Tag Archives: opioids

PRIUM’s Mark Pew Addresses Ohio Self Insured Conference

ATLANTA, GA. (June 3, 2014) – PRIUM’s Mark Pew reviews ways to control opioid use in workers’ compensation during a panel discussion at the OSIA 40th Annual Conference, “Workers’ Comp Superheroes.”

Pew will join Denise Evans, director of workers’ compensation claims at Staffmark, Paige Bowling of Corporate Pharmacy Services, Inc., and Rafael Gonzales of Gould & Lamb for “PBM & Controlling Opiates,” starting at 9:30 a.m. on June 19. Panelists will examine growing pharmacy costs and strategies to mitigate their impact. They will discuss how self-insuring employers can best use a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), analytics and techniques for working with prescribing physicians to control pharmacy utilization and costs in order to manage claims and prepare a reasonable projection for settlement and Medicare Set-Aside (MSA) calculations. Continue reading

Hawaii Rx Drug Summit Examines the State’s Prescription Drug Problem

HONOLULU (May 15, 2013)― The Hawaii Rx Drug Summit 2013 focuses on impact of prescription drug abuse, particularly of narcotics, on patients, businesses and society.   Assembling stakeholders from government agencies, the medical community, law enforcement, and insurance industry, the summit examines prescription drug trends, cost drivers, and the dangers of using long-term opioids for chronic pain management, including addiction, overdose and death.

Nationally recognized managed care expert Joseph Paduda examines the practice of physician dispensing of marked-up repackaged drugs.

“Some doctors make a lot of money charging a lot more for drugs dispensed in their offices than in retail pharmacies,” Paduda said.  “Hawaii ranks 24 in the nation for the number of Hydrocodone prescriptions sold in doctor’s offices, but only 43 when Hydrocodone is sold in a retail pharmacy.  Could there be a perverse incentive for dispensing doctors to prescribe this addictive pain killer so much more often?”  Continue reading