharmacy | 4 Comments »

Events-Planner: April 2009

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Dr. Marcinko

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Events-Planner: APRIL 2009

Staff Writers

“Keeping track of important health economics and financial industry meetings, conferences and summits”

Welcome to this issue of the Medical Executive-Post and our Events-Planner. It contains the latest information on conferences, news, and relevant resources in healthcare finance, economics, research and development, business management, pharmaceutical pricing, and physician/entity reimbursement! Watch for a new Events-Planner each month.

First, a little about us! The Executive-Post is still a newcomer. But today, we have almost 15,000 visitors and readers each month from all over the country, in addition to our growing subscriber base. We have been a successful collaborative effort, thanks to your contributions. As a result, we are adding new resources daily. And, we hope the website continues to provide the best place to go for journals, books, conferences, educational resources, tools, and other things you need to establish the value your healthcare consulting and financial advisory intervention. And so, enjoy the Executive-Post and our monthly Events-Planner with our compliments.

A Look Ahead this Month

April 1: Print Edition Healthcare Journalism: If you would like to “step-up-your-game” and be considered as a peer-reviewed contributor to the third print edition of: The Business of Medical Practice [Advanced Profit Maximizing Techniques for Savvy Doctors]; contact Ann at: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com. There are several chapter topics still available. Now, the important dates:

April 1-3: Adv. Modeling Methods for Health Economic Evaluation, York, UK.

April 4-8: HIMSS Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.

April 6: Premier Forum on Medication Therapy Management and Patient Compliance Programs. CBI; Las Vegas, NV

April 7: FINRA Small Conference Series, New York, NY.

April 14: World health Care Congress; Washington, DC.

April 15-16: Tiburon CEO Summit, Ritz Carlton, New York, NY.

April 15-18: Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s 21st Annual Meeting and Showcase, Orlando, FL.

April 16-18: TIPAAA Annual Conference, Marriott River Center, San Antonio, TX.

April 20-24: Health Economics of Pharmaceuticals and Other Medical Interventions. Nice (Cannes) France.

April 21-22: Market Access Strategies for Personalized Medicines and Companion Diagnostics, Brussels, Belgium.

April 21-23: Introduction to Applied Health Economics: Methods for analysis of healthcare utilization and expenditure, University of York.
April 23-25: AIP Conference on Philanthropy, Rosemont, Ill.

April 25-29: Society for Pain Practice Management Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.

April 26-29: Wound Healing Society Symposium, Dallas, TX.

Apr 27-28: 8th Annual Forum on Patient Compliance, Adherence and Persistency, Philadelphia, PA.

April 27-29: Workshop on Health Technology Assessment From Theory to Evidence to Policy, Toronto, CANADA.

April 28-May 1: Pharma Pricing and Market Access Outlook Europe, 2009, London.

April 29-May 2: American Geriatric Society Meeting, Chicago, IL.

Please send in your meetings and dates for listing in the next issue of our Events-Planner.

MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com or Bio: www.stpub.com/pubs/authors/MARCINKO.htm

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Filed under: "Advisors Only", "Doctors Only", Breaking News, Career Development, Marketing & Advertising, Sponsors | Tagged: david marcinko, Events-Planner, FINRA, geriatric, Health Economics, health meetings, HIMSS, Managed Care, pharmacy, Tiburon, wounds | Leave a comment »

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[The Calculus]

Billing Department

Emergency Department

Cardiology

Oncology

Ongoing Care

Obesity

Diabetes

Personnel Department

IT Department

Pharmacy Department

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