AMCP Nexus 2022 to Address Evolving Value-Based Frameworks, Shared Decision-Making

AMCP Nexus 2022, the annual fall meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, will convene this week in National Harbor, Maryland.

The meeting kicks off with a keynote address by former commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department, Leana Wen, MD, MSc. Wen is the author of 2 books, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health, and When Doctors Don't Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unneccessary Tests.

The opening proceedings will then focus on current and future trends in pharmacotherapy access and formulary management, including sessions on prescription digital therapeutics and HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). State and federal health policy updates will also be discussed throughout the meeting, with managed care insights provided on topics such as the selection and integration of value-based payment models, prior authorization and price cost transparency, and the evolving US biosimilars landscape.

AMCP Talks also makes its return, with this year’s series of presentations centering on best practices to address health disparities. Managed care stakeholders from Humana, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance will all speak during the interactive panel discussion.

Further strategies to improve ongoing gaps in health care, particularly the utility of shared decision-making and patient engagement, will be featured during several sessions on Thursday:

• Christina Barrington, vice president of pharmacy programs at Priority Health, will take part in a panel discussion that will speak on key areas for managed care application of patient preferences in formulary management and benefit design
• Timothy Mok, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP, research analyst in Hematology Oncology Pharmacy, Kaiser Permanente, will be involved in a discussion on payer and patient advocate perspectives on improving utilization of oncology biosimilars
• A novel session led by Tam C. Phan, PharmD, assistant profressor of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, will review considerations for managed care pharmacists regarding health disparities and care needs for transgender and gender non-binary individuals
• An AMCP partner session will review payer, provider, patient, and policy analyst perspectives on tackling racial disparities in breast cancer

Along with the regular session, “Specialty Pharmaceuticals in Development,” from Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, of Express Scripts, the last panel discussion on the final day of the meeting will provide an oncology-specific update on therapeutics, newly approved or currently in late-stage development, for solid and hematologic malignancies.

Bhavesh Shah, RPh, BCOP, chief pharmacy officer for Specialty and Hematology Pharmacy at Boston Medical Center (BMC), will lead the session, “Oncology Pipeline 2022: Spotlight on Trends and Agents To Watch,” with Kaelyn Boss, PharmD, clinical consultant pharmacist, Commonwealth Medicine University of Massachusetts Medical School, with added insight provided on the impact these drugs will have on current standard of care and benefit formularies in cancer care.