Pharmacy & Healthcare legal updates, news, and industry trends
I have been closely watching Amazon’s attempts to enter pharmaceutical market,[1] but even for me, Amazon’s acquisition of PillPack came as a surprise.
For those not familiar with PillPack (which has its headquarters on the East Coast), it specializes in single-dose medication packing, deliveries, and prescription management targeting chronic-disease patients. It acts as an online…
So much talk about lowering healthcare cost, especially when it comes to medications! But how about providing information on drug cost to prescribers who can compare drug costs prior to prescribing? This is an approach taken by a Bay Area startup – Gemini Health – who came up with a platform that enables prescribers to…
Last year, I had a heated discussion on LinkedIn on whether Amazon would enter the pharmaceutical distribution chain in 2018. Being a compliance attorney, I expressed some concern that selling drugs is not as easy as selling books and requires tremendous resources to keep up with federal and state compliance. And Amazon would be an…
For the last year, both Lyft and Uber have been working with healthcare providers and insurers offering rides to doctors’ offices. Last week, Lyft announced that it is expanding its partnerships with health care providers by partnering with Allscripts to “integrate its platform into the daily routines of 2,500 hospitals, 45,000 physician practices and 180,000…
As many providers working in California know, the state had been steadily cutting the reimbursement rates for providers. So the DHCS’ announcement that it will start increasing pharmacy dispensing fees came as a surprise to many. The increase is due to a federal regulation promulgated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implementing…
Amazon hasn’t launched its prescription mail order program yet, but the effects of its potential market entry are already being felt across the industry. Thus, CVS has announced that it will “begin offering next-day delivery of prescription drugs and same-day service in some big cities next year, reflecting the company’s worries about potential competition from…
The proposed $66-billion merger between CVS and Aetna – the most expensive healthcare deal to date – may cut down drug prices by eliminating the middlemen. The proposed deal is covered in depth by various publications. For example, Bloomberg News suggests that the merger could be the end of the pharmacy-benefit business. Reuters reports that…
According to a CNBC report, Apple is negotiating a business deal with a medical clinic startup CrossOverhealth. If Apple acquires the startup, you may soon go to a local Apple store for a quick health check-up. CNBC also reports that Apple is currently discussing an acquisition of One Medical, a concierge medical group. One
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Last week, Express Scripts – a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) – announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire eviCore – a medical benefit manager (MBM) – for $3.6 billion. eviCore manages medical benefits for 100 million people in areas of radiology, cardiology, musculoskeletal disorders, post-acute care and medical oncology. Express Scripts is the…
Recently, the whole pharmacy community was watching how an Albertsons pharmacy technician in Boise was the first in the nation to administer an immunization. This was possible thanks to a new Idaho law addressing a shortage of healthcare providers in the state. Under the new law, pharmacy technicians willing to increase the scope of their…
