(NewsUSA) – In the coming weeks and months, America will begin attempting to re-start the economy and hopefully take steps toward a semblance of a new normal. However, even as this process gets underway, our economy has been shaken to its core with ramifications that will reverberate for some time to come. In this new reality, America’s employers and healthplan sponsors will face daunting challenges as a result of COVID-19’s impact.That’s what makes the mission of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) all that much more important. PBMs are hired by employers and health plans to reduce costs and enhance access to prescription drugs, while helping to keep a lid on health-care premiums. Accomplishing these goals and continuing to find ways to help patients obtain their medications, while staying safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, are essential.The coronavirus outbreak is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting millions of people. It is also having a substantial impact on the global economy that has caused an explosion of unemployed Americans, many of whom rely on employer-sponsored health-care coverage. The safety-net programs, such as Medicaid and the Exchanges, will be more important than ever in providing needed coverage options for patients.As an example of PBMs’ response to the growing number of uninsured as a result of COVID-19, there is a new program that will cap costs for a 30-day supply of generic medications at $25 and at $75 for more than 40 brand-name drugs for the rest of the year for medications, including insulin, contraceptives and products for heart disease and migraines.Insurance plan sponsors – employers, self-insured plans, and others – for decades have relied on PBMs to manage prescription drug costs in a way that provides affordable access for the patient populations that they represent. PBMs have delivered on that need by achieving an overall low-cost trend by encouraging competition among drug manufacturers and drugstores.In fact, recent research shows that PBMs will provide savings of more than $512 billion over the next decade for employer- and union-sponsored health plans and their workers and dependents. For 2020, it is estimated that an average per-person PBM savings on prescription drugs is $962.Now, and in the future, reducing prescription drug costs will affect the overall economy and have implications beyond health care. Every dollar spent on health benefits is a dollar employers can’t spend to create new jobs, increase wages, or invest in innovation.PBMs continue to implement patient-friendly tools in pharmacy benefits that lower prescription drug costs and improve quality, including negotiating discounts with drugstores to reduce copays and other out-of-pockets costs, negotiating price concessions from drug manufacturers, and promoting more affordable brand and generic drugs.Drug manufacturers should be lauded for undertaking an unprecedented effort to find vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. But those treatments, once approved, must be made widely available and affordable for everyone, and just as importantly, medications for chronic illnesses must remain accessible for patients. PBMs’ proven track record keeping drug costs in check and providing patients access to treatments will be crucially important to achieving that objective.As the economy re-emerges from this difficult time, Winston Churchill’s words are apt: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."During this uncertain time and beyond, patients and plan sponsors can count on PBMs to use their expertise and their negotiating power to provide affordable access to prescription drugs.
Thanks: NewsUSA
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Next COVID-19 Challenge: Reduce Employer Rx Costs, Enhance Patient Access
While people across the globe are eagerly waiting for the results of the trial involving the Remdesivir drug to treat the patients infected by the novel Coronavirus,https://www.kashishworld.com/blog/covid-19-pandemic-understanding-the-need-to-have-a-balanced-patent-approach/
As scientists around the world race toward finding an effective vaccine and/or cure for COVID-19, health officials throughout the world have started encouraging an alternative type of medicine to help those who get sick with respiratory infections— traditional herbal remedies.
An early patient, David Pooley shares his story and how he got cured with the aid of an unusual medicine which he intends to commercialize.
After visiting Hong Kong, Shenzhen, I arrived in Vietnam on the 23rd of January 2020.
Here I developed a sore throat coupled with very bad diarrhea.
It was deep in the lungs, the kind of coughing fits that were difficult to stop and always left me breathless.
I was committed to going fishing and we sailed on the 10th of January.
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening lives and livelihoods across the world.
In just three months, more than a million people in 180 countries have fallen sick from the viral illness, while at least 50,000 have died in a public health emergency the United Nations is calling the world's "most challenging crisis" since World War II.
LIVE ONLINE TRAINING COURSE 1 CEU HRCI | 1 PDC SHRM APPROVEDCOVID-19 vaccines are giving many employers hope that their workplaces can slowly return to normal.
To help speed that return, employers are considering requiring or encouraging workers to get vaccinated.
That’s allowed within certain limits, but there are employee relations hurdles and legal challenges in mandating or incentivizing vaccines that employers need to be aware of.Before employers jump to requiring employees to get vaccinated, they should understand all the possible effects of that decision – both operational and cultural.
