Expert Interviews

Vaccine accessibility has been limited for patients impacted by health disparities and social determinants of health (SDoH).

Elizabeth Johnson, CEO of MedicoCX shared the importance of trust in healthcare and how it's been missing in drug development, marketing and delivery. Johnson said one way drug companies could build trust is including patients sooner so they're part of the process beyond clinical trials.

Connie Sullivan, president and CEO of the National Home Infusion Association, addressed the benefits of home-based infusion care, the types of treatments offered to patients and its reimbursement considerations. Sullivan presented on this form of care during the Asembia 2023 Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Vegas this week.

Ray Tancredi, VP of Walgreens mentioned in the last decade or so there have been many oncology drug approvals. Over time, the number of approvals decreased each year.

Today at the annual Asembia Specialty Summit in Las Vegas, Sarah Marche, VP of Pharmacy at Highmark Health, spoke alongside other professionals from various stakeholders within the industry who are invested some way in digital therapeutics.

Today at Asembia 2023 Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas, Alexander Pham, VP of Client Services & Strategy at Clearway Health, talked about their collaboration with safety net hospital, OU Health, alongside the Chief Administrative Officer of OU Health, Jigar Thakkar. In this interview, Pham talked about how the Clearway and OU Health partnership helped build a specialty pharmacy program, alleviate financial burden, and more.

Ray Tancredi talked about the upcoming pipeline and more in this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive.

Megan Coder, PharmD, MBA, leads a discussion surrounding the evolution of software applications in the clinical setting.

Prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) are explored in behavior-driven conditions, such as substance abuse disorders.

Dr Lewis discusses his organization’s leveraging of EMR to track immunization status of patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced patient perception regarding many aspects of vaccination safety and efficacy.

James Lewis, PharmD, FIDSA, opens a discussion regarding the current and anticipated landscape surrounding vaccination.

In this final part of a two-part video series, Clay Wilemon, CEO of 4L Data Intelligence, shared how much in cost that fraud, waste and abuse has affected healthcare due to issues like overpayment; and how leveraging your artificial intelligence can help solve fraudulent issues. Clay added how much the industry can save using these solutions.

In closing thoughts, the experts provide insight regarding the future of genetic testing in ALS treatment management.

The unmet needs in ALS treatment management are explored.

Clay Wilemon, CEO of 4L Data Intelligence addresses how fraud, waste and abuse in healthcare is an issue caused mainly by overbilling.

Medical experts discuss genetically targeted treatments for patients diagnosed with ALS.

The impact of genetic testing for ALS on a population health level.

Understanding how common genetic mutations in patients with ALS plays a role in prognosis.

Various approaches to genetic testing for ALS are explored.

Payer considerations for providing access to genetic testing are explored by key opinion leaders.

Experts discuss the driving factors behind costs within the treatment landscape of ALS.

Yoona Kim, PharmD, PhD, co-founder, CEO of Arine Inc., talked about the relationship between racial health disparities and medication non-adherence, and how artificial intelligence can help improve adherence between groups most affected such as Black, Latino and Asian populations.

Focusing on preventing diabetes and reducing disparities across populations, Dr Greene highlights ways to improve affordability and access to new treatment technologies.

Sharon Jhawar, Chief Pharmacy Officer at SCAN Health Plan, said the organization researched their health plans to figure out what inequities existed in their members. What stood out was that their quality was lower for Black members and they weren't meeting their needs. They also saw in medication adherence, a significantly lower percentage of their Hispanic and Black members who were non-adherent. With the help of AI and cultural matching patients with physicians, they have noticed the improvement of adherence from their patients.

Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, chief clinical officer of Real Endpoints led a presentation at the annual AMCP meeting that can help align payers and their manufactures for success in value-based contracting. In this interview Barlow gives some insight on where we are now with value-based contracting compared to a few years ago and if it's gained some traction or if there are challenges that remain. She also touched what therapies are prime candidates for value-based contracting.

Melissa Andel of CommonHealth Solutions spoke at the AMCP annual meeting today in San Antonio about the ins and outs of the Inflation Reduction Act. She shared her discussion highlights the Act's plans of cost shifting in healthcare and the Medicare part-D benefit re-design. In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive, Andel addressed the Eli Lilly $35 Insulin cap and how plans of price negotiation will resonate with the public. She also expressed what we may expect through Congress when it comes to repealing any provisions through the IRA, and what could be coming through inflation penalty rebates.

Ben Urick, PharmD, PhD, Health Outcomes Research Principal at Prime Therapeutics, LLC, discussed how non-adherence to medication has lead to medical cost offsets and shared solutions to improve adherence from patients and providers. In particular, Urick shared best data-collecting practices that can in-turn improve both adherence and cost. Urick led a discussion on the challenges leading to non-adherence and shared the efforts underway to remove them at the annual AMCP meeting in San Antonio.

When asked for solutions in better managing expensive drug costs, Michelle Booth of Magellan suggests a "mortgage-like" payment that could help make these therapies, which are covered under medical benefits, more accessible and affordable. Because there aren't many gene therapies out there just yet in the market, there hasn't been much pressure in offering discounts through value-based contracts to patients. Though, more discussions on this initiative are happening, Andy Killpack also of Magellan, said in the second-part of a two part AMCP annual meeting video series.

Magellan's Michelle Booth and Andy Killpack presented today at the annual AMCP meeting in San Antonio to discuss equitable access to recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapy as there are currently many barriers patients face toward treatment. Booth, senior director of specialty clinical solutions, claims though cost plays a significance in access, there are much more barriers from education to income that lead to inequities. Killpack and booth share solutions and other gene therapies expected to come to market.