Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists' 23rd Annual Meeting and Showcase

Center of Excellence Media had two early morning satellite symposia during the AMCP Annual Meeting, and both had a good turn-out. Attendees ranged from providers and payers to patients and pharmaceutical representatives. I, myself, have learned more about the process used by payers when making decisions for members of their respective health-plans. In the absence of comparative, head-to-head trials, how do you choose to provide one drug over another? How do you weigh risk vs benefit for novel drugs that are indicated for a condition or disease for which there is a less expensive "gold-standard" already available? What are pre-authorization decisions really based on?

Outcomes and clinical pathways....these seem to be the "hot topics" at the AMCP Annual Meeting! Another question that seems to be coming up, no matter what the therapeutic area, is "With the increase in patient co-pays, how much patient input into the decision is appropriate?" All these questions have got my brain stewing...and ideas (and more questions) are blooming by the minute. Personally, I cannot wait to see what we can do in the upcoming months and what educational programs we can provide for this exciting target audience.