Express Scripts Provides Roadmap to Improve Health Care, Reduce Costs and Streamline Delivery of the Medicine Patients Need
You might be in a “utilization management program” and not know what that means or why it matters to your health. Offered by a variety of employers across industries, utilization management programs are designed to help patients evaluate their health care options and make decisions about the type of services they receive.
So how do these programs impact the delivery of specialty medications for cancer, HIV, inflammatory conditions, multiple sclerosis, and more?
MedAdNews.com reports that a new study from Express Scripts demonstrates how such programs can increase efficiency by ensuring that more patients who need safe, affordable and effective medications can access them.
As spending on specialty drugs continues to increase (18.4 percent in 2012, up from 17.1 percent in 2011), finding the most effective ways to improve the delivery of patient care, reduce cost and eliminate waste is more important than ever. Combining innovations from CuraScript and Accredo, Express Scripts draws upon Health Decision Science – which integrates behavioral science, clinical science, and actionable data – as a springboard to achieve just that.
Building upon this scientific, results-driven approach, Express Scripts provides care targeted to specific areas of patient need through Accredo’s Therapeutic Research Centers as part of its Specialty Benefit Services. Here, a broad array of health care providers integrate pharmacy and medical data to offer what Express Scripts describes as comprehensive patient care that strengthens coordination of services, boosts transparency, and produces solutions.
“It’s really about appropriateness and the right thing for a patient who really deserves safe and effective and affordable medication and ruling out waste. What our plans are most interested in is continuing to be able to afford to provide a benefit. This again was a great example of by doing the right thing that patients were able to save a significant amount of money and again preserve affordability,” said Glen Stettin, M.D., senior VP, clinical research and new solutions at Express Scripts.
Does your employer use a multiple cost management program for specialty drugs? If so, what type? If not, do you think your employer should? What might be some advantages or disadvantages?