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Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

In 2015, the State of Wisconsin was third in the nation with 45 pharmacy armed robberies. In 2016, the state dropped to 31st in the nation with only 6 pharmacy robberies. That’s 39 fewer robberies than in the previous year or a 750% decrease..." Wisconsin AG Unveils New Effort to Prevent Pharmacy Robberies."...Wisconsin Attorney General, Brad Schimel, along with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin and law enforcement have formed a "comprehensive pharmacy robbery prevention and response training program."...Attorney General Schimel...told me, "we have a strong relationship with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin and have been working closely with them for the past 3 years. Certainly it was the high numbers (robberies) in 2014/2015 that concerned us. It’s probably been in the last 6 months that we have been working most intensively with them and this program."...the robbery program focuses on the following:

• Opening and closing practices at retail pharmacies
• Good in-store surveillance camera placement
• Time-delayed opening narcotic safes
• Phone etiquette
• Signage within a pharmacy (Time delayed safes, video equipment is use, etc.).

Nicole Crisano, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Sticker shock over $89,000 muscular-dystrophy treatment from Marathon Pharmaceuticals and shame campaign against CEO led to hasty sale...Entrepreneur Jeffrey Aronin said a few years ago he hoped to eventually sell Marathon Pharmaceuticals LLC, which he controls and runs, for billions of dollars...Some employees have said they now expect him to shut down the company...His deflated ambition is a sign of the increasingly hostile reaction to drug companies that specialize in sharply raising the prices of old medications. Mr. Aronin did that over and over again for 15 years, most recently after Marathon won approval in February to sell a drug for muscular dystrophy in the U.S...It took only a month for sticker shock to cascade into criticism from families of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy...a shame campaign from congressional lawmakers in both parties and then a surprise deal by Marathon to sell the treatment to another company...It’s too soon to tell if Marathon’s fast retreat has damaged the long-term viability of the business model of sharply raising the prices of drugs. Other companies that have used a similar strategy include Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Horizon Pharma PLC...Mr. Aronin seemed to have concluded that the negative publicity was insurmountable. He decided to sell despite reservations from a Marathon executive who favored trying to ride out the controversy...The Emflaza sale was completed in April. Marathon got $140 million in cash and stock, plus more than 20% of the drug’s future sales and a potential $50 million payment.

Mary Bridgeman, Clinical Associate Professor at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network.

When CVS Caremark rebranded as CVS Health in 2014, it pledged to help customers venture down the road to better health. But it looks like the pharmacy retailer could use a bit of a checkup...While the brand reported a 3% net revenue increase in Q1 2017, it also experienced a 3.8% decrease in retail and long-term care segment revenue, which it partially attributes to a 4.7% decrease in same-store sales...its net income decreased 16.9%, according to its quarterly results…Generating customer loyalty is crucial to CVS's business...generating repeat business can be difficult...the main differentiators for CVS are the brands that it carries in its stores — some of which are exclusive — and its customer shopping experience — an experience that it's able to personalize using data from its ExtraCare program.

• Personalization based on purchases...CVS is able to mine these members' purchase and demographic data and pair it with internal research to deliver personalized offers and marketing communications to its customers.
• In-store innovation...the brand revealed a new store design which includes the debut of "discovery zones." These designated setups allow customers to learn about new trends and be exposed to different products…
• Mobile moves...Mobile is a good way for CVS to bridge the digital and in-store shopping experiences. Customers can download the CVS app to manage their prescriptions, order photos, and see wait times for CVS's walk-in clinics, MinuteClinic, and hold their place in line. They can also scroll through their available coupons, filter them, and forward them to their ExtraCare card to be used at checkout. Furthermore, customers can forward ExtraBucks to their cards, and pay directly through the app.
• Keeping customers at the core...it's important for CVS to engage customers via their preferred channels…CVS's receipts as an example of how the brand does this...CVS has received media attention for the length of its receipts...the brand made it possible to digitize receipts if desired...customers can even opt to have their transaction history printed on a paper receipt and have their coupons emailed to them directly.

A five-year integrated pharmacy degree, leading to pharmacist registration, is set to be introduced throughout Scotland in three years’ time. However, the detail of how the workplace learning will fit into the degree timetable and which model to adopt, has not yet been decided...Shona Robison, the Scottish secretary for health and sport, is backing the proposal from the special advisory group that...published its report, ‘Five-year integrated initial education programme for pharmacists in Scotland’…"Given our current focus on workforce planning and development and the extending role of pharmacists within multidisciplinary teams, this report provides a real opportunity to better prepare our new pharmacists for practice in Scotland by ensuring they are able to practice in the evolving NHS health and social care landscape."...there is also a need for more "enhanced experiential learning in clinical practice" and a recognition of the benefits of workplace learning which can reinforce confidence and professional competence...The new degree also supports the Scottish government’s priorities to strengthen the primary care workforce and its desire for every GP practice to have access to a pharmacist with advanced skills...

A recent editorial published in JAMA explained that biosimilars may not deliver the savings payers and consumers had hoped as a consequence of large rebates negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers...The authors...suggested that due to something known as the "rebate trap,"—a flaw through which biosimilars are offered as low-tier options by payers and thus cost more money because reference products have larger negotiated rebates—biosimilars may fail to deliver significant cost savings...Biosimilars for chronic diseases, the largest category of biological therapies, are unlikely to yield widely expected cost savings...Rebate agreements between pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy benefit managers, and other payers create an incentive for payers to prefer more expensive branded biologics over biosimilars...

Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

All-party parliamentary group recommends community pharmacy play a bigger role in the NHS to take pressure off Gps...Giving all community pharmacists the opportunity to become prescribers by 2022 and introducing a minor ailment service throughout England are among a series of recommendations made in a report by the All-Party Pharmacy Group, following an investigation into the impact of government reforms...The APPG, which is made up of a cross section of MPs with an interest in pharmacy, has also called on NHS England to outline their strategy for implementing the recommendations of the Murray Review into "community pharmacy clinical services"…Community pharmacy is a highly valued, but an underutilised resource, the APPG said, and the profession needs to play a more integrated role in both primary care services, and the treatment of patients with long-term health conditions...The health service is facing huge challenges due to patient demand, and by working to develop services, community pharmacy can shoulder some of the burden facing GPs, and other parts of the NHS...