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The Pivotal Role of Technology in Delivering Effective Patient Services

Today’s guest post comes from George Moore, Chief Information Technology Officer at CareMetx.

As George explains using novel survey data, manufacturers view new technologies  as crucial for patient services. He then explains how digital technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) can be used to improve patient adherence and increase hub efficiencies.

To learn more, download CareMetx’s new 2024 Patient Services ReportRevealing Manufacturer Priorities: Patients Naturally Take Center Stage.

Read on for George’s insights.
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Hospitals Are Relying More on PBMs to Manage Manufacturers' 340B Contract Pharmacy Restrictions: DCI's 2024 Market Analysis (rerun)

This week, I’m rerunning some popular posts while we put the finishing touches on DCI’s new 2024-25 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors.

Click here to see the original post from June 2024.



The 340B contract pharmacy market shows little sign of slowing down. Drug Channels Institute’s exclusive analysis of the 2024 market reveals that:
  • About 33,000 pharmacy locations—more than half of the entire U.S. pharmacy industry—act as contract pharmacies for the hospitals and federal grantees that participate in the 340B program. 
  • Five multi-billion-dollar, for-profit, publicly traded pharmacy chains and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—Cigna (via Express Scripts), CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group (via OptumRx), and Walgreens, Walmart—continue to dominate the 340B contract pharmacy market.
  • Federal grantees are aligned primarily with the vertically intergated organizations' retail pharmacies, while hospitals rely on mail and specialty pharmacies.
Over the past four years, manufacturers’ restrictions on 340B contract pharmacies have led hospitals to deepen their relationships with the largest PBMs—even as those PBMs have simultaneously limited hospitals’ direct participation in specialty pharmacy networks.

For an updated look at what’s next for the 340B contract pharmacy market, join Adam J. Fein, Ph.D., on June 21 for his latest live video webinar: The 340B Drug Pricing Program: Trends, Controversies, and Outlook.
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Transparency Shocker: Biosimilars Are Getting Cheaper—But Hospitals and Insurers Can Make Them Expensive

Here on Drug Channels, we have long highlighted the boom in provider-administered biosimilars. In contrast to the pharmacy market, adoption of these biosimilars is growing, prices are dropping, and formulary barriers continue to fall.

Novel transparency information reveals that this good news doesn’t always translate into savings. Below, we rely on a unique data set from Turquoise Health to examine how much four national commercial health plans—Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare—paid hospitals for Avastin and its two most significant biosimilar competitors.

As we demonstrate, health plans pay hospitals far above acquisition costs for biosimilars. What’s more, plans can pay hospitals more for a biosimilar than for the higher-cost reference product. The U.S. drug channel system is warping hospitals’ incentives to adopt biosimilars, while simultaneously raising costs for commercial plans.

The namesake of my alma mater once said: “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” What would happen if we disinfected the entire channel?
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Pharmacy negotiators in talks over plans to distribute COVID-19 treatments in primary care

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee is in talks with the government over potential plans to distribute COVID-19 treatments in primary care.




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Risk of mortality drops in COVID-19 patients given anticoagulation within a day of hospital admission, research finds

Starting COVID-19 patients on prophylactic anticoagulation within 24 hours of being admitted to hospital has been linked to a reduced risk of mortality.




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Pharmacies estimated to receive one referral per month through hospital-to-pharmacy referral service

Community pharmacies will receive an estimated 12 referrals from the Discharge Medicines Service per year.




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Chiesi launches postal asthma inhaler recycling scheme

The UK’s first postal inhaler recycling scheme has been launched by pharmaceutical company Chiesi to support a more sustainable way of living for people with respiratory illnesses.




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Hospitals face months of IV fluid shortages after Helene damages N.C. factory

Hospitals have been forced to innovate with new ways of hydrating patients and giving them medications, after a key factory that produces IV fluid bags flooded during Hurricane Helene. (This story first aired on Morning Edition on Nov. 7, 2024.)




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4 Areas Within Mental Health Care that Give Executives Hope

Mental health experts are hopeful about the de-stigmatization of behavioral health, the promise of AI and other areas, they shared at a recent conference.

The post 4 Areas Within Mental Health Care that Give Executives Hope appeared first on MedCity News.




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Measuring Impact in Digital Youth Mental Health: What Investors Look For

Many companies are entering the digital youth mental health space, but it’s important to know which ones are effective, according to a panel of investors at the Behavioral Health Tech conference.

The post Measuring Impact in Digital Youth Mental Health: What Investors Look For appeared first on MedCity News.




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The Trust-Building Playbook: 5 Tips Every Digital Health Marketer Needs to Know

Building trust while simultaneously building products, selling, recruiting, and fundraising can feel impossible. But it’s required whether you have the time or not, and it doesn’t stop no matter how big you grow.

