Sharon Jhawar, Chief Pharmacy Officer at SCAN Health Plan, said the organization researched their health plans to figure out what inequities existed in their members. What stood out was that their quality was lower for Black members and they weren't meeting their needs. They also saw in medication adherence, a significantly lower percentage of their Hispanic and Black members who were non-adherent. With the help of AI and cultural matching patients with physicians, they have noticed the improvement of adherence from their patients.

Jane F. Barlow, MD, MPH, MBA, chief clinical officer of Real Endpoints led a presentation at the annual AMCP meeting that can help align payers and their manufactures for success in value-based contracting. In this interview Barlow gives some insight on where we are now with value-based contracting compared to a few years ago and if it's gained some traction or if there are challenges that remain. She also touched what therapies are prime candidates for value-based contracting.

Melissa Andel of CommonHealth Solutions spoke at the AMCP annual meeting today in San Antonio about the ins and outs of the Inflation Reduction Act. She shared her discussion highlights the Act's plans of cost shifting in healthcare and the Medicare part-D benefit re-design. In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive, Andel addressed the Eli Lilly $35 Insulin cap and how plans of price negotiation will resonate with the public. She also expressed what we may expect through Congress when it comes to repealing any provisions through the IRA, and what could be coming through inflation penalty rebates.

Ben Urick, PharmD, PhD, Health Outcomes Research Principal at Prime Therapeutics, LLC, discussed how non-adherence to medication has lead to medical cost offsets and shared solutions to improve adherence from patients and providers. In particular, Urick shared best data-collecting practices that can in-turn improve both adherence and cost. Urick led a discussion on the challenges leading to non-adherence and shared the efforts underway to remove them at the annual AMCP meeting in San Antonio.

When asked for solutions in better managing expensive drug costs, Michelle Booth of Magellan suggests a "mortgage-like" payment that could help make these therapies, which are covered under medical benefits, more accessible and affordable. Because there aren't many gene therapies out there just yet in the market, there hasn't been much pressure in offering discounts through value-based contracts to patients. Though, more discussions on this initiative are happening, Andy Killpack also of Magellan, said in the second-part of a two part AMCP annual meeting video series.

Magellan's Michelle Booth and Andy Killpack presented today at the annual AMCP meeting in San Antonio to discuss equitable access to recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapy as there are currently many barriers patients face toward treatment. Booth, senior director of specialty clinical solutions, claims though cost plays a significance in access, there are much more barriers from education to income that lead to inequities. Killpack and booth share solutions and other gene therapies expected to come to market.

At the annual AMCP meeting, Summit Re's Vice President of Actuarial & Underwriting, Rick Lassow, FSA, MAAA, led a discussion on managing high-cost medications through reinsurance and stop-loss programs. In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive Lassow addresses high-cost cell and gene therapies ran through reinsurance and how Medicaid can benefit the most from reinsurance programs.

Jennifer Roggenbuck, MS, LGC, and Laynie Dratch, ScM, CGC, discuss common genetic mutations associated with ALS.

Genetic testing for family members of patients diagnosed with ALS can provide opportunities for early awareness and disease intervention.