As an example, if an employer makes COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory and excludes people from the workplace who haven’t gotten immunized, there may not be enough employees to keep the business running.
There are moral issues that might materialize.
It’s possible that despite the toll that the pandemic has taken on all of us, some employees may be reluctant, or even hostile, to a requirement that they get vaccinated.
Care 4 Parents Helping seniors battle with COVID-19 in the comfort of your home.We provide remote specialised care packages for patients POST COVID at home.In many cases the systoms still persist, there it's vital for the elderly to be underthe supervision of specialised medical experts.
They work long hours, keep changing their job duties and profiles, deal with all types of customers, and worry about their health even more.From working in stores and showrooms, most employees are now working from home.
This kind of unprecedented situation has also had companies trying to figure out how to improve their operations.
This has meant that employees have had to switch from traditional training methods to online training without missing a beat in day-to-day operations.Below, you will learn about the kind of impact COVID-19 has had on training for frontline employees.Mobile Training is now everyone’s best friendEarlier, training sessions were held in a traditional, classroom setting or they happened at meetings.
However, this kind of training is a rare occurrence with the focus leaning more towards mobile learning.Health and Safety has taken precedenceWhen employees first joined a company, health and safety training formed a part of the traditional orientation sessions.
Basic health and safety protocols now include things like learning how to put on a PPE kit, how to practice physical distancing along with washing hands or using hand sanitizer, among others.
This session covered a range of topics that would help them navigate a routine while on the job.
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening lives and livelihoods across the world.
In just three months, more than a million people in 180 countries have fallen sick from the viral illness, while at least 50,000 have died in a public health emergency the United Nations is calling the world's "most challenging crisis" since World War II.
LIVE ONLINE TRAINING COURSE 1 CEU HRCI | 1 PDC SHRM APPROVEDCOVID-19 vaccines are giving many employers hope that their workplaces can slowly return to normal.
To help speed that return, employers are considering requiring or encouraging workers to get vaccinated.
That’s allowed within certain limits, but there are employee relations hurdles and legal challenges in mandating or incentivizing vaccines that employers need to be aware of.Before employers jump to requiring employees to get vaccinated, they should understand all the possible effects of that decision – both operational and cultural.
As an example, if an employer makes COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory and excludes people from the workplace who haven’t gotten immunized, there may not be enough employees to keep the business running.
There are moral issues that might materialize.
It’s possible that despite the toll that the pandemic has taken on all of us, some employees may be reluctant, or even hostile, to a requirement that they get vaccinated.
While people across the globe are eagerly waiting for the results of the trial involving the Remdesivir drug to treat the patients infected by the novel Coronavirus,https://www.kashishworld.com/blog/covid-19-pandemic-understanding-the-need-to-have-a-balanced-patent-approach/
Care 4 Parents Helping seniors battle with COVID-19 in the comfort of your home.We provide remote specialised care packages for patients POST COVID at home.In many cases the systoms still persist, there it's vital for the elderly to be underthe supervision of specialised medical experts.
They work long hours, keep changing their job duties and profiles, deal with all types of customers, and worry about their health even more.From working in stores and showrooms, most employees are now working from home.
This kind of unprecedented situation has also had companies trying to figure out how to improve their operations.
This has meant that employees have had to switch from traditional training methods to online training without missing a beat in day-to-day operations.Below, you will learn about the kind of impact COVID-19 has had on training for frontline employees.Mobile Training is now everyone’s best friendEarlier, training sessions were held in a traditional, classroom setting or they happened at meetings.
However, this kind of training is a rare occurrence with the focus leaning more towards mobile learning.Health and Safety has taken precedenceWhen employees first joined a company, health and safety training formed a part of the traditional orientation sessions.
Basic health and safety protocols now include things like learning how to put on a PPE kit, how to practice physical distancing along with washing hands or using hand sanitizer, among others.
This session covered a range of topics that would help them navigate a routine while on the job.
As scientists around the world race toward finding an effective vaccine and/or cure for COVID-19, health officials throughout the world have started encouraging an alternative type of medicine to help those who get sick with respiratory infections— traditional herbal remedies.
An early patient, David Pooley shares his story and how he got cured with the aid of an unusual medicine which he intends to commercialize.
After visiting Hong Kong, Shenzhen, I arrived in Vietnam on the 23rd of January 2020.
Here I developed a sore throat coupled with very bad diarrhea.
It was deep in the lungs, the kind of coughing fits that were difficult to stop and always left me breathless.
I was committed to going fishing and we sailed on the 10th of January.