Specialty pharmacy has consistently been one of the top three health care cost drivers in recent years. To counter that trend, employers should act now to control when and how they offer specialty pharmaceuticals to enrollees. Market consolidation is expected to trim employers’ options, making it more important than ever to carefully craft your specialty strategies. This event will identify the top challenges in managing pharmacy benefits and offer tactics for addressing them.
Learn from the movers and shakers in the pharmaceutical industry as they give you an overview of what’s driving the rapidly rising cost of pharmaceuticals.Speakers include:
Alex Jung is a managing director in the Parthenon-EY practice of Ernst & Young LLP, where she works primarily on strategic transformation projects. Jung has worked with many health care and life sciences companies across the country and has developed and implemented large-scale plan design and funding strategies such as the introduction of innovative consumer-driven health care plans, health savings accounts and health improvement initiatives, including onsite pharmacies and clinics for her former clients.
Jung led corporate strategy at Walgreens and has performed work on several large-scale transactions, mergers and acquisitions, including the divestiture of Walgreens’ pharmacy benefit manager, acquisition of AllianceBoots and other assets. She has been quoted in numerous articles in the Chicago Tribune, Business Insurance, Workforce Management magazine, Crain’s Chicago Business and other industry publications.
She is a regular speaker at events such as the California Governor’s Women’s Conference, World Health Care Congress, Midwest Business Group on Health, Crain’s Annual Health Care Conference, the Benefits Management Expo, the Self-Insurance Institute of America National Conference, John Marshall Law School and the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago, where she serves as chair for the Total Rewards Interest Group.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Motheral has held executive leadership positions in research, product development and strategy in the pharmacy benefit and population health management industry. Her work has focused on leveraging data analytics for cost containment and quality of care initiatives, identifying and designing new clinical programs, and implementing large health services programs. Dr. Motheral has worked with more than 30 plan sponsors in the last two years on the analysis, design and implementation of specialty drug solutions. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has received national research awards from the Academy for Managed Care Pharmacy and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. Dr. Motheral holds a Ph.D. focused in Health Economics from The University of South Carolina, a master of business administration degree and a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from The University of Kentucky.
In 2016, Dr. Motheral founded and became the CEO of Archimedes. She previously held the position of co-founder and president of Artemetrx and was the executive director of Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute as well as held leadership management positions at Healthways and Express Scripts.
Cheryl Larson is president and CEO of the Midwest Business Group on Health, a non-profit organization of over 130 mid to jumbo, self-funded, regional and multi-state, public and private employers. Coalition activities include educational programs, health benefits research, benchmarking and community-based initiatives focused on increasing the value of health benefits and health care services to MBGH Members – represented by human resources, health benefits and health care professionals.
She oversees all coalition activities including advocacy, membership, administration, research projects and educational activities, working closely with MBGH’s employer-led Board of Directors to establish the strategic direction of the coalition. Larson joined MBGH in 1983 as the director of membership development, returning in 2006 as vice president after spending 10 years with a population health management company.
Larson leads MBGH’s National Employer Initiative on Specialty Drugs, the first major purchaser-driven research project that supports employers in managing the higher costs of biologic and specialty drugs by helping them make critical and informed decisions. She is a nationally-recognized speaker on employer best practices in managing specialty drugs, value based benefit design, wellness, wellbeing, consumerism, engagement and benefit communications.
Wayne Salverda is responsible for the development, evaluation, recommendation and monitoring of pharmacy benefit management (PBM) clinical programs and initiatives. He is available as a clinical resource to members as well as staff. This often includes meeting with Cooperative members to review reports and provide plan design consultation. Wayne is a licensed pharmacist with more than 20 years of pharmacy experience including PBM, managed care and retail pharmacy markets.
| 7:45 – 8:15 a.m. | Registration, Breakfast & Sponsorship Showcase |
| 8:15 – 8:20 a.m. | Welcome & Opening Remarks, Cheryl DeMars |
| 8:20 – 9:20 a.m. | Specialty Pharmacy Trends, Alex Jung |
| 9:20 – 9:55 a.m. | Annual Meeting Business Presentation |
| 9:55 – 10:10 a.m. | Networking & Sponsorship Showcase Break |
| 10:10 – 11:10 a.m. | Biosimilars, Brenda Motheral |
| 11:10 – 11:40 p.m. | The Need to Transform Pharmacy Benefits: Challenges and Strategies, Cheryl Larson |
| 11:40 – 12 p.m. | Independent Clinical Expertise and PBM Partnership Key to Managing Specialty Pharmacy, Wayne Salverda |
| 12 p.m. | Closing Comments & Adjourn, Cheryl DeMars |
Presentations:
Additional Resources:
Watch the Presentations:
American Patients First: Policy Overview of Trump Administration’s Drug Cost Policy Plan
Alex Jung, Parthenon-EY
