December 2003
How medical directors reconcile the contradictory demands of physician and executive roles.
As with so much else in health care, observing protocols, analyzing data, and rethinking benefit designs are important.
In the past, reducing demand for care by raising patients' costs has resulted in the loss of some needed care. Can we avoid the trap?
PBMs can do only so much to keep drug price increases in the single digits. Initiatives instituted by health plans can help in this effort.
Improved outcomes with new biologic agents are prompting physicians to integrate them into therapy for psoriasis patients.
Departments
Viewpoint
Why don't small employers consider health care quality information the same way large employers do when making benefits decisions? We asked the president of NCQA.
Margaret E. O'Kane
Legislation & Regulation
Three decades after Hawaii was supposed to have put a controversial end to a chronic problem by making employers cover more people, guess what persists?
John Carroll
Compensation Monitor
Tomorrow's Medicine
Maintaining tight glucose control is difficult to accomplish, but adding amylin to the mix may be the answer.
Thomas Morrow, MD
Employer Update
Employers are beginning to tap into the groundswell of employee interest in reducing premiums.
MargaretAnn Cross
The Formulary Files
Managed Care Outlook