Comments for Enabling Healthy Decisions

Comment on 2/3rds of Pharmacy Spend to be in Specialty by 2016 by Hitesh

Hitesh — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:27:42 +0000

Just a point of clarification. This appears to be for the top 10 categories, not the total pharmacy drug spend.

Comment on Good Mobile Health Quote From Intel by Are mobile health apps the future of medicine ? | World of DTC Marketing.com

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:17:50 +0000

[...] Good Mobile Health Quote From Intel (georgevanantwerp.com) [...]

Comment on What’s Next For The PBM Industry? by Jim Fields RPh

Jim Fields RPh — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:02:12 +0000

George Van Antwerp states that he has “seen Walgreens become a lot closer to the independent pharmacies”; my question to Mr. Van Antwerp is why has Walgreens become closer to Independent Pharmacist? Possible answers are 1) To help Walgreens to the vast extent 2) to help the Independents to the vast extent or3) to help both equally.
This move to middle ground (independent pharmacist) by Walgreens was brought on by their battle with Express*Scripts.
My thought process tells me that all business moves being made by Walgreen’s top executives today and in the not so near future are solely to position their company in such a manner that never again can a PBM exclude them from a contract without doing substantial harm to the PBM involved.
Walgreens as a stand-alone chain is not big enough to inflict such harm, the other major chains refused to collaborate with Walgreen against Express, most likely in hopes of gaining some WAG market share for themselves.

This leaves only the Independents as possible WAG ally to create this network monster that a PBM could not kick out without harming the PBM itself.

HOW does a mortal enemy of Independent Pharmacist create a non-threatening image to try and induce enough independent pharmacists to join a Walgreen’s network to prevent an Express Script lock out of WAG in the future?

RxAlly and Bruce Roberts are their attempt, using Disease management and MTM as bait where effective and Rx distribution when that is an effective bait.
No terms, no dollars, no business structure, no hierarchy delineated, no spatial relationship defined between WAG and the independents, no business model of any ilk, only a vague promise to sign with Rxally and Walgreens and these principles will take care of us, the independents later.

Walgreen and RxAlly are being a bit hypocritical. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that “the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.” By this standard, the folks at Walgreen must be geniuses. Walgreen complains that MC “limits patient choice.” Hmmm, doesn’t Walgreen’s arrangement with Caterpillar also use a preferred pharmacy network model? And what about the rumored direct-to-payer deal with Delta?

Do you anticipate that WAG and Rxally will open these accounts to independents if we join their network and if we are allowed to join what will be we paid for Rx distribution and MTM services and who decides these rates WAG, RxAlly, or the independents?

As far as Walgreens and RxAlly Choices of PBMs I think the following excerpt from a recent walgreen interview sums that up.

“Has this experience with Express Scripts changed the way you interact and contract with PBMs and have any PBMs stepped up to work more strategically with you to create a differentiated offering to take advantage of this disruption during the 2012 selling season”?

Walgreens states “I think it has helped us tremendously in terms of building closer relationships with other PBMs and payers and we’re moving forward with partners such as Catalyst Rx, Prime Therapeutics and SXC Health Solutions, and health plans such as Coventry and Humana.” Do independent pharmacist see this list as pharmcy friendly, I think not.
Jim Fields CFO ApproRx

Comment on My PCMA Presentation On Copay Cards by Matt Martin

Matt Martin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:20:20 +0000

George, I appreciate the interesting read. Can you elaborate on, “Cost is a large issue in non-adherence. It’s an issue but not the dominant issue.”? I’m only 1 person but I’ve reduced taking my meds as prescribed because of the cost. It’s just too much!

Comment on Will Evidence-Based Medicine Become Reality? by tex Avery

tex Avery — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:56:01 +0000

it is very important to realize that the best approach for the patient is not necessary the cheapest,. A lot of tests currently performed might not be necessary or not proven to be useful but this approach could also proof that more expensive tests could be better. So sure, it is the right approach for the patient but maybe not for our wallet.

Also remember that we are dealing with human values and not statistics, 6 months of great life is it better than 2 years in agonizing pain or saving the life of 60% of patient is it better than extending the life of 10 years of 80% of the patient?

this is just one part of the equation, the reduction of the number of tests, not the reduction of their individual cost.

Comment on Infographic: Decoding Your Medical Bills by julie

julie — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:32:10 +0000

George…very interesting. I havent seen information presented like this.

Comment on Infographic: Decoding Your Medical Bills by susan

susan — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:22:05 +0000

Great article!

Comment on Some Facts On Palliative Care by Andrew from LPN programs

Andrew from LPN programs — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:11:45 +0000

This is a great idea and the fact that more than 100 M people all over the would benefit from palliative care annually, it should be considered being implemented in more places to enable easier access. Some patients are in most cases left emotionally unstable especially in the case of chronic diseases. Being able to address physical, emotional, spiritual, and social concerns that arise with advanced illness might even increase the life span of some patients under the palliative care units. The other interesting fact about this service is that it is way much cheaper and therefore it will benefit most people all over the world.

Comment on Took A New Job With inVentiv Medical Management by Laura Cordera, Healthcare Professional Group

Laura Cordera, Healthcare Professional Group — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:10:11 +0000

Hi George,

Congratulations! What is your new contact info at Inventiv Medical Management (phone/email). I have heard of a lot of good people being over there…wishing you much success!

Comment on My PBMI Presentation On The PBM Industry by George Van Antwerp

George Van Antwerp — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:35:06 +0000

The reality is that the data is not clear on copay card impact. Use of copay cards started to ramp up in 2009. Since then, 3rd tier utilization has gone down and generic utilization has gone up. Overall, they are supposed to generate a 4:1-6:1 ROI, but talking with several people, they could all quote examples where the copay card program offered no ROI to the manufacturer.