The post The Trust-Building Playbook: 5 Tips Every Digital Health Marketer Needs to Know appeared first on MedCity News.




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Closing Staffing Gaps in Healthcare by Utilizing Diverse Pipelines of Contingent Talent

By adopting a contingent workforce model and investing in the right data tools to power better informed decision-making and talent strategy, healthcare organizations can begin to address staffing challenges and turn their talent goals into reality. 

The post Closing Staffing Gaps in Healthcare by Utilizing Diverse Pipelines of Contingent Talent appeared first on MedCity News.




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How One Massachusetts Maternal Mental Health Program Scaled Across the Country

During a recent panel, experts discussed the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP) for Moms and how it achieved scale.

The post How One Massachusetts Maternal Mental Health Program Scaled Across the Country appeared first on MedCity News.




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Fort Health Secures $5.5M to Expand Access to Integrated Pediatric Mental Health Care

Fort Health’s $5.5 million in funding was led by Twelve Below and Vanterra and included participation from Redesign Health, Blue Venture Fund and True Wealth Ventures.

The post Fort Health Secures $5.5M to Expand Access to Integrated Pediatric Mental Health Care appeared first on MedCity News.




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Despite COVID-19 Challenges Dental Therapy Had a Watershed 2020 and Is Poised to Grow

2020 was a difficult year for dental providers as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the country. When stay-at-home orders went into effect in the spring, dental offices closed their doors to all but emergency patients.




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Pain Management in Crisis: Why Hospitals Are Limiting Pain Medications and What This Means for Patients

Hospitals across the U.S. have significantly restricted the use of pain medications containing narcotics. This shift comes amid […]

The post Pain Management in Crisis: Why Hospitals Are Limiting Pain Medications and What This Means for Patients appeared first on World of DTC Marketing.




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J&J must pay $19m to man who says its talc caused his cancer, jury finds

Johnson & Johnson must pay US$15 million (S$19.6 million) to a Connecticut man who alleges that he developed mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer, as a result of using the company's talc powder for decades, a jury found on Tuesday (Oct 15). Plaintiff Evan Plotkin sued the company in 2021 soon after his diagnosis, saying he was sickened by inhaling J&J's baby powder. The jury in Fairfield County, Connecticut Superior Court also found that the company should pay additional punitive damages, which will be determined later by the judge overseeing the case. "Evan Plotkin and his trial team are thrilled that a jury once again decided to hold Johnson & Johnson accountable for their marketing and sale of a baby powder product that they knew contained asbestos," Ben Braly, a lawyer for Plotkin, said in an email. Erik Haas, J&J's worldwide vice president of litigation, said in a statement that the company would appeal "erroneous" rulings by the trial judge that kept the jury from hearing critical facts about the case.




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Proposed law could mandate treatment for community disturbances linked to mental health

The Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) will be able to mandate mental health treatment for those who cause unreasonable interferences in the community if a bill to amend the Community Disputes Resolution Act (CDRA) goes through.  The bill was proposed in Parliament by Minister for Community, Culture and Youth Edwin Tong on Tuesday (Nov 12). The CDRT currently hears disputes under CDRA between neighbours involving acts of unreasonable interference with the enjoyment or use of places of residence. Under the bill, the tribunal will be able to issue Mandatory Treatment Orders (MTO) should there be a belief that the acts of disturbance stem from an underlying psychiatric condition. "In those cases, the issue therefore is not just a disamenity one," Minister Tong said. "Hence, the MTO is intended to address the root cause of certain acts that a resident may engage in." Tong added that their priority remains in persuading the resident to go for treatment voluntarily, and that the CDRT-issued MTO is a measure of last resort. There are also criteria that must be met for the MTO to be issued.




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IMF holds unusual talks with Pakistan over $9.4 billion bailout

ISLAMABAD — The International Monetary Fund's Pakistan mission chief Nathan Porter on Tuesday (Nov 12) opened unusual talks with Pakistan over a US$7 billion (S$9.4 billion) bailout approved by its board in September, the finance ministry and sources said. The unscheduled visit of the IMF mission and talks beginning with meeting the country's finance team are too early for first review of the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which is due in the first quarter of 2025. The chiefs of Pakistan's central bank and federal board of revenue also attended the meeting besides other officials from both the sides, the statement said. The ministry and the IMF have not officially released details of the visit. Sources in the finance ministry said the Nov 11-15 visit will discuss recent developments and programme performance to date, adding the mission was not part of the first review. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with the media. Pakistan has been struggling with boom-and-bust economic cycles for decades, leading to 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.




