Meeting Preview: AMCP Nexus 2017

AMPC Nexus 2017, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s annual Meeting  (October 16–19 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Dallas, Texas) is a literal nexus of professionals from all across the managed care spectrum coming together to share data on the latest developments in health care cost management. The conference is geared toward giving attendees insight into how managed care can best serve the needs of the millions of patients in the country who rely on health care decision makers to guide them into affordable and quality care. Attendees will gain valuable knowledge on the latest innovations and important clinical, government, and business issues facing the industry. Managed care professionals will also be introduced to powerful tools to help find solutions for any issues, ranging from improving outcomes to reducing heath care costs. AMCP Nexus 2017 provides a place for health care professionals to meet with the common goal of conquering the challenges that face health care today.

To help inform and excite attendees, First Report Managed Care has compiled a brief overview of the meeting and the educational sessions that cannot be missed. Please refer to the final program and meeting website (www.amcpmeetings.org) for a complete list of all sessions, speakers and locations, and other events.

Education Tracks

The AMCP educational tracks allow professionals, ranging from medical directors to nurses, to customize their meeting experience. Attendees can easily use the color-coded sessions to navigate the meeting tracks—in order to get the most pertinent information out of their conference experience. 

The education sessions are categorized in five targeted program tracks:

• Changing the Way We Pay for Health Care

This track will help professionals stay up-to -date on the most pressing topics that are broadly impacting managed care.  An ideal track for those looking to expand their knowledge on contracts between payers, the MACRA transition, and benefit designs based on new quality measures.

• Drugs, Diseases and the Managed Care Impact
Advances and new options in specialty medicine, such as managing drug spend and utilization will be discussed. This track is for those looking to understand how breakthroughs in specific disease states can improve treatments and reduce costs. This track will also focus on drugs in the pipeline that could impact treatment decisions in the near future.

• Legislative and Regulatory Trends: From Rhetoric to Practice
With the medical legislative landscape in a transition period, these sessions will help attendees understand how modern reform efforts may affect them. This education track will cover both state- and federal-level legislation. Topics in this track include biosimilar law, star ratings, and HCEI regulations.

• Managed Care Research in Action

How managed care research is being used in daily and long-term decision-making. These sessions boil down the most important and noteworthy new findings in health economics and outcomes research, patient-reported outcomes, and other topics. This track also includes poster research sessions.

• Specialty Pharmacy Management: Keeping Up With Runaway Innovation
The realm of specialty pharmacy is the fastest changing sector of health care. This track will help attendees get a handle on the constantly changing landscape of treatment options by providing insight into which areas are worth your time. Topics in this track will explore everything from biosimilars to the cost burden of specialty drug spending.

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HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

• 8:15 AM-9:30 am

Specialty Pharmaceuticals in Development  
Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapeutics at Express Scripts, will breakdown the forthcoming likely FDA approvals of specialty medications.  The trend over the last several years has shown that US FDA approvals of specialty drugs have far outpaced those of traditional drugs. One question on stakeholders’ minds is “How will these specialty medications affect the dynamic health care landscape and managed care pharmacy?” During the session, faculty will focus on the pipeline of new and emerging therapies in this drug class and look at their role in therapy. Faculty will also discuss the potential impact of these agents on managed care markets.

• 9:50 AM-11:20 am

Federal and State Legislative and Regulatory Update 
Reginia Grayson Benjamin, BS, JD, director of legislative affairs at AMCP, and Mary Jo Carden, RPh, JD, vice president of government and pharmacy affairs at AMCP, will discuss the latest federal and state legislative and regulatory actions that need to be on the radar of every managed care and pharmacy professional. Legislative topics will include the ongoing ACA repeal and replace efforts, Medicare Part D and Part B, and biosimilar law. Additionally, state regulator topics will include the opioid epidemic, price gouging laws, and utilization management restrictions.

• 9:50 PM-11:20 am

Specialty Benefit Design at the Intersection of High Deductible Health Plans and Health Savings
Paul Fronstin, PhD, director of research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute; Ilene L Hollin, PhD, MPH, of the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics; and Chuck Reynolds, MS, a health care consultant at Benfield-Gallagher, will explain the impact that recent complications to benefit design—such as health savings accounts and high deductible plans—on health populations using specialty medications. Attendees will be given an understanding of the best options for patients in high deductible health plans who use specialty medications and are burdened by high cost-sharing.

• 12:45 PM-2:15 pm

Diabetes: Value Based Insurance Designs (VBID) Real-World Evidence
Value based insurance design is gaining popularity among self-insured employers looking to reduce health care costs. This session will update specialty pharmacists and health care decision makers on the intricacies of value based benefit design among patients taking daily insulin for diabetes. The presenters will also discuss the recent clinical diabetes trials, as well as cover real-world diabetes costs.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 

• 8:30 AM-9:30 am

Managed Care Role in Advancing and Supporting New Models of Care in the Primary Care Setting
Patient-centered medical home (PCMH) models are becoming ubiquitous in the primary care space. Suzanne E Beck, MS; Diana L Nadler, PhD; and Stephanie Ross, PharmD, all of Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan, will discuss how PCMH, and more recent changes like Enhanced Primary Care, are impacting managed care organizations. This session will cover cost containment strategies as they applied to multidisciplinary medical teams within regional health plans. Quality measurement, quality improvement, and provider satisfaction strategies will also be discussed as key elements of successfully integrating managed care with new primary care models.

• 8:00 AM-9:30 am

Best Practices in Combating Opioid Abuse, Misuse and Diversion: The Health Plan Perspective
Health plans are the most uniquely positioned stakeholders in the fight against opioid abuse. Douglas Nemecek, MD, MBA, chief medical officer of Behavioral Health at Cigna, and copresenters, will break down the best strategies for managed care to combat opioid misuse and diversion. This session will also cover how data and analytics can be used from a technological standpoint to reduce medication misuse.

• 9:50 AM-11:20 am

Incorporating Best Practices in Transgender Health Policies and Formulary Development into Your Health Plan
As the number of patients who openly identify as transgender increases, it will become critical for health plans to fill and gaps in coverage that this patient population may face. The presenters will discuss their experience with developing a formulary for transgender patients that meets their medical needs and the requirements of the state. This session will also cover the legislative and regulatory trends impacting health care coverage for transgender patients. 

• 9:50 AM-11:20 am

Payer & Manufacturer Communications: What’s Changed & How Does it Impact Managed Care Pharmacy?
At the beginning of 2017, the FDA released long awaited guidance on how payers can communicate with pharmaceutical manufacturers regarding health care economic information (HCEI). The regulations may be difficult to interpret and have left many with questions. The presenters of this session will clarify new HCEI sharing regulations in order to help facilitate meaningful communications between pharma and payers.

Thursday, October 19, 2017 

• 8:00 AM-9:30 am

Non-Payer Generated Data & Formulary Decision-Making: What’s the Connection?
The wealth of data and research developed by external sources should be a boon for formulary decision makers; however, experts often dismiss this data as unreliable or impractical for applying to multiple patient populations. The presenters will break down how formulary decision makers can reliably utilize research from outside sources such as the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. 

• 9:45AM-11:15 am

Rare Disease Therapies: Management Strategies to Pipeline Implications for Health Plans
Alexandra Tungol Lin, PharmD, and Elizabeth Saltzman, PharmD, pharmacy managers at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, will help the audience understand which of the 560 rare disease treatments in the pipeline are worth keeping an eye on. This session will also give payers strategies for expediting the review process for rare disease drugs. The presenters will also highlight how one health plan is currently excelling at management of patients using rare disease treatments.