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At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Annual Meeting, held March 27-30...in Denver...the cost of healthcare was on everyone’s minds and was a common thread in most sessions...Here are 5 key takeaways from the meeting.

1. Value frameworks were on people’s minds...AMCP sees value frameworks as a tool that can help with the formulary decision making process…
2. They are increasingly being used by payers...a survey of payers from the beginning of 2016 found that 26% were currently using value frameworks and an additional 22% planned to use them in the next 12 months. Only 19% had no plans to use value frameworks…
3. Frameworks are just 1 solution centering on value…the National Pharmaceutical Council, outlined 3 other solutions that center around value. These include value-based insurance design, value-based contracting, and financing...
4. Change is coming to healthcare...L.E.K. Consulting, followed the money in healthcare and came to the conclusion that healthcare is an unsustainably big business, which necessitates change.
5. Obamacare repeal isn’t the only legislation to watch...Republicans may not have gotten the American Health Care Act, which would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, through the House of Representatives, but there could be future efforts to bring the legislation back in another form…

The Ohio governor unveiled a plan...that targets the place where experts say many opioid addictions begin — the doctor's office...Gov. John Kasich's order limits the amount of opiates primary care physicians and dentists can prescribe to no more than seven days for adults and five days for minors...In addition to the pill limits, Kasich said the new rules require doctors to provide a specific diagnosis and procedure code for every painkiller prescription they write...And Kasich warned that doctors who don't follow the rules will lose their licenses...The new limits, which have gotten the blessing of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy, the State Medical Board, and the state's dental and nursing boards, do not apply to patients who take prescription painkillers for cancer treatment or to dying patients who are already receiving hospice care...As bad as things are in Ohio, it's ever worse in West Virginia, New Hampshire and Kentucky, which have even higher drug overdose death rates, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...Americans get hooked on locally prescribed painkillers, lawmakers say the drug cartels have made a mint feeding their habits by smuggling Chinese-made fentanyl and other opioids into the country

Elko County encourages residents to thank their health care provider...County commissioners proclaimed March 30 as Health Professional Recognition Day...Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi requested the proclamation..."Really and truly the health care professional, with the shortage that we see throughout the nation, can go anywhere they want to," he said. "They are a highly sought after resource, yet the people that we have here choose to be here and provide services. They are loyal, hardworking men and women who dedicate their lives to helping people feel better and provide excellent treatment. I think it’s really fitting that we take an opportunity to just pause and reflect for a moment about their contribution to our community, and just say thank you. Another big part of recruitment, in my mind, is retention. I think if the health care field understands that we appreciate them, I think that is a small step that goes a long way."

For years, the FDA’s adverse events system has been derided because of its largely voluntary nature — only drug companies, not doctors or patients, are required to report problems. As a result, the system likely only was capturing a small percentage of cases...In recent years, the number of reports filed has been multiplying, prompting more independent researchers and drug companies to use the data as a way to detect safety problems...The surge in reports could indicate a growing number of harmed patients or more vigilant reporting of adverse events, a goal of the FDA. Experts say both likely play a role...Twelve years ago, there were 206,000 reports of side effects from medications filed with the FDA — complaints as frivolous as flatulence, as serious as death...By 2015, the most recent full year of data, the number had grown to 1.2 million...

Brielle Urciuoli, Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network.

"From research to health care: Your pharmacist is at your service" is the theme of this year’s World Pharmacists Day on 25 September, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) announced..."This theme was chosen to reflect the numerous contributions the pharmacy profession makes to health. From research and development of medicines, to educating future pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, and providing direct care, we do all this in the service of our patients and communities," said FIP President Dr Carmen Peña..."We want to emphasise that pharmacists are the backbone of health care in many different settings. But providing care does not begin in community or hospital pharmacies. Taking care of patients starts with recognising the health issues of populations and developing medicines, policies and education to tackle them. We pharmacists are often there at the very beginning of the process — when the first molecule that effectively treats a disease is identified," Dr Peña added...World Pharmacists Day is used by FIP’s members and others around the globe to highlight the value of the pharmacy profession and impact on improving health to authorities, other professions and the media, as well as to the general public...FIP is inviting pharmacists to support World Pharmacists Day by creating profile pictures for their social media accounts using the official FIP Twibbon or a specially designed "Your pharmacist is at your service" placard. The materials are available from today at www.fip.org/worldpharmacistsday.

Pharmacy benefit managers and tech startups are responding to underinsurance and the onslaught of high-deductible health plans by cutting out insurers in the quest to help patients lower their prescription drug costs...Two PBMs have launched discount programs for patients to use outside of any insurance coverage they might have. It's a notable contrast to PBMs' main business serving as third-party administrators of prescription drug coverage for insurers and employers...These efforts come as a budding industry has sprung up around helping consumers and employers rein in prescription drug costs. Startups like Blink Health and RefillWise offer pharmacy cards that provide consumers with negotiated discounts if they don't use their prescription coverage, while some insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, along with tech firm Castlight Health, are attempting to allay consumer and employers' concerns about drug costs by building apps that offer price transparency to physicians or patients.

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

Opioid makers have had no shortage of critics in recent years as the United States suffers the sting of a painful addiction epidemic. Now, a top senate Democrat is throwing the weight of her office behind efforts to dig into the industry’s marketing practices for the risky painkillers...Sen. Claire McCaskill is targeting Johnson & Johnson, Mylan, Depomed, Insys and Purdue in her investigation, which is aimed at learning whether the companies had any role in the country’s "overutilization and overprescription" of the meds...Among the documents she’s requesting are internal opioid abuse estimates, info on marketing strategies, sales quotas and contributions to patient groups...McCaskill laid out evidence that suggests drug companies sought to downplay the risks of the painkillers and positively influence physicians’ perceptions of the meds. She wrote that the allegations "show an industry apparently focused not on preventing abuse but on fostering addiction as a central component of its business model."

HHS again has delayed enforcement of a final rule that would penalize drugmakers that deliberately overcharge providers for drugs purchased under the 340B drug discount program...The federal 340B program requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care providers at discounts ranging from 20 to 50 percent...the program has come under scrutiny, with some questioning the amount of charity care participating hospitals are providing...Under the final rule...drugmakers that "knowingly and intentionally" overcharge providers for drugs purchased through the program will face a fine of up to $5,000 per offense. The drugmakers also have to repay the overcharge...The rule took effect on Feb. 28 and was scheduled to be enforced beginning April 1...HHS again delays enforcement date...HHS in an interim rule published Monday in the Federal Register again delayed the rule's enforcement date, this time to May 22.