Challenges in Formulary Management Across Patient Populations and Practice Settings
Moderator: Perry Cohen, PharmD, The Pharmacy Group, LLC, Glastonburg, Connecticut.
Representatives from diverse practice settings described their process for formulary management within their individual practice settings.
Speaker: Joseph B. Fox, MD, Vice President, The Healthcare Group

Health Policy Update
Speaker: Rex Cowdry, MD, MPH, Associate Director, National Economic Council.
The market for health care poses a number of challenges for proponents of competitive markets, even though the markets have immensely desirable features in terms of incentives to enhance quality, control costs, and develop innovative approaches to treatment and to the organization and financing [...]

The Impact of P&T Committee Decision Strategies: Prescription to Over-the-Counter Switches
Speaker: Celynda Tadlock, PharmD, MBA, Director of Corporate Clinical Business Operations, Wellpoint Pharmacy Management, West Hills, California.
Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are an undervalued resource for several reasons:

They are easily accessible to consumers.
They are at least as effective as many prescribed drugs.
The FDA’s standards for approving OTC [...]

Speaker: Burton Orland, RPh, Vice President of Pharmacy, Oxford Health Plans, Inc.
There is an opportunity for improving health care for patients with the following chronic diseases: asthma, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. In keeping with the PTS report, the “practice of excellence” in patient care would involve selecting the appropriate medication and developing and implementing programs aimed [...]

The P&T Society’s Response to the Institute of Medicine’s Reports
Moderator: Joseph Eichenholz, Managing Director, Tri-genesis Management Systems, Chatham, New Jersey. (See Mr. Eichenholz’ overview on page 439.)
Speaker: Michael B. Nichol, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy, University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, California

The Institute of Medicine’s Agenda for Health Care Quality: Past, Present, and Future
Keynote Speaker: Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD, President, Institute of Medicine.
The pathways to improving the quality of health care in the U.S. involve two strategies: developing better drug interventions and devising better ways to do things using existing technologies.

PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
The Value of Therapy: The Role of the P&T Society
Speaker: J. Lyle Bootman, PhD, President, P&T Society.
Drug-related morbidity and mortality represent a “silent disease in America.” The value of the quality of health care depends on the accessibility of medicine to patients and on the cost of medicine. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is [...]