May 28, 2021 | Commentary, Value-Based Drug Management
Chelko uses our unique clinical and sourcing expertise to dramatically reduce drug benefit costs for plan sponsors and improve member care. While others mistakenly chase discounts and rebates, we focus on removing waste and excessive profiteering from plans and helping members more affordably get the medications they need.
The fact is, too many people are using old strategies to take on new challenges. While brand and generic medications make up almost 99% of total prescriptions and have long been the primary focus of most cost reduction efforts, it’s more than time to shift our attention to the other 1%. (more…)
Mar 29, 2021 | by Lucia Vescera, Commentary, Value-Based Drug Management
The world is full of patients suffering from diseases without available therapeutic options and the FDA’s “accelerated approval” pathway offers many an additional degree of hope. Introduced in 1992 and later modified in 2012, the program is not without its downsides. (more…)
Jan 12, 2021 | News, Value-Based Drug Management
On behalf of everyone at Chelko and our clients, we would like to recognize the efforts of Lucia Vescera and Kelly Prymicz on National Pharmacist Day. (more…)
Oct 29, 2020 | Commentary, Value-Based Drug Management
Anyone who’s followed our firm lately has probably heard us talk about the $1 million+ drugs already here and those coming to market over the next few years. While early in the game, we’ve already had a few clients incur enormous claims for these budget-busting medications.
It’s likely many of you reading this are familiar with some of the well-known drugs out there, but according to our latest survey, 73% of employers do not have a plan in place to avoid surprises related to high cost therapies like the ones we’re discussing. And while some of you may have a stop loss policy in place as a safety net to protect against such catastrophic claims, unfortunately, that may not be a foolproof strategy. (more…)
Oct 5, 2020 | by Kelly Prymicz, Commentary, Value-Based Drug Management
When I was working in a large health system’s patient safety department, we empowered patients to be their own advocate. If something didn’t seem right, feel right, or had not been explained clearly, we encouraged them to speak up.
This is something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately as mega high-priced cell and gene therapies make their way on the market with only scant acknowledgement from plan sponsors. As evidenced by our frequent posts, webinars, and pretty much sharing with anyone who will listen (sorry Amazon delivery guy), our firm has been closely ― some would say obsessively ― following these emerging therapies. (more…)
Aug 24, 2020 | Commentary, Value-Based Drug Management
We’ve all likely seen at least one of the countless movies sharing this plot. You know the script: Large rock hurtles through space on a collision course with earth, leading to what will result in a mass extinction level event. That is, of course, unless divine intervention or the planet’s greatest minds hatch a plan to divert path of said rock.
Forgive our sense of the dramatic (and love of clever word play), but this scenario recently came to mind as we awaited what we thought was the imminent market introduction of gene therapy Roctavian. If you follow these sorts of things, you would know that Roctavian just received a rejection from the FDA. (more…)