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Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project: The Promise and Peril of High-Potential Environmental Partnerships

In the first comprehensive post-mortem analysis of the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project (NKMCAP), Reine Rambert and Amanda Sardonis examine how NKMCAP failed to live up to its potential, by focusing on three different dimensions of partnership effectiveness: 1) the sustainability of the partnership, 2) the effectiveness of the collaboration process itself, and 3) the achievement of the planned objectives. Rambert and Sardonis extract several transferable lessons from the challenges faced by NKMCAP that are highly consequential to partnership effectiveness.




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204260: U.S. special forces were embedded with Pakistan troops in 2009 anti-Taliban operations in the North-West Frontier Province




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Behind the Pakistan F-16 deal, a tale of many wheels

The sale was considered only ‘symbolically important' by the U.S., but had many strings attached




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Kerala Muslim bodies lambast Jamaat-e-Islami Hind for secret talks with RSS in Delhi

Several Muslim leaders in the State expressed displeasure at the parleys that a group of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind leaders held with their RSS counterparts in New Delhi in January.




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Digital Will Drive Ukraine's Modernization

Technology will play a crucial role in that process. Since 2014, Ukraine has been at the forefront of the digital revolution through a journey marked by strength, adaptability, and success.  Digital transformation transcends and affects all economic sectors in Ukraine. Digital solutions have been applied in a wide range of sectors including banking and finance, agriculture and food production, and energy, to cite a few. In that regard, digital transformation is key to a well-functioning society, affecting democratic participation, education, and public services.




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Should the United States Normalize Relations with the Taliban?

Foreign Affairs has recently published a number of articles on how the United States should engage with the Taliban government in Afghanistanextremist forces within the regimehow the West can help ordinary Afghans, and the fate of the country’s women. To complement these essays, Foreign Affairs asked a broad pool of experts for their take. As with previous surveys, Foreign Affairs approached dozens of authorities with expertise relevant to the question at hand, along with leading generalists in the field. Participants were asked to state whether they agreed or disagreed with a proposition and to rate their confidence level in their opinion. Two Belfer Center experts participated, International Security Executive Editor Jacqueline L. Hazelton and Future of Diplomacy Project Senior Fellow Paula Dobriansky.




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Is Stopping the War Between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Russia’s (Vital) Interest?

Simon Saradzhyan writes that the benefits that discontinuing the war on Russia’s terms can generate for defending or advancing Russia’s vital interests will exceed the costs of doing so.




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How Can Africa Master the Digital Revolution?

For a summary of Prof. Juma's Twitter Q&A on this topic, click here. #AskCJuma

Digital connectivity has the potential to do for Africa what railroads did for Western economies in the 19th century. The digital revolution is not just about communication. It is about recognizing that information is the currency of all economic activities.




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If We Develop Africa's Bioeconomy It Will Be as Transformative for Us as Digital Has Been

"Unlike the digital revolution that relied on pre-existing technologies, the new bioeconomy will involve more local research, teaching and commercialization. This will require greater involvement of local universities, especially those with an entrepreneurial inclination."






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US renewable diesel imports fall, spot liquidity stalls





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Carbon intensity reg pivotal to biobunkers in 2025





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Space Technology Advances: Catalysts for Conflict or Pathways for Human Progress?

Ensuring that space remains a domain for peaceful exploration and mutual benefit rather than a new frontier for conflict will significantly depend on the global community's ability to navigate the complex interplay of technological advancements, regulatory frameworks, economic opportunities, and geopolitical challenges. 

This paper was written for the final assignment of IGA-250, a Harvard Kennedy School course on emerging technology: security, strategy, and risk.




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Don't 'Jeopardize Free Speech That Is Fundamental' to Harvard, Says Prof

In this Q&A, Joseph S. Nye talks about his advice for the interim and future president of Harvard in the wake of Claudine Gay's resignation, which countries should be highest on our radar to prevent the threat of nuclear war, what role the U.S. should play in the Russia-Ukraine war, the significance of U.S. alliances in the Middle East, and more.




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Institutional investors' shifting allocation strategies are driving hedge funds towards new products - EY�s Natalie Deak on how hedge fund managers are pursuing growth

EY�s Natalie Deak on how hedge fund managers are pursuing growth









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CREATE A THANKSGIVING FEAST THAT WILL BE SURE TO KEEP THE FAMILY TALKING! - Lifestyle Expert Shares Easy Tricks For Turkey Day!

Lifestyle Expert Shares Easy Tricks For Turkey Day!






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Australia Launches New International Tourism Campaign - 3 minute aquatic and coastal film

3 minute aquatic and coastal film




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Love At First Floss--Parents And Kids Will Love Plackers® New Dual Grip Fruit Smoothie Swirl Kids' Flossers - Nutrition and Dental Health for Kids

Plackers presents nutrition and dental health tips to keep kids� teeth clean and mouths healthy.




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Arriving early on Digital HD April 1, 2016 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens In-Home Trailer

Discover the complete story behind the making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens when it comes to Digital HD April 1, and Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD April 5.