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Direct and indirect remuneration fees rise from preferred network drug plans offered by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers…fees…are causing financial hardship for many pharmacies…These fees may encompass “pay-to-play” fees for network participation, periodic reimbursement reconciliations, or non-compliance with quality measures…Many pharmacists feel that there is a lack of transparency regarding how DIR fees are calculated…the fees are retroactive, which can make it hard for pharmacy owners to run a business…Originally, DIRs were established to allow PBMs and Medicare to share in rebates that the insurers received from drug manufacturers under Medicare Part D coverage…cost imposed by the PBM on pharmacies that is not necessarily disclosed to Medicare officials…the financial realities associated with very high DIR may force many pharmacies to withdraw from networks…CMS has said in the past that the fees distort the real price of prescription drugs in the market.

Tine Hansen-Turton, Executive Director of the Convenient Care Association, discusses the extent to which retail clinics have met her past expectations.

• What Will Be the Next Technology Disruption in Retail Clinics?
• How Will Opportunities for Retail Health Clinics Expand?
• What Opportunities Do NPs and PAs Have in Retail Settings Versus Other Settings?

David D'Altorio, PharmD, senior vice president of health services at MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc, discusses how the ACA has impacted the specialty landscape.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more. (video)

…the Obama administration wrote state Medicaid programs that they may be violating federal law by restricting access to hepatitis C medicines. At the same time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote four drug makers asking for information about pricing arrangements with insurers and pharmacy benefits managers… A new crop of hepatitis C treatments have factored heavily in the conversation, thanks to very high cure rates but also high price tags… Ever since the new hepatitis C medications arrived nearly two years ago, public and private payers have called them budget-busters...some state Medicaid programs began restricting access based on a number of factors…CMS officials warned the state Medicaid programs against “imposing conditions for coverage that may unreasonably restrict access” to hepatitis C drugs. Placing restrictions may be “contrary to the statutory requirements” of a federal law that requires state Medicaid programs to pay for all medically necessary treatments…

Bryan Ziegler, PharmD, executive director of Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center, talks about important health care quality metrics for pharmacists and comments on how pharmacists can be active in driving value-based reimbursement.

Regenerative medicine is one of the fastest growing biomedical industries in the world because patients are being cured of diseases that were once incurable…represents a new paradigm in human health because the vast majority of treatments for chronic and life-threatening diseases focus on treating the symptoms, not curing the disease…there are few therapies in use today capable of curing or significantly changing the course of a disease. New regenerative medicine is changing this by engineering, growing, and regenerating tissues and organs using biological processes similar to those normally used in humans…Cell therapy makes up over 60% of the regenerative medicine market…Pharmaceutical companies are building relationships with innovating regenerative medicine companies… Transnational supply-side economics is driving the market; there is low regulation and multiple offerings for numerous conditions, with some being offered to treat life-threatening diseases. Regenerative medicine has the potential to ultimately change the way medicine is practiced throughout the world.

Researchers seek to determine which side effects will be experienced by different patient groups…the most difficult hurdles for patients… to overcome are the debilitating side effects that accompany some treatments…To address this…investigators…constructed a proof of concept predictive model that may be able to forecast side effects different patients are likely to experience…We're not just interested in predicting the efficacy of a drug, but its side effects as well…Side effects are very personalized. Two different people can take the same drug, but one person might experience side effects while the other doesn't...This study is a step forward in demonstrating that patients could be precisely treated based on their genetic makeup…

California unveiled a new method for executing condemned prisoners Friday, proposing a single-drug lethal injection protocol that could restart capital punishment…The proposal came as a result of a lawsuit filed against the state by crime victims…Executions are not likely to resume immediately…The new protocol would require the injection drug to be selected on a "case-by-case basis, taking into account changing factors such as the availability of a supply of chemical." The state would have the option of using one of four barbiturates: amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital and thiopental…Executions around the country have declined in recent years as prisons have been unable to obtain lethal injection drugs…Manufacturers, pressed by death penalty opponents, have refused to sell the anesthetics to prisons. Compounding pharmacies are an alternative, but even they would be vulnerable to boycotts if their identities were disclosed…

James Schiffer, RPh, associate at Allegaert Berger & Vogel LLC, discusses some safeguards independent pharmacies can implement to avoid issues with controlled substance prescriptions.