Pharmacy Benefits, Rx Law and Career Development for Week Incoming 2/5/23

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Lights. ?? Coffee. ?? Action! ??

Another week, another round of news from the arenas of Pharmacy Benefits, Pharmacy Law, and Career Development - for the first full week incoming of February 2023 - yippie!

Pharmacy Benefits

• Are Pharmacists Overeducated? I knew this post was going to be a controversial topic, but not at the level it turned out to be of controversy. What I was really trying to challenge here was the notion that everyone either needed to have a 4-year undergrad degree and then a 3-4 year pharmacy program out of the gate or a 0-6 year program out of high school. Is all this front-loaded education (and debt) really necessary? What about a 2-4-6 strategy? What about trades and apprenticeships outside of formal higher education? I believe there are options, and the setting doesn't really matter - it's not just retail that transcends this challenge - it's all settings for pharmacy. I welcome your thoughts, pharmacists!

• Imagine your company was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal....remember this one-liner from your ethics professor? I'm actually okay with it, as Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC has been in the WSJ now several times - but for good reasons! This week, WSJ published another article on our company saving Americans $. If you want to work for more than just a paycheck, but for good - bookmark our jobs page, for you may miss great job postings with a great company. (BTW, we actually lowered the price of some of our drugs this week - yay!)
• The Dollar Store of....Healthcare? This week's poll of the week was on the big news of Dollar General beta testing primary care mobile offices helping with primary care. Wanted to see what you thought about it - with the poll only remaining open a few hours - here are the results thus far. There are definitely some strong opinions here, but hey - I think any time that a company brings legitimate healthcare to an underserved community is a win.

• Thanks to APhA for the shot at trying to explain the differences between programs like discount coupons, copay card maximizers and accelerators, PAP programs, bridge programs, and all the tools in our toolbox for lowering the cost of prescription drugs. I spoke for APhA in part of a series on pharmacy benefits, which apparently is coming soon as a homestudy certificate course with APhA. (I want to take it myself!) If you're interested, keep your eyes on the CE section of their website, and you too can gather more advocacy tools for your patients on high-cost drugs!

Pharmacy Law

• More more more - the Pharmacy Law arena is hard to keep up with and never boring these days. In just one post, there was a dizzying array of topics this week:

What should cause more heartburn than ever these days is the confusion around women's rights state by state and the ability (or disability) of pharmacies to serve their patients who need access to a range of therapies, including drugs that prevent pregnancy or can terminate a pregnancy. Sometimes, there are medical reasons for terminating a pregnancy and women need access to the options. Ignorance is a terrible thing for a society--no matter the topic. Here, it's a life and death topic.

• Amjevita launch - new Humira biosimilar launched officially at the end of January - but with two NDCs - one for rebates, and one without? Huh? This actually happened before with the biosimilar Semglee to Lantus (the two here being interchangeable, which is different from Amjevita and Humira, BTW). I recall being somewhat confused as to which version of Semglee was covered on what formularies in the past, and I wonder if this may cause more confusion in the future. Props to Amgen for launching it and getting us lower cost adalimumab--but, will high rebating and low rebating skus cause more confusion? Stay tuned.
• ASPL - See you at APhA March 24-27th in Phoenix? We're back to share more on case law updates at the annual APhA meeting - please stop by and say hi!

Career Development

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years? - One of my mentors told me a long time ago as I was considering applying for a job that was most recently filled by a Nobel Prize Winner - was, "it's really hard to follow an icon." I noticed in HBR this week as well they have an article on transitions with Icons - you know, the Bob Igers and the Howard Schultzs of the world. It's interesting because this article argues that the average tenure of a CEO is 10 years, so at year 5 the board should begin thinking of a successor.

When was the last time you looked ahead 5 years to your own succession plan? I admit it - I hate that notorious interview question of, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?" But I'm starting to think that maybe we should have more of a succession plan for ourselves. As for following a Nobel Prize Winner, I'd still have applied for that job after her, despite what my mentor warned me about. I like to follow a winner because it forces me to be and do better. It's fun to follow a winning act. Bring it!

Said another way - "Career Cushioning" is taking off too, which is just a fancy way of saying what your Plan B or Plan C might be. (Oh, yeah, and I wrote a book about this topic too called Plan C.) It's good to explore your options before you NEED to explore your options.

• Schoolhouse Rock Turns 50 - Did I'm just a bill influence my decision to go to law school? Maybe. Did I show I'm just a bill in my pharmacy law classes of the past? ?? percent - yes. Regardless, I'm thrilled that my generation was exposed to this amazing programming - we are the richer for it.

That's more than enough for now - have a great week, and REALLY - stay warm!

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Erin L. Albert is VP of Pharmacy Relations at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC. Opinions are her own.