March 2012

Cover Story

Incentives Are Good (Except When They’re Bad)
Just about everyone except the patient is offering some kind of incentive to do something, but beware of unintended, not to say unwanted, outcomes: the notorious perverse incentive

Frank Diamond

North Carolina PCMH’s Data Offer Promise, Spur Debate
Community Care of North Carolina says it has data on decreased hospital utilization and ER visits

Joseph Burns

Employers Mostly in the Dark When It Comes to Biologics
A national survey finds big gaps in knowledge about how to manage these costly drugs

Cheryl Larson ; Margaret Rehayem ; Larry Boress ; F. Randy Vogenberg

Less Pain, Lower Costs: Can Integrative Medicine Do Both?
Employers believe in this hybrid approach. Is it time for medical insurers to look at it carefully?

Carol Milano

Peer-Reviewed

Clinical and Economic Outcomes of the Cincinnati Pharmacy Coaching Program for Diabetes and Hypertension
The program showed significant improvements in all diabetes and hypertension-related clinical measures

Debra Wertz, PharmD ; Likun Hou, MS ; Andrea DeVries, PhD ; Leon Dupclay Jr., PharmD, PhD ; Frannie McGowan, PharmD, CDE ; Barry Malinowski, MD

Editor’s Memo

Culture Plays Key Part In Making Incentives Work

John Marcille

Legislation & Regulation

AWP Leaves, AAC Arrives; Can It Really Do the Job?
The new system is supposed to have transparent pricing, but some say it is susceptible to manipulation, which was AWP’s downfall

John Carroll

Medication Management

Tackling Psychosis & Depression with Pharmacologic Biomarkers
Developers make progress with genetic markers aimed at improving drug response

Thomas Reinke

Compensation Monitor

Hospital administrators see bump in pay
The Formulary Files

Employers identify strategies to reduce pharmacy costs
Tomorrow’s Medicine

Rules for Evaluating Biosimilars Put Applicants Through Hoops
The FDA will make a final determination on regulations intended to permit the sale of ‘follow-on’ biologics

Thomas Morrow, MD

Managed Care Outlook

States and plans adjust to ACA’s reality



News & Commentary

Briefly Noted

Main Reasons Why Docs Hide Truth

Utilization drives costs for medical devices

Disease Management’s ‘Death’ Topic of Ongoing, Heated Debate