美国风湿病学会(ACR)报告称,目前有来自106个国家的1.5万名与会者出席了在芝加哥举行的2018年年会,并展出了3000多份摘要。Also on tap: session after session highlighting the newest research and filling in information gaps, and the Arthritis Foundation’s Patient Reps are hard at work going to them and reporting back with their findings and impressions.
Donna Dernier attended a session called “Mechanics of PBMs and Patient Access to Medications.” PBMs, which stands for Pharmacy Benefit Managers, are the groups that work between drug manufacturers andhealth insurance plansthat decide which drugs are in the plans’ formulary, how much they will cost and who will have access. “They are totally opaque, powerful, they use a system of rebates and fees to set the prices. They are largely unregulated,” says Dernier. Thanks to long, complicated forms that medical practices have to fill out, “Lots of practices cannot handle that workload and their patients lose out,” she says.Continue readingACR 2018 Sessions Include Drug Pricing, OA Treatments, Diet as Therapy