To Congress, the Department of Defense, and Federal Government Contract Decision Makers: Today marks the first day 15,000 community pharmacies across the U.S. can no longer serve active duty and retired military covered by TRICARE. It’s a drastic cut orchestrated by Cigna-owned Express Scripts in the name of “cost savings”…

“You should expect a choice of health care providers that is sufficient to ensure access to appropriate high-quality health care.” — TRICARE Beneficiary Brochure An apt description of how most of us already feel, “Lost Care and Broken Promises” is actually how Military.com first labeled the travesty of TRICARE decisions…

This month the Department of Justice (DOJ) meets UnitedHealth Group in court in an attempt to block the latter’s planned acquisition of Change Healthcare, not so much a healthcare company as a healthcare software company, whose value lies in its claims transmission and payment information services. …

Dear PCMA, We need to talk. It’s not good news. First, we feel we should thank you. Remarkably, your clients have somehow united the U.S. in a way usually reserved for terrorist attacks and tragic natural disasters. Also, we’re impressed at your latest PR offensive. How fascinating to watch the…

Last month, Janssen Pharmaceuticals released its 5th annual U.S. Transparency Report with a notable new addition: a detailed synopsis of how rebates, now hard-wired into insurance benefit design, essentially derail patients from accessing affordable medication. These access to care issues occur even as an elite group of Fortune 15 insurers…

Prescription drug cost is one of the few issues everyone can agree needs addressing, yet very few politicians seem able to abandon party-line rhetoric to confront the issue. Wealthy corporate campaign donations are now overriding basic common sense when it comes to reining in obvious systemic problems. Like climate change…

If you thought 2021, aka the follow-up to When Satan met 2020, seemed like a mixed bag of forward momentum and frustrating setbacks in the move to reform PBMs, you’re in good company. As we look over the year that was 2021, we’re encouraged by many of the high points…

It’s feeling a lot like PBM reform is getting really real as the largest pharmacy benefit managers, especially those that might own or exert enormous influence over large retail pharmacies, come under fire for issues related to real-world concerns for patient safety, drug pricing and limiting access to medications. First…

Like many community pharmacies, Newman Family Pharmacy is the kind of pharmacy patients choose for its incomparable commitment to service and care. A smaller pharmacy located in the heart of Chesapeake — Virginia’s working class and military family neighborhoods — Newman Family Pharmacy was set up to serve the very…