The Role of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Market. The United States is the worldwide leader in per capita prescription drug spending, representing between 30 and 40 percent of the worldwide market.
The Department of Defense established the first formal training program for medics and pharmacy technicians. True The education and certification of pharmacy technicians will improve the quality of healthcare and lower cost.
The first US organization to formally train pharmacy technicians was: Department of Defense The Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) provides Proof of Knowledge for hospital Pharmacy and Retail Pharmacy The pharmacy technician serves as a _____ in the hospital pharmacy. Pharmacists Assistant
Further complicating the relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and patients is the fact that drug manufacturers in the U.S. are allowed to market their products directly to patients, which can inform patients about available therapies but is also proven to contribute to over-prescribing of the advertised drugs.
There has been much focus in the past few years on specialty drugs in the U.S., which are drugs that are available in very limited supply, require special handling, and/or come with a very high price tag.
The United States is the worldwide leader in per capita prescription drug spending, representing between 30 and 40 percent of the worldwide market. Many global pharmaceutical companies also have a presence in the U.S. Further, a paper written by Arthur Daemmrich for the Harvard Business School reports that in 2007, ...
Biotechnology companies make up another sub-sector of the pharmaceutical industry that works to bring new treatments to the market. While traditional small-molecule drug companies use synthetic ingredients to create medications, biotechnology drugs are usually proteins manufactured in a living system, such as an animal or a plant. Biotechnology drugs are usually highly expensive. Generic versions of biotechnology drugs are not available, although in 2010 the U.S. developed a regulatory pathway to encourage production of so-called “biosimilar” drugs that should act in clinically equivalent ways to the original biotechnology drug. Dozens of biosimilar drugs are now in widespread use in Europe, leading to some cost-savings, although not nearly at the level of generic small-molecule drugs.
In fact, once six or more generic manufacturers are in the market for a particular drug, that drug can cost 90 percent less than the original branded medication.
The drugs move from manufacturers to wholesalers, the middlemen that provide the drug to the pharmacy or retailer who sells it to the end user. In the U.S., the majority of the pharmaceutical wholesaler business is concentrated in a few companies that hold the majority of the market share.
Generic drugs contain the same active ingredients, strength, and dosage as the branded drug, and are approved by the FDA as bioequivalent to the brand-name version. Studies show that generic drugs are clinically equivalent to brand-name drugs. Generic drugs are usually also much less expensive than branded medications.
Since then, a number of politicians have proposed allowing Medicare to use its market power to negotiate lower drug prices, although Congress has yet to pass such a provision. Through the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, state Medicaid agencies are entitled to rebates on medications for their beneficiaries.
This chapter focuses on healthcare delivery organizations and is limited to two major entities: (1) integrated delivery systems (IDSs) and large physician groups and (2) hospitals.
Many experts believe that healthcare delivery organizations, including hospitals, are better positioned than physicians in solo and small group practices to generate and use evidence in clinical decision making ( Casalino et al., 2003a; Crosson, 2005; Enthoven and Tollen, 2005 ).
The experts interviewed for this chapter described the following opportunities for improved evidence-based decision making.
Although all of the opportunities described above are important for improving evidence-based decision making, several key initiatives that have the potential to transform the way in which the healthcare delivery organization sector generates and uses evidence have been identified.
The interviewees included Madhulika Agarwal, Chief Patient Care Services Officer, Veterans Health Administration; Ahmed Calvo, Medical Advisor, Center for Quality, Health Resources and Services Administration; Denis Cortese, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mayo Clinic; Roscoe Dandy, Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, Health Resources and Services Administration; Carolyn Days-Mustille, Codirector, Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute; Benjamin Druss, Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental Health and Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University; Kay Felix-Aaron, Director, Office of Quality Data, Center for Quality, Health Resources and Services Administration; Nancy Foster, Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety, American Hospital Association; Denise Geolot, Director, Center for Quality, Health Resources and Services Administration; Steve Mayfield, Director, American Hospital Association Quality Center; Gregg Meyer, Medical Director, Massachusetts General Physician Organization (MGPO) and Senior Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety, Massachusetts General Hospital and MGPO; Lynnette Nilan, Office of Patient Care Services, U.S.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Evidence-based practice centers. 2007. [accessed August 31, 2007]. http://www .ahrq.gov/clinic/epc/
With regard to the legalities pertaining to the Affordable Care Act, the US Supreme Court decided that federal subsidies were to be made available only to those who purchased health insurance through an exchange established by a state. False.
Two types of financing mechanisms commonly used in managed care plans are capitation and discounted fees. True.