Besides the compelling love story between its two attractive stars, the movie Love and Other Drugs presents a rather enlightening glimpse into the relationship between doctors and the pharmaceutical sales community. It turns out that this complex relationship is no different than any other in the world of sales, and doctors rely on sales reps for information, training and support.
Lawtons Drugs has paired up with LoyaltyOne—owner and operator of the Air Miles loyalty program—to use Air Miles to encourage customers to take better care of their health.
From a distance, it may look as though the drug plan benefits space has matured greatly over the past 10 years. However, as you get closer and examine what is happening today—and looking ahead to 2012—it can be frustrating to see how little the needle has moved in some areas.
Benefits management services provider Express Scripts Canada has announced the introduction of a new business model, which, it says, will enable companies to better control the costs of their drug plans.
Originally from our sister publication, CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca. The number of new prescription medications covered by provincial and territorial insurance plans dropped substantially after a national review body began assessing the cost-effectiveness of drugs in 2003, a study has found. Researchers also discovered that newly approved drugs were listed for coverage more quickly in several of the […]
Canadian benefits plan sponsors are becoming more involved in assessing their drug plan designs. This has been a positive step forward in terms of helping to ensure long-term plan sustainability and affording plan sponsors the ability to reinvest unnecessary spending in areas that will produce far greater return. By contrast, one area in which plan […]
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) will save U.S. consumers and payers almost $2 trillion in prescription drug costs—a 35% savings—over the next decade, according to new research from Visante, a consulting firm. The research also indicates that another $550 billion could be saved if payers used the full array of savings tools that PBMs offer. “PBMs […]
More than 100 people attended the 11th annual Solutions in Drug Plan Management conference presented by Drugstore Canada and Benefits Canada yesterday in Toronto. Pharmacists, plan sponsors, consultants and recordkeepers came together to discuss the theme for this year’s conference: Opportunities in a New Healthcare Landscape. Peter Zawadzki, a professional affairs executive with Pharmasave National, […]
One of the biggest potential upsides to containing costs through an optimally designed plan is that plan sponsors then have the budget to ensure better health for their members. Let’s consider the case of a common source of absenteeism, short-term disability and long-term disability in the workplace: depression. What’s frightening is how common both mild […]
Traditional approaches to drug plans need to be revisited, but the industry needs to move toward a properly designed flexible benefits program that fosters better understanding among members, according to Morneau Shepell’s recent News & Views. While rate of drug cost increases has been slowing recently, the company says new drugs coming on the market […]