 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Pfizer deal aimed at savingsBy STEVE BOUSQUET
© St. Petersburg Times, TALLAHASSEE -- To cut costs, Florida's Medicaid agency Friday struck a unique deal with Pfizer Inc. that promises millions in savings to the state in exchange for giving preferred status to 23 drugs made by the company. The pharmaceutical giant will hire nurses trained in disease management who will teach chronically ill and poor Floridians how to take better care of themselves. Most suffer from asthma, diabetes, hypertension or congestive heart failure. For Pfizer, the advantage is securing the status of 23 drugs on a list known as a formulary that is used by doctors who prescribe medications for Medicaid patients. The Agency for Health Care Administration hailed the two-year agreement as a "vital partnership" that ensures $33-million in savings over two years, at a time when rising prescription drug costs forced the state to cut drug spending $214-million next year. Citing a law passed by the 2001 Legislature, the state will let Pfizer offer disease management programs and free Pfizer drugs to patients at hospitals and clinics at 40 Florida sites, including Ruskin, Dover, Parrish and Palmetto. The company will put up cash only if its services do not reach the target savings of $15-million the first year, $18-million the second year. "It's a very aggressive program, with substantial help from Pfizer in offsetting our drug and total program costs," said Florida Medicaid director Bob Sharpe. As part of the deal, Pfizer is not required to offer steep discounts to the state for its drugs, such as the antidepressant Zoloft and the cholesterol-cutting Lipitor. The deal consummated between Pfizer and AHCA executives began in January in conversations between Gov. Jeb Bush and company executives. The back-room nature of the negotiations -- coupled with AHCA's shaky track record in administering similar programs -- prompts some lawmakers to question whether the agency is up to the task. AHCA's record at disease management is fraught with problems. A report issued in June by the Legislature's auditing arm concluded that even after spending $24-million, AHCA could not demonstrate cost savings and that companies were paid for Medicaid clients who never received services under an HIV/AIDS management program. "Their past performance has me concerned," said Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Lantana, who tracks health care issues in the House. "Disease management was supposed to save us $112-million. But to date, because of a lack of measures that were not in place by AHCA, we don't know if we've saved anything and it has cost us $24-million." AHCA's Sharpe conceded that measuring service is a challenge for his agency. He said a third-party administrator will oversee the Pfizer contract. But beyond simply demanding cash concessions from drug manufacturers, Sharpe defended the Pfizer deal as a sophisticated one that offers the hope of making people healthier, which in turn will further lower health care costs. No agreement has been signed, and can't be until a new law authorizing such agreements takes effect July 1. An advisory panel of doctors and pharmacists must give its tacit approval at a meeting next Tuesday. "What bothers me most about this deal is that I don't know if we'll ever really know if the state gets back in services anywhere close to the value of these contracts to the companies," said Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, a member of the Senate Health, Aging & Long Term Care Committee.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times state desk Lucy Morgan
From the state wire
|
