“PBMs promote competition in healthcare and help to reduce prices,”
said Lawton Robert Burns
Hot Off the Presses: University of Pennsylvania Wharton School professor Lawton Robert Burns releases a new book explaining the critical role pharmacy benefit companies play in the prescription drug supply chain.
In the recently released book Dr. Burns states:
“PBMs get drug makers to compete on price and get pharmacies to reduce their fees. PBMs also compete with one another in terms of claim processing fees and a host of client services to get contracts with insurers and employers. They are, thus, pro-competitive.”
A new PCMA Rx Research Corner blog post this week, authored by Vice President of Research Amanda Frost, summarizes the findings laid out in the book.
Read the full Rx Research Corner blog: Dr. Lawton Robert Burns Sheds Light on the Role of PBMs
Amanda writes:
“Dr. Burns makes it clear that pharmacy benefit companies do not price or sell drugs and are not health care providers. However, they do serve the public’s welfare by controlling the rise in health care costs and maintaining patients’ health quality through their role as intermediaries in the drug supply chain. In a Wharton Business Daily podcast, he says that Members of Congress, looking for someone to blame for high drug costs, are scapegoating PBMs, when the problem lies elsewhere.”
View the infographic on the role of PBMs in the healthcare value chain here.
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Read more of Dr. Burns’ views on PBMs in his published book entitled “The Healthcare Value Chain: Demystifying the Role of GPOs and PBMs,” which takes a deep look inside the prescription drug supply chain and the critical role pharmacy benefit companies play in securing savings for patients.
Listen to his interview with the Wharton Business Daily HERE.
Read his full op-ed in The Hill HERE.
Dr. Burns is not affiliated with PCMA.
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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit companies. Pharmacy benefit companies are working every day to secure savings, enable better health outcomes, and support access to quality prescription drug coverage for more than 275 million patients. Learn more at www.pcmanet.org
