AJMC's Dr Fendrick Elected to Institute of Medicine

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced yesterday that A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co-editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Managed Care and a national leader in efforts to reform healthcare reimbursement strategies, is among 70 new members elected to the prestigious body.

Dr Fendrick is a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a professor of health management and policy at its School of Public Health. He is also the director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design, which performs research and evaluation projects on the relationships among payment to clinicians, the cost and quality of healthcare, and consumer engagement initiatives that affect access to care.

Central to Dr Fendrick’s work is the concept of aligning payment incentives with better clinical outcomes for patients, which is a marked departure from initiatives of the 1990s wave of managed care, which sought to hold down costs by shifting risk or limiting access to care. Dr Fendrick’s research informed the development of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). He has fostered collaborations for such plans with government agencies, health plans, professional societies and healthcare companies, as well as state-level legislative reforms.

Recently, Dr Fendrick co-authored an editorial in The American Journal of Managed Care with Gerry Oster, PhD, that outlined a disturbing trend in pharmacy benefits management, in which generic drugs are being placed into “preferred” and “non-preferred” tiers, sometimes based on price alone. A survey of plans found that even staples like metformin, the standard first-line therapy for type 2 diabetes, are not off-limits from “non-preferred” status and higher co-payments for consumers. As the authors noted, such pricing strategies penalize consumers simply for having a chronic condition, not for selecting a high-cost method of treatment. The commentary received widespread attention, including coverage in The New York Times.

Established in 1970, the IOM is recognized as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on health issues. Election to the IOM requires outstanding professional achievement and a commitment to public service, and is considered one of the highest honors for those in the fields of healthcare and medicine.

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