The National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices is sponsoring an "ancillary group" policy workshop on prescription drug marketing and conflicts of interest, and a breakfast reception, at the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual meeting.
In addition, the NCSL Health Committee has scheduled a panel discussion on PBM and data mining issues, featuring NLARx member and New Hampshire Rep. Cindy Rosenwald and Associate Member and NCSL President Texas Sen. Letitia van de Putte. For more information, contact Sharon Treat at nlarx@gwi.net.
For more information about the conference go to:
http://www.nlarx.com/
For information about obtaining NCSL press credentials, go to: http://www.ncsl.org/annualmeeting/Media.htm
Achieving Pharmaceutical Access: The Roles of Disclosure and Privacy
Monday, Aug. 6, 3-5 p.m.
Most Americans rely on the private market for their medicines. This session will examine two hotly-debated prescription drug policies facing states and pharmacists. First, should states set standards for Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), the middlemen that negotiate prices and transactions for 200 million Americans? Second, should prescription records identifying doctors or patients be available for marketing purposes by industry professionals?
BREAKFAST RECEPTION
Tuesday, Aug. 7, 7:15-8:30 a.m.
This get-to-know-you breakfast session will be hosted by NLARx and the Prescription Project (Community Catalyst). It is an opportunity for interested legislators to meet NLARx staff and members and also to find out more about the Prescription Project, on which NLARx is partnering with Community Catalyst. Meet policy experts and advocates working on state initiatives across the country to reduce drug prices and rein in medical marketing tactics that create conflicts of interest, and find out about resources and information you can use in your work on prescription drug policy.
Workshop – White Coats, Grey Area: Medical ethics, drug marketing and public policy
Wednesday, Aug. 8, 4:30-6 pm
This workshop is being jointly presented by NLARx and the Prescription Project. A distinguished panel will present on the how conflicts of interest in medical marketing, clinical guidelines and the delivery of health care affect practitioners, patients, and the cost of care. Panelists will discuss the conflicts of interest at work in the medical profession with a particular focus on pharmaceutical marketing, and effective policies that can be implemented at the state level to keep patient care high and medical costs down.
Draft agenda:
Moderator: W.V. Delegate Don Perdue, NLARx Vice Chair (invited)
Perdue is assistant majority whip, as well as serving as the chair of the House Health and Human Resources Committee, and as a member of the Finance Committee for the 78th West Virginia Legislature. Perdue is a pharmacist and has sponsored much prescription drug legislation including on PBM and marketing issues.
Panelists:
David Rothman, Ph.D. – President of the Institute on Medicine as a Profession and Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine at Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons and Associate Director of the Prescription Project. David Rothman is an expert in the field of medical ethics and professionalism in medicine. He will speak about financial conflict of interests in the medical profession related to the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the role of the Prescription Project in promoting new standards.
Jerry Avorn, MD – Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Avorn is an internist, geriatrician, and pharmaco-epidemiologist, his research centers on medication use, with particular reference to elderly patients and chronic disease. He will speak about the need for an evidence-based approach to prescribing as well as academic detailing, a strategy for physician education which he pioneered.
David Grande, MD, MPA – RWJ Health and Society Scholar and a Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, and National Physicians Alliance Board of Directors member.
Dr. Grande is an internist whose research focuses on pharmaceutical marketing and medical professionalism. He will speak about the practice of and solutions to pharmaceutical company data mining.
Julie Brill, Esq. – Vermont Assistant Attorney General. Julie Brill has worked extensively on consumer protection issues and her efforts on prescription drugs in particular. She will speak about the legal issues associated with implementing solutions to conflicts of interest in medicine and prescribing, including Vermont 's experience implementing gift and payment disclosure law.
Maine Rep. Sharon Treat is Executive Director of the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Pricing and a Maine state representative. She has sponsored legislation on PBMs, academic detailing, and data mining and other marketing issues. Rep. Treat will speak about successful legislative approaches to addressing conflicts of interest and evidence based prescribing.