AMCP: The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

The first drugs for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) won't be approved until 2019 at the earliest, but with 16 million Americans affected and another 6 million to 10 million at high risk, the market could be expensive and it's worth keeping an eye on, said Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant for emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts.

As the use of e-prescribing expands, it will begin to encompass more than just writing an initial prescription to include many interactions between healthcare providers, according to Doug Hillblom, PharmD, president at Arena Healthcare, LLC.

The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) heavily relies on member organizations throughout the development and implementation of new quality measures, explained Matthew Pickering, PharmD, RPh, associate director of research and quality strategies at PQA.

Richard J. Willke, PhD, chief science officer of ISPOR, previews the discussions at the ISPOR 22nd Annual International Meeting, which will be held May 20-24 in Boston, Massachusetts, including topics on the future of health policy in the United States and social networking interventions.

Real-world results for hepatitis C drugs have been very closely aligned to the clinical trial outcomes, which is likely due to a combination of factors, such as the effectiveness of the agents and better knowledge of using direct-acting antivirals, according to Gail Bridges, PharmD, of Accredo Health.

The market for tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder affecting 500,000 patients in the United States, will go from zero approved treatments to 2 in 2017, making it an important area to watch, said Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant for emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts.

With a new administration in the White House and the issue of repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act not completely addressed, managed care pharmacists should feel heartened to know their voices and concerns are being heard, said Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE, CEO of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy.

Panelists, during a session on value and value-based reimbursement at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting, held March 27-30 in Denver, Colorado, discussed the benefits and challenges of value-based contracting and the current and evolving use of value frameworks.

Since the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare never made it to a vote, insurers are still very uncertain about the future of healthcare. At this time it is unclear whether Republicans plan to shore up the law or actively undermine it.

Richard Mullvain, RPh, BCPS (AQC), CCCC, a cardiovascular clinical pharmacist and expert in cardiovascular care at the Essentia Health Heart & Vascular Center in Duluth, Minnesota, delivered a focused clinical review on the topic of the PCSK9 inhibitor Repatha (evolocumab), and its impact on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).

At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Kevin C. Maki, PhD, CLS, FNLA, FTOS, FACN, of Midwest Biomedical Research/Center for Metabolic and Cardiovascular Health in Chicago, Illinois, discussed methods of quantifying treatment effects in cardiovascular outcomes trials.

Rates of e-prescribing access is higher among pharmacists than physicians, which is partly due to older physicians at the end of their career who find implementing the system cost prohibitive, explained Doug Hillblom, PharmD, president at Arena Healthcare, LLC.

During an industry workshop at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, Cliff Goodman, PhD, of the Lewin Group, moderated a session that provided a health economic case study on cardiovascular outcome data for Repatha (evolocumab), the PCSK9 inhibitor from Amgen.

New targeted therapies reduce waste and identify patients that will benefit most, but their high price tags have left the healthcare industry scrambling to figure out how to pay for these treatments and cures.

The creation and implementation of a new quality measure is a long process that includes considering other measures on the market, actually developing the measure and, ultimately, testing its scientific acceptability, explained Matthew Pickering, PharmD, RPh, associate director of research and quality strategies at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance.

In a session covering the future of the business of healthcare in the United States, Kevin Grabenstatter, managing director for L.E.K. Consulting, asserted that healthcare is an unsustainably big business, which means that change is coming.

There is a trend of making value-based deals to pay for treatments in order to ensure the drug works as advertised while also protecting payers from financial risk, explained Richard J. Willke, PhD, chief science officer of ISPOR.

Liz Zhou, MD, director of evidence-based medicine at Sanofi Medical Affairs outlined the purpose of a study on real-world results of comparing basal insulin dose changes in type 2 diabetes patients using Lantus who either stay on Lantus or switch to Toujeo.

Value frameworks are one tool that can be used to inform the formulary decision-making process, but transparency in the development of these frameworks is important, said Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE, CEO of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP).

The move away from fee-for-service has driven some health plans to embrace value-based care contracts and accountable care organizations. During a session at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting, held March 27-30, 2017, in Denver, Colorado, panelists outlined how the marketplace has evolved.

The first drug to treat primary progressive multiple sclerosis and a new drug approved for atopic dermatitis are the 2017 approvals most exciting to Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, of Express Scripts.

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting kicked off on March 28, 2017, in Denver, Colorado, with a look at the specialty pharmaceutical pipeline with Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant for emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts.

Researchers set out to analyze the clinical outcomes in a real-world clinical setting of patients with T2D who switched to Toujeo from another basal insulin.

At the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting, Jenny Sung, PharmD, MS, MBA, associate vice president of evidence-based medicine research at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, discussed a poster being presented on the safety, efficacy, and economic benefit of Toujeo.

Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapies at Express Scripts, outlined the 2 pipeline drugs she is keeping a close eye on in 2016: both are breakthrough therapies and one could have a significant impact on the market.

The current reactive healthcare system is driving digital health innovations, Yoona Kim, PharmD, PhD, head of clinical modeling and analytics with Proteus Digital Health, said at the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016.

Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic in the US and a chronic brain disease, but it is not treated the way other chronic conditions are, said Kelly J. Clark, MD, MBA, president elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

The drug abuse epidemic in the US has placed attention on opioids and panelists during a session at the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016 discussed the current state of treatment for opioid addiction and future changes that may be on the way.

As healthcare moves to value-based arrangements and delivery models like accountable care organizations (ACOs), the benefit of incorporating a pharmacist can be overlooked. Tina Joseph, PharmD, BCACP, and Reena Jones, PharmD, CPh, both from Nova Southeastern University, outlined how pharmacists can be integrated into ACOs in order to improve care and patient satisfaction, while reducing cost.

AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016 kicked off by delving into the near-term specialty pharmaceutical pipeline with Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapies at Express Scripts.