Pharmacy Insights Podcast

While the operational side of the pharmacy care services business rarely garners headlines, the efforts of operations teams are vital to making prescription medications accessible and affordable. Optum Rx Senior Vice President of Clinical Consulting, Scott Draeger recently welcomed Jason Greenberg, Optum Rx Chief of Operations, and Katie Schumacher, Vice President of digital products at Optum Rx to discuss how ongoing innovations in operations are helping to help improve the pharmacy benefit management experience for plan sponsors, providers, and members. 

Host Scott Draeger welcomes Optum Rx Vice President of Trend Insights & Analytics Michelle Kamprath and Optum Rx Senior Director of Drug Pipeline & Surveillance Bill Dreitlein for a lively discussion of the year ahead in pharmacy. Find out which trends are expected to make noise in 2024 including the ongoing obesity drug dilemma facing plan sponsors, the impact of the profusion of biosimilars on drug costs, and some noteworthy drug candidates currently advancing through the pipeline.

Gene therapies represent a true revolution in the way certain genetic diseases are treated. They are also the most expensive drugs in history. In this episode, Optum Rx Senior Vice President of Clinical Consulting Scott Draeger welcomes Nick Cashman, Specialty Clinical Consultant for Optum Rx, and Arash Sadeghi, Clinical Pharmacist, Pipeline & Drug Surveillance at Optum Rx. They dive in on the science of gene therapies and discuss what measures plan sponsors can take to prepare as these formerly rare medicines begin to be used for more diseases.

Affording everyone a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health is an ongoing challenge. To better understand the issue, Optum Rx Senior Vice President of Clinical Consulting Scott Draeger welcomed Dr. Sumit Dutta, Chief Medical Officer for OptumRx, and Corey Coleman, Vice President of OptumRx Health Equity and Strategic Partnerships for a recent episode of the Pharmacy Insights Podcast. Together they discussed the challenges of achieving Health Equity and the steps the Optum Rx is taking to make an impact.

As increasingly expensive medications continue to enter the market and questions about prescription drug affordability become everyday topics of conversation, the pharmacy benefit management space is undergoing profound changes. To get a sense of the forces driving these changes, Optum Rx Senior Vice President of Clinical Consulting, Scott Draeger welcomed Optum Rx president and Chief Operating Officer Jon Mahrt for a recent episode of the Pharmacy Insights Podcast. Together they discuss how issues of access, affordability, and transparency have become the new imperatives for pharmacy benefit management and the innovations addressing these challenges.

One of the most pronounced changes in the pharmacy landscape over the past year has been the rapid emergence of a new class of medications for weight loss known as GLP-1 agonists. Dr. Ana Bhatnagar, Optum Rx Associate Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Travis Baughn, Optum Rx Vice President of Clinical Solutions join us to discuss what broader use of these promising but expensive medications for weight loss means for both patients and plan sponsors.

Guest: Optum Rx Chief Pharmacy Officer, Michael Einodshofer.As costly specialty medications continue to enter the market, “alternative funding” is pitched as a way for self-funded employers to make their employees and dependents eligible for “free” medications. Is this a sustainable solution? And what financial, clinical, and even legal risks does this approach entail?

Guest: Sr. Vice President, Optum Rx Clinical and Formulary Services, Savitha Vivian. Long established in Europe, biosimilar alternatives to popular and costly biologic drugs are finally poised to make an impact in the U.S. With biosimilar alternatives to Humira now launching, what does that mean for prescription drug spending?

Guest: Optum Rx Chief Pharmacy Officer, Michael Einodshofer.Specialty medications continue to be the single largest driver of prescription drug spending. What separates specialty from traditional pharmacy and what specifics steps can be taken to mitigate rising specialty spend? What do new advances such as gene therapies mean for future specialty costs?