Retail Pharmacy-Hospital Partnerships are Growing

ShopRite is planning to open a pharmacy inside the Doylestown Hospital on June 1, marking its first location inside a medical facility. In addition to filling prescriptions, the pharmacy also will offer OTC medications. Patients treated in the medical office next to the hospital also can have their prescriptions filled before they leave the hospital […]

Benefitfocus Increases Private Exchange Presence

Benefitfocus, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based benefits software solutions, announced that AmeriGas Propane, Inc. has selected Benefitfocus HR INTOUCH MARKETPLACE® to support benefits administration, enrollment and employee communication. AmeriGas is the largest U.S. retail propane marketer and has almost 9,000 employees at more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states. As a single cloud-based […]

Celgene Establishing Limited Distribution Network for Otezla

Celgene’s recently approved Otezla is a new medication for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis. Otezla is an oral small-molecule inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) specific for cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Celgene recently selected a limited number of specialty pharmacies to distribute Otezla, including: Diplomat, Avella Specialty Pharmacy, ReCept Pharmacy, and CareMed Pharmaceutical Services. Celgene’s new […]

Clinic Market Turbulence Continues

Following the recent activities affecting the Employer/On-Site Clinic market, Rite Aid acquired Houston-based RediClinic, one of the nation’s leading operators of retail clinics. Walgreens recently signed a definitive agreement with Water Street Healthcare Partners (Water Street), a strategic investor focused exclusively on the health care industry, in which Water Street will acquire a majority interest […]

Cash Talks in Primary Care

Primary care doctors are struggling with their role in the new world of health care reform. Many are increasing the number of patients they see during a day to bring in more cash. Others are becoming employees of larger physician groups or hospitals that are increasingly acquiring clinics. When a team of medical “mystery shoppers” […]

ACA is Limiting Patient Access to Cancer Centers

Some of America’s best cancer hospitals are off-limits to many of the people now signing up for coverage under the nation’s new health care program, according to a recent story in the Washington Post. An Associated Press survey found examples coast to coast. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is excluded by five out of eight insurers […]

Hepatitis C and Specialty Pharmacy Market

Express Scripts Plans a Specialty Drug Price War over new hepatitis C treatments reports a recent Bloomberg News story. The news follows the release of Gilead’s Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), which reportedly costs $1,000 per pill. Express Scripts projects that Hepatitis C drug trend will grow by 168% by 2015, so employers and health plan payers are […]

Contracting With Specialty Pharmacies (SPs) At Your Own Peril

How a company works with and contracts with SPs will have to be rethought as a result of the initial Department of Justice (DoJ) settlement with BioScrip and ongoing investigation of Novartis in their marketing practices. When Novartis launched Exjade, it created a limited distribution network, including BioScrip and two other specialty pharmacies selected by […]