20150414

Co-ops Come Up Empty (So Far)



Dear VIJAY PITHADIA:
Your April 2015 digital issue of Managed Care is available.

This issue contains:

Feature articles 

  • TRACKING PHARMACY'S MANY MOVES
    PBMs Play Strong Hand, Pull Strings
    Their ability to shape all aspects of the pharma marketplace keeps growing. Size and the specialty drug spend have turned them from mere middlemen to major players.
  • Just Saying No to Some Medications
    Over the past 18 months, formulary exclusion has gone from being a targeted tactic to a commonly used PBM weapon.
  • Q&A: Express Scripts's Steve Miller, MD
    He has been called "cost-fighting ninja" and someone pharma fears. He says he is just a concerned clinician worried about price and access.
  • Co-ops Come Up Empty (So Far)
    The second largest consumer-oriented-and-operated plan in the country dies, and more could follow. Some experts say that's what comes of trying to make something out of nothing. Proponents say there's still hope.
  • Free Lung Cancer Screening Lands
    Decisions by CMS and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force mean nearly universal coverage for low-dose CT scans. A new scoring system may help solve the problem of false positives.
  • ORIGINAL RESEARCH
    Not Losing Sleep Over the Price
    Patients are willing to pay nearly $67 for a product that improves sleep onset latency by 10 minutes, reduces wake time after sleep onset by 15 minutes, and improves total sleep time by an hour.
Call for papers
Managed Care encourages the submission of original manuscripts. Please review our revised Instructions for Authors.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Managed Care. If you have comments about any of the articles, suggestions for future articles, or manuscripts, please send an e-mail to me atpwehrwein@medimedia.com.
Sincerely,
Peter Wehrwein, Editor
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