New COA White Paper “Unaccountable Benefit Managers” Shines Light On How Pharmacy Benefit Managers Hurt Cancer Patients
Second in White Paper Series Compiling True Patient-PBM Stories; Accompanies New Website PBMAbuses.Com
These horror stories expose PBM’s for what they are: large corporations putting profits over patients.”
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES, June 2, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new white paper released today by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) and the Community Oncology Pharmacy Association (COPA) continues to shine a light on the negative impact pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have on the care cancer patients receive.— Ted Okon, executive director of COA
Compiling real stories of cancer patients and physicians, the white paper “Unaccountable Benefit Managers: Real Horror Stories of How PBMs Hurt Patient Care” presents true patient stories collected from community oncology practices over the last year. The serious, sometimes dangerous, stories told in the paper include PBMs changing prescriptions without authorization, medication being refilled for deceased patients, and patients facing weeks of delays in receiving needed medications.
“These horror stories expose PBM’s for what they are: large corporations putting profits over patients. Community oncology practices and even patients themselves send us stories daily of PBM abuses that have a very real, negative impact on care. It is time to stop PBM abuses. Patients should not be made to suffer because of these unaccountable corporations,” said Ted Okon, executive director of COA.
“As my fellow oncologists and I descend on Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a big topic of discussion will be the tremendous advances in cancer care that are saving lives and the high costs we are paying for them,” said Jeff Vacirca, MD, president of COA and CEO of NY Cancer Specialists in Long Island, NY. “The sad thing is that we are only beginning to understand the role that PBMs are playing in fueling higher drug costs and restricting patient access to those drugs.”
This is the second in a series of white papers exposing the abuses of PBMs being produced by COA. The first, “Delay, Waste, and Cancer Treatment Obstacles: The Real-Life Patient Impact of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM)” was released in late April at the 2017 Community Oncology Conference.
The paper also complements www.PBMAbuses.com, a new website launched by COA to support patient education and advocacy on PBM issues. Visitors to the site will be able to access the patient horror stories series, educational videos, and other materials.
Read the full white paper “Unaccountable Benefit Managers: Real Horror Stories of How PBMs Hurt Patient Care” at http://bit.ly/pbmstoriesv2.
Nicolas Ferreyros
Community Oncology Alliance
646-685-4262
email us here
Getting your medications, like coffee, should be simple. And it shouldn't involve a harmful, expensive pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) middleman.
