Se ee SPEC CIA AL REPORT mon nograph polybagged with this issu ue
Serving managed care, health system and specialty decision makers Volume 9 • Number 5 • September/October 2020 • specialtypharmacycontinuum.com
OPERATIONS & MGMT Cold chain packing patent yields safer drug transit ...........................
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A Windfall in Savings From Biosimilars
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reating new tiers for lower cost specialty drugs and electronic tools for beneficiaries to check their portion of drug cost sharing were among the items suggested by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in a proposed rule for Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Part D) programs. Although a final rule issued May 22 addressed only some of the proposed provisions because of a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, a second final rule expected to be issued later this year may address the others. “Compared to some of the rules from previous years, the proposals set forth
POLICY Capping Medicare out-of-pocket insulin costs ......................................... Civica Rx expands roster of affordable generic drugs ...................
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CLINICAL Acute myeloid leukemia: a growing list of treatments ............. Hyperkalemia: management tips for a subtle, deadly condition ............................. PAP programs breathe life into asthma/COPD care .........
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Immunotherapy Toxicities See page 17.
Big Policy Shifts For Medicare On the Horizon
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ransitioning patients taking infliximab to a biosimilar product ucct and improving adherence to imatinib are among the strate-gies specialty pharmacists at Boston Medical Center Health System (BMC) used to help the system better use health care resources, according to a session at the 2020 NASP Annuall Meeting & Expo Virtual Experience. The shift from originator infliximab to an infliximab biosimilar siimilar is forecasted to yield approximately $500,000 in annual savings, vin ngs, with ngs without compromising clinical outcomes, reported Alexander Pham, PharmD, BMC’s director of pharmacy strategy and business development. BMC’s specialty pharmacy successfully led the switch of 146 out of 151 eligible patients (97%) from the originator infliximab (Remicade, Janssen) to infliximab-dyyb (Inflectra, Pfizer) between March 2018 and June 2019 (J Manag Care Spec Pharm 2020;26[4]:410416). As of October 2018, 56 patients (89%) continued with infliximab-dyyb after the transition. Of the 46 patients who had 12 to 15 months of post-transition data, 38 (83%) remained on the biosimilar product. Sixty-three of 75 eligible patients (84%) with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) transitioned from infliximab to infliximab-dyyb. In a subgroup of 40 patients with IBD who had available scores on the Harvey-Bradshaw Index or the Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index from both before and after transition, 36 (90%) maintained remission. “This project represents one of many opportunities to reduce costs without
he COVID-19 pandemic has had a major economic impact on the health care system but also offers a number of lessons that providers and payors can use to prepare for future epidemics or a resurgence of COVID-19, experts said during a webinar sponsored by Impact Education. “There is a lot of opportunity to be optimistic about how our health system will improve as a result of COVID,” said Peter Watson, MD, the vice president of care management,
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Role of Specialty Pharmacists in Treating Patients With HIV Access at bit.ly/2GRtI9D
COVID-19
Coping Skills For Payors: What They’ve Learned
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