Consultantlive Staff

June 07, 2010

A study of Humana members enrolled in commercial and Medicare Advantage plans showed that patients with fibromyalgia have higher health care utilization and costs than those without the disease.1 This is because of higher use of office visits, testing, and procedures as well as pain-related medications.

June 07, 2010

Managed care pharmacists will play a key role in reforming the current health care system by continuing to develop innovative programs that reduce costs and improve quality of care, said Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He discussed the effects of the recent health care reform legislation in a presentation at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy meeting.

June 07, 2010

Electronic prescribing resulted in greater generic and formulary drug use, according to Crystal Chang, PharmD, and colleagues at Blue Shield of California, San Francisco. It also led to an average cost savings of 17.3% for both the member and the payer.

December 24, 2009

The authors are affiliated with the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, in University, Miss. Dr Yang is assistant professor in the department of pharmacy administration.

December 04, 2009

At Consultant, our goal is to provide the practical, authoritative information you need to best serve your patients. That is why we “pre-test” article ideas (before we invite articles on those topics) to be sure they are of real interest to you and your colleagues. It is also why we take great care in checking facts, creating useful tables and figures, and choosing illustrations and photographs to enhance teaching messages.

November 09, 2009

We assessed the association between pharmacy cost-containment policy actions by states’ Medicaid programs and access to prescription drug and medical care, controlling for nonpharmacy cost-containment policy actions and socio-environmental differences among states.

September 20, 2009

The development of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has increased morbidity and mortality associated with tuberculosis (TB) and has greatly increased the costs of care for patients with this disease.

May 17, 2009

After reading your February, March, and April editorials, I would like to share the following thoughts concerning health care reform from the perspective of a pharmacist practicing for 32 years.

May 01, 2009

An all-terrain vehicle-ATV-is described by the American National Standards Institute as one that "travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, and with handlebars to be used for steering."1 By this definition, an ATV is designed for interactive riding by a single operator. Drivers are able to shift their weight freely in all directions depending on the situation and terrain. According to ATV safety standards and recommendations, children younger than 6 years are never to be on an ATV of any size-alone or with someone else.

April 17, 2009

A retrospective review of administrative claims data was conducted to identify health plan members with asthma who were persistent with their controller medications and those who were not persistent. Utilization of health care services and associated costs were measured for both groups. Non-persistent use of controller medications resulted in more asthma-related emergency department visits and home health services whereas persistent controller use was associated with more physician office and outpatient visits. Mean asthma-related medical costs per member were greater in the non-persistent cohort ($577.62) than in the persistent cohort ($323.03). These findings support the need for targeted interventions to address non-persistence in a managed Medicaid population.(Drug Benefit Trends. 2009;21:112-118)