E.V.I.dently
November 2009
Vol. 1, No. 8

Message From NPC

More Employers Are Taking Steps to Improve Medication Compliance

More employers are taking steps to improve their employees’ health by making sure they take their medicines as prescribed, a move that could stave off more serious and costly health consequences, according to a newly published report sponsored by the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC). MORE

Evidence-Based Medicine Research and Issues

NPC Study Looks at CER and Innovation

A new NPC-sponsored study prepared by Avalere Health presented an analytic framework for evaluating the potential impact of comparative effectiveness research (CER) on healthcare innovation. The research -- presented at an Avalere Health symposium, "Bridge the Gap / Proving the Value of Healthcare Innovation" -- comes amid intensifying interest into how deeper federal investment in CER might help to inform healthcare decision making as well as how it might affect healthcare delivery, access, and costs.
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Senate Unveils Health Care Bill

The Senate has started debate on its version of health care reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is a combination of two bills approved earlier in the year by the Finance Committee and the Health, Employee, Labor and Pensions Committee.  The 2,074-page bill is expected to cost $849 billion over 10 years, and the CER provisions differ significantly from the legislation passed by the House of Representatives. MORE

Health Technology Assessment Group News

HHS Secretary Appoints Members to AHRQ National Advisory Council 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has appointed seven new members to the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The council provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary and the director of the agency on priorities for a national health services research agenda and consists of 21 members from the private sector and seven ex-officio members from other federal health agencies. Additional information about the council is available on AHRQ’s website.

New NICE Program to Evaluate Medical Technologies Established

The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is launching a new program focusing specifically on the evaluation of innovative medical technologies, including devices and diagnostics. This new program will both complement and operate in conjunction with NICE’s existing technology appraisal capacity, which will continue to evaluate new pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. MORE

Health & Productivity Issues

NBCH eValue8™ Report Reveals Health Plans’ Ability to Align Employee Incentives to Improve Health Status

To assist employers in understanding how to more effectively work with their health plans to implement programs to lower costs, the non-profit National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) developed a new guide – funded by NPC -- around health plan capabilities to support Value Based Benefit Design (VBBD). The publicly available report, “Health Plan Capabilities to Support Value Based Benefit Design," highlights data reported by health plans that participate in eValue8 TM, a standardized Request for Information (RFI) tool used by employers and coalitions to gather health care data from more than 70 HMO and PPO health plans. MORE

In Other News

NPC Board Elects Pfizer’s Sainpy as 2010 Chairman 

NPC’s Board of Directors elected Marie-Caroline Sainpy, Regional President for the NE Primary Care Business Unit at Pfizer Inc, to serve as Chairman for 2010. 

Ms. Sainpy has served in a variety of senior roles at Pfizer, which she joined in 1982. Prior to her current position, she was Senior Vice President/General Manager of the Customer Business Unit and Commercial Operations for the US. Prior to joining Pfizer Ms. Sainpy worked for Organon’s U.S. Pharmaceutical Division, and Lazard Frères in New York. She has served on NPC’s Board since 2007, most recently as Vice Chairman.

The NPC Board also elected Kevin T. Rigby, Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, to serve as its Vice Chairman, and Robert A. McMahon, President of U.S. Commercial Operations at Merck & Co., as Treasurer. MORE

Events

AstraZeneca, NPC to Host Town Hall Meeting on CER 

The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) invites you to participate in an interactive Town Hall hosted by AstraZeneca on December 10, 2009, in Wilmington, DE, to learn more about CER and explore how it can be designed to inform health care decision making while sustaining innovation and patient access to needed medicines. The meeting also will feature the release of a new study examining the impact of data and methodology on CER conclusions, including a critical examination of several case studies. MORE

NPC President Moderates Health Care Reform Discussion at P&T Society Conference

NPC President Dan Leonard moderated a discussion on the outlook for health care reform with Dean Rosen, one of the nation’s top health care experts, at the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Society’s 9th Annual Conference on November 6. Rosen is currently a partner at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti and previously held a series of high-level positions in both government and the private sector.  

Leonard serves on the board of directors of the P&T Society. 

NPC’s Dr. Paul to Join Panel Discussion at FDA/CMS Summit 

Dr. Les Paul, NPC VP for Clinical and Scientific Affairs, will take part in a panel discussion on “New Commercial Realities: Pricing, Marketing and Product Acceptance” at the FDA/CMS Summit 2009 on December 4 in Washington, D.C. Panel participants include Rob Seidman, former Chief Pharmacy Officer at Wellpoint; Chuck Stevens, Vice President and General Manager, Reimbursement and Market Access, at PAREXEL Consulting; and Dee Prince, Co-founder and Principal of the Health Strategies Group. The panel will look at some of the existing commercial programs that may be a jump-start on health care reform. Registration is available on the Windhover website.