WellPoint is one of few in the industry providing public access to formulary evaluation standards
INDIANAPOLIS, July 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WellPoint Inc.'s (NYSE: WLP) contribution to creating evidence-based formulary evaluation standards is discussed in the June edition of Value in Health, the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.
WellPoint is one of few health care management companies that publicly shares its standards on how it establishes its formulary, according to the article, entitled, 'Health Technology Assessment in Health-Care Decisions in the United States.' The standards are accessible by going to https://www.wellpointnextrx.com/wps/portal/wpo/consultant/druglist/consultantpharmacytherapeutics.
The article was authored by the University of Washington's Sean Sullivan and Scott Ramsey, Premera Blue Cross' John Watkins and WellPoint Chief Clinical Pharmacy Officer Brian Sweet. The publication was funded by a small honorarium from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.
The authors predict that these evidence-based standards--known as health technology assessment guidelines--will be pushed into a new realm as new evidence is generated from comparative effectiveness research.
'Much of the existing research we have on products is based on how the product performs against a placebo,' said Sweet. 'That simply isn't enough to ensure that every person gets the treatment that is best for him or her. To improve the quality of health care and to reduce medical costs, we need to know which approach works best and for whom. Comparative effectiveness research can provide additional evidence to be used in formulary evaluations to ensure we make the best health care decisions for our members.'
WellPoint revised its evidence requirements for pharmaceutical technology assessments in October, 2008, and shared information about the type of data the company is using to make healthcare decisions on drug therapy with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
The WellPoint Outcomes-Based Formulary process includes specific requirements for new products, new indications and new formulations and the re-evaluation of products, indications and formulations.
