I was in Atlanta most of the week at the third annual Rx Drug Abuse Summit, a terrific-if-somewhat-depressing meeting of 1300 folks focused on ending the abuse of prescription drugs. I’ll do a series of posts on this next week; a couple highlights are:
- after one session an employee of a big pharma company told a speaker he would be hearing from the pharma company’s attorneys. Knowing the speaker well, I really hope the pharma-bully follows thru.
- There was MUCH discussion of Zohydro, the process by which the FDA approved it despite a crucial 11-2 vote against approval, and the potential damage that will be done by Zohydro. Phoenix House and PROP leader Andrew Kolodny MD led one discussion; his quiet and measured demeanor all the more compelling given the outrageous wrong he was describing.
More later – for now, PBM PMSI-Progressive and Millennium Labs teamed up to research the impact of a comprehensive drug testing program on claimant drug prescriptions. There was a drop in ALL drug utilization, with benzos down 51 percent, opioids 32 percent lower, and an overall 26 percent drop in utilization of all medications. The claimant population was not the easiest either… (full disclosure – the UDT lab involved is Millennium Labs, an HSA consulting client)
From Alaska comes one of the more innovative approaches to opioid abuse in work comp; a bill that would allow employers to not pay for the next refill for claimants failing a urine drug test. Seems reasonable, but how about a refund for the cost of the last script too?
Finishing up the pharmacy part of today’s post, IAIABC’s upcoming webinar on compound medications will be on May 29 (sign up details available shortly). Covering CompPharma’s just-released research paper, the webinar will examine the scientific literature, laws and regulations regarding the safety and efficacy of these medications, how different jurisdictions regulate them, and the prices and reimbursement methods associated with compounds.
Welcome news arrived with this morning’s WorkCompCentral; Drobot, he of the alleged bribery scandal wherein dollars were exchanged to ensure California employers had to continue paying double for surgical implants, has pled guilty and faces a maximum of 10 years in jail.
Meanwhile in the real world outside of workers’ comp, health plan giant Aetna is booming. The Hartford-based insurer announced 230,000 new members so far this year, and are projecting a total of 800,000 to 1 million new members for 2014. Best of all, net income jumped 36 percent.
Happy last weekend in April!
