Tag: Formulary Exclusions

Has WellCare Put Profits Before Patients?

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder & Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) 

This is the question that I recently asked myself – “Has WellCare Put Profits Before Patients?”

In a letter to Ken Yamaguchi, MD, MBA (Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer WellCare Prescription Insurance, Inc.), the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health (together with a coalition of concerned organizations, including the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) ask Dr. Yamaguchi about a pricing decision WellCare made for seniors that will increase the price of a drug by five times what they had previously paid:

recent formulary change that will drastically increase the price of apixaban for Medicare Part D WellCare participants. By placing apixaban on a higher formulary tier, medically fragile seniors will pay five times as much for their life-saving direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC).

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Obstacles to Physician-Prescribed Medications – Cost, Delays, and Denials

Patient health and safety advocates and the biopharmaceutical industry share a commitment to improve patient care and safety to removing obstacles to physician-prescribed medications. At the recent BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit, advocates and industry met to discuss these shared concerns. Representatives from the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety attended the Summit.

There were two major key concerns discussed:

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