- The problems with mandatory mail-order pharmacy
- Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)
- Promoting community pharmacies
- Educating America on the true source of double digit health insurance premium increases
You may submit your comments or read the comments of others by clicking on the link located in the box on the right labeled "Comments".
If you wish to review the "White Paper", you may do so by going to http://www.preservepharmacy.com/.
This blog is managed by Pharmacy Development Services (PDS) as a service to the independent community pharmacy industry, http://www.pharmacy-owners.com/
14 comments:
Dan, I am obviously biased; but I think this is a wonderful service to the industry and to America. I think your suggestion will inspire and educate many about the value of community pharmacy and the horrors of mandatory mail order pharmacy.
healthcare is a tangled web, the need to better educate the "consumers", whether patients or employers, needs to be ongoing....good job!
I am not sure how to blog but wanted to say great paper and i already sent it to my empire pharmacy group. i had a follow up idea how about creating a pbm that is not for profit and is transparent that then could be offered as an alternative ( just an idea no clue about feasability )
jeff hansen
smiths pharmacy
Dan, Someone had to take the lead on this egregious intrusion into community pharmacy by the PBM's. They have promulgated deceptive pricing strategies to employers, stolen profits from hard working pharmacists across America, and had the gall to "audit" us and take away all revenue in their power by implicating that we didn't uphold contractual requirements...holding us to the letter of the law! Poppycock!!! This is a brilliant strategy, and we at 1st America are "All In" with our support for this project. The old adage "You can't work ON your business while working IN your business certainly applies to most pharmacists. Your taking this lead with our followship can truly change the winds of war we have suffered. "Damn" the torpedoes, full steam ahead!
Jeff Sikes, Valdosta, GA
Dan, How can we get this ball rolling? Are you thinking of taking this to NCPA or doing it on our own? What can we do to help? Who can we contact?
There are alternatives to the big PBMs that we should have these corporations investigate. Certain pharmacy groups have already created PBAs (pharmacy benefit administrators) that are transparent and fair. One such program is through Pharmacy Providers of Oklahoma (www.ppok.com)
Many pharmacists are already individual shareholders in national corporations. How specifically should we propose investigation/change?
Dan: This is nothing short of brilliant! IF community pharmacy ever sticks together on an issue and does something in unison, THIS is it. Thank you for taking the lead on this and for your continual dedication to independent pharmacy.
Thanks for your lead, Dan. Your ideas are wonderful, and you are a superb example for community pharmacy. All pharmacists need to take your ideas and communicate them to local politicians, business leaders, and the public.
Thank you for your support.
The next step in the process has been completed. An educational video has been created and currently is being edited. We have named it:
Myths, Lies & Deception
The Truth Behind The High Cost Of Prescription Drugs.
As soon as the video is ready, everyone that signed the online petition will be notified.
Unfortunately, our numbers are merely hundreds right now, not thousands or tens of thousands. More than half are Pharmacy Development Services members. In order for this to have any chance of success, pharmacy has to overcome its own passive indifference. We need a mobilized network around the country to distribute the videos to CEO's and CFO's. The first step in the plan is education. You can't sue anyone for ignorance.
Once we have the word out, we'll identify a mid-level Fortune 500 company to target. We also need people with political connections to use their accessability to the candidates to share this information with them. If a candidate would have the courage to address the true cause of this health care problem, it may very well propel them right into the White House come November. Stop the rhetoric already and offer a real plan that will make a difference.
This has to be an industry wide effort. This is not a Dan Benamoz or Pharmacy Development Services initiative. This cause must be picked up by our industry leaders who must unite behind this plan if it has any chance of succeeding.
We need more people within our industry to show support for this plan. Please distribute the article to as many people as possible and strongly urge them to show their support at www.preservepharmacy.com
They also need to pass the article on and help us to build support. If this effort fails, I'm afraid that retail pharmacy will be in serious trouble.
Thanks again for your past and future support and efforts.
This is an excellent website, dedicated as it is to the information needs of an essential branch of pharmaceutical health, and of emerging importance to public health in general. As a layperson, I do have a suggestion that this website, or a companion version, be written so that the industrial and commercial terminology is defined in context, so that it is easier to understand by other laypeople. This hopefully might help communicate the message to a broader audience.
- Bill Cohen, Publisher
How do we find the "Drug Topics Magazine" of Human Resource Executives, CFOs and CEOs? I think an ad in those trade mags with the tag line "How to lower your PMPM's" or simply "Myths Lies and Deceptions from the PBMs". Once we find the "where" to place the ad, we find enough people/organizations to contribute to a fund to cover the ad space, DVD costs, and Riley's costs to go speak to these people once they see the DVD. I googled PBM and HR and came across a number of article where that SOB Merritt from PCMA is quoted. We need to get Riley's name to these people so they can get the other side of the story.
I work for a pharmacy services organization which is part of an integrated healthcare system. Because we could see what we were getting paid for our members' Rxs, as well as what our employer was paying for those claims, we discovered a very significant amount of spread that our employer was needlessly paying. We started our own transparent/pass through PBM and now market our services to self-insured employer groups throughout the country. We also point out to our clients that mail order is not a cost savings tool. We have a mail order program, only because some of our clients have insisted in the past, but we advocate our clients to use the retail network, and don't promote mail order pharmacy. It is not the way pharmacy should be practiced, and is more expensive to the plan than prescriptions at retail.
Dan
I just bought a pharmacy in February 2010 and am now seeing what I got myself into. 25% of my reimbursements are less than $3.00 per script. This may be a $3.00 med or a $300.00, the reimbursement is horrible.
I came across your post of "Pharmacists Must Lead The Way..." and as I was reading through the article I was getting very excited. Then, I got towards the end and I noticed the comment "with 2008 being a presidential election year...." and my heart dropped into my stomach.
I haven't heard anything about this strategy thru NACP or any other organization.
Is this a dead approach? If not who and what is leading the charge?
Thanks
Chuck Harris
Pharmcare Pharmacy
Hardin, MT
Hi Chuck,
Thanks for leaving your comments on our blog.
The good news is that we were right years ago but few people were listening. Now the threats to the industry are much greater so people are becoming more in tune to what solutions are available.
The industry however would greatly benefit from strong leadership that just isn't forthcoming so we have to take matters into our own hands in a grassroots effort.
Our latest initiative is NAPHER.org
If you sign up there, you will be invited to a webinar where I explain my strategy of what I think the industry needs to do. I also encourage you to join the independent pharmacy community message board at www.pharmacyowners.com/messageboard
This site will put you in touch with like minded and progressive pharmacy owners nationwide discussing issues from politics to store ops.
I look forward to speaking with you on the message board.
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