- Email: [email protected]
Past APhA Leaders Honored at Annual Meeting
Past APhA Leaders Honored at Annual Meeting uring the Annual Meeting, APhA officially installed a triD bute the Association's past leaders. to
Member contributions made it possible for the Association to create and mount in the APhA headquarters Board Room a portrait of the late William S. Apple, the Association's dynamic chief executive officer from 1959 to 1983. The painting was unveiled at the APhA Annual Meeting Second General Session and installed at a private ceremony at APhA headquarters on March 13. Also officially installed in the Board Room was an exhibit of blackand-white photographs of all 138 APhA presidents from 1852 to 1991. This exhibit was made possible by a grant from A. H. Robins.
Health Care Rationing Is Inevitable, Economists Say ncreased rationing of health care Inomics is inevitable, health care ecoexperts told the American Pharmaceutical Association Annual Meeting attendees. Both demands and costs for health care are increasing, contrary to supply-anddemand economics theory, and resources to pay for them will have to be rationed or still more dollars will have to be spent on health care. The realities are that the major health care consumer group - the elderly - is growing faster than any other group and new drug and device development has become more complex and expensive. Cost management reforms introduced in the 1980s "are swimming against the tide of technical and demographic change," said Elizabeth Chrischelles, assistant professor at the University of Iowa, specializing in drug economics research. "We must decide to either allocate our limited resources or pay more for health care." If government decides not to get
APhA Honorary President George B. Griffenhagen hangs a portrait of the late William S. Apple.
APMs past and present leadership view an exhibit of the Association's past presidents.
involved, she said, rationing will occur by default. Rationing is based on a combination of medical need and social worth, said Chrischelles. Decisions are based on who is most likely to benefit, the individual's age, degree of illness, existence of psychiatric disorders, and potential contribution to society. Health care costs have been increasing at two times the rate of inflation. One response to the continual escalation of costs has been managed health care, the experts say. Its goals are to improve quality, control costs, provide the greatest good for the greatest number, and protect against medical financial catastrophe. These are also the goals of managed care pharmacy, with the addition of "assuring that the best drug is used for each patient, only when necessary," noted Peter Penna, professional coordinator of pharmacy service, Group Health Pharmacy Services, Renton, Wash. Developing biotechnologically based drugs is necessarily expensive, acknowledged Chrischelles, and
the technology used to administer the drug can be expensive, as in the case of radiopharmaceuticals. With drugs such as tPA, erythropoietin, and zidovudine, which have limited use or a small patient base, the individual user is expected to cover the costs of development. As new uses are found, as in the case of zidovudine, costs have dropped. But introduction of a new drug will continue to be accompanied by high prices, Chrischelles said. As more prescription drugs become nonprescription products, fewer drugs will be covered by prescription drug programs, the experts noted. Some expressed interest in broadening reimbursement to include the nonprescription products as well as clinical or "cognitive" services, but that is "not going to happen," in the opinion of Jeffrey McCombs, assistant professor of pharmacy administration, University of Southern California. What is possible, he said, is establishing through research that pharmacists can cost-effectively counsel certain patient groups on certain drugs or drug classes. ®
American Pharmacy, Vol. NS30, No.6 June 1990/347
43
Member contributions made it possible for the Association to create and mount in the APhA headquarters Board Room a portrait of the late William S. Apple, the Association's dynamic chief executive officer from 1959 to 1983. The painting was unveiled at the APhA Annual Meeting Second General