On August 25, 2014 Concierge Compounding Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Concierge) filed a motion for temporary restraining order, a memorandum in support, and a complaint for injunctive relief against Express Scripts. In the complaint Concierge, states that it specializes in compounded prescription medications and is "a fully licensed, single-location retail pharmacy, that has approximately 50 employees, It is licensed in 40 states and fills approximately 6,900 prescriptions per month to patients nationwide." Concierge also states that is contracts with a PSAO, AmerisourceBergen drug Corporation d/b/a Good Neighbor Pharmacy Provider Network in order to do business with Express Scripts and other PBMS. It claims 80 to 85 percent of its customers are members of health plans whose prescription drug benefits are managed by Express Scripts. Concierge apparently received a termination letter from Express Scripts indicating it had incorrectly answered a
question "no." The question asked whether Concierge had ever waived or offered a reduction of member co-pay. Concierge indicates it has a policy against this except in the case of hardship, and that this hardship policy doesn't make its answer on the question untrue. The court has set a hearing on the motion for tomorrow August 29, 2014.
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Motion
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Memo of Law in Support of Motion
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Complaint for Injunctive Relief
3 comments:
Is this the pharmacy with registration hurdle in Idaho due to felony charge? See: http://bop.idaho.gov/board_meeting/2013-08-13and14_Minutes_Final_01-09-2014.pdf
Very very interesting case developing here. If chemical ingredients for mixing up largely experimental compounded drugs hold separate NDCs and are covered under tier II, separate co-pays should be required for each ingredient? Otherwise, pharmacies could compound multiple active ingredients in one dosage form for the sole purpose of avoiding co-pays, particularly if the AWPs for the ingredients are sufficiently inflated?
Hard to believe I just used the acronym AWP and chemical ingredient the same sentence--in the grand American tradition, this is compounding "super-sized."
The co-pay issue is in the self interest of the payer, i.e., controlling over utilization, but, there are other more troubling patient safety and supply chain security concerns related to paying for ingredients, versus finished pharmaceuticals.
Thinking in high-level marketing sound bites, it all sounds really good--the doctor orders a customized drug when a patient cannot use an FDA-approved product, partly the result of industry failing to invest in small market needs.
But if you scratch below the surface, there is a lot of missing information--does the doctor or insurer consider that the formulas haven't been evaluated for safety and efficacy? Even more troubling may be the chemical ingredients themselves--these white powders in jars, having traveled through global supply channels, may come with "certificates of analysis," that, at the high level marketing sound bite, sound really good too. But, displayed results may exclude criteria relevant to the dosage form made (residual solvents, microbial content), and for the criteria that are listed, the stated results may not be guaranteed by the seller. How does this white powder in a jar become a tier ii level Rx product?
You can't distill this level of necessary problem-solving, albeit for a sometimes necessary pharmacy practice, into a soundbite.
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