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Drugs

May 23 2014

SureScripts routed over a billion prescriptions last year, 58% of the total.  Outstanding progress has been made in moving to eprescribing.

http://surescripts.com/news-center/press-releases/!content/surescripts-reports-more-than-half-of-all-prescriptions-routed-electronically-in-2013-driving-adoption-of-broader-health-information-exchange
May 12 2014

Magellan Rx Management has issued its fourth annual Medical Pharmacy Trend Report, which focuses on drugs paid under the medical benefit side of a health plan and finds continuing double-digit growth and the spread of various management techniques.

http://ir.magellanhealth.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=846118
Apr 18 2014

Catamaran, a large PBM, has issued its version of drug trend reporting, showing a per member per month trend of 2.4% in 2013 versus 2.6% in 2012.  Upward pressure is almost all from brand drug unit price increases and greater use and cost of specialty drugs, offset by continued generic expansion.  Catamaran is anticipating that trend could be as high as 5% in 2014, 6% in 2015 and 7.7% in 2016, driven by rising specialty use.

http://www.catamaranrx.com/uploadedFiles/Documents/Trend_Report/2014-Informed-Trends.pdf
Apr 17 2014

A study conducted in Canada and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that as many as 31% of all written prescriptions are never filled, with cost, type of drug, age of the patient and regularity of visits to the same physician appearing to be associated with the rate of abandonment.

http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1852865&utm_source=H2RMinutes+PCMH-ACO+Apr.+15%2C+2014&utm_campaign=PCMH-ACO+mins+4%2F15%2F14&utm_medium=email
Mar 25 2014

According to Mark Farrah Associates, growth in Medicare Prescription Drug Plans slowed for the current year, with a little under one million net new members.  Of the roughly 52 million Medicare beneficiaries, about 39 million have Part D coverage either through a stand-alone PDP or Medicare Advantage coverage.  UnitedHealth, CVS Caremark and Humana are the largest players.

http://www.markfarrah.com/healthcare-business-strategy/
Mar 12 2014

An analysis in JAMA finds that most discontinued trials are not published, often because they were likely showing negative interim results.  The analysis also shows that patient recruitment is a major issue.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1840235
Mar 11 2014

CMS has withdrawn its controversial proposed changes to the Part D drug benefit program, which would have limited preferred networks and changed formularies.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/10/us-usa-healthcare-medicare-idUSBREA2706420140310
Mar 04 2014

The FDA is going to re-examine how it regulates over the counter drugs, due to increasing safety concerns and the long passage of time since the rules were promulgated.  Gee, next Congress might even decide to look at supplement regulation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/21/us-usa-drugs-otc-idUSBREA1K1EW20140221
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