What Plan Sponsors Need To Know and Do About Upcoming Drug Pricing Changes
Date/Time:
Monday, September 21, 2009; 10:00 am (CDT)
Cost:
Complimentary for registered attendees.
To Register:
https://psgconsults.webex.com/psgconsults/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=576590823
Description:
The overwhelming majority of contracts with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) use average wholesale price (AWP) to determine drug pricing with their customers. On March 30, 2009, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts entered a “Final Order and Judgment” approving a class action settlement with First DataBank (FDB) and Medi-Span, the primary publishers of AWP. The Final Order and Judgment includes a requirement to adjust their AWP price index to “rollback” the markup on approximately 1,400 national drug codes (NDCs). These adjustments are scheduled to occur on September 26, 2009. Independent of the settlement, FDB and Medi-Span also plan to discontinue publishing their AWP index altogether within two years. These are major changes, and challenges, for pharmacy benefit plan sponsors that contract with a PBM. Please join us for this presentation and learn:
- What AWP is, how it is currently used, and how it will change.
- How to protect your organization's financial interests.
- What to watch out for in PBM contract language addressing the AWP pricing change.
- How to retain economic neutrality.
- What the alternatives are to AWP pricing.
Presenters:
ROB NOEL
Practice Leader, Managed Care Market
Rob is a seasoned health care professional with more than 30 years of experience in the PBM industry, data analytics, and employee benefits. Prior to joining PSG, Rob was Vice President of Sales for Express Scripts, Inc., one of the "Big Three" pharmacy benefit managers. Before this, he was President and Chief Operating Officer for Practice Patterns Science, Inc., a company specializing in the integration techniques of medical and pharmacy claims data to identify and explain variations in physician treatment patterns. Rob holds a BS degree in economics and management from Centre College.
JOHN HINES, MBA
Director, Analytics
John Hines supports PSG’s data warehousing, reporting, and analytics functions. He has more than 10 years of experience with systems and financial analysis, having held several senior positions with Caremark and CIGNA. John is responsible for the development of advanced data and financial analysis tools. His experience as an analyst of PBM claims data is among the best in the PBM industry and is instrumental to the services PSG provides to its clients. John holds a BS in accounting and an MBA from Northern Arizona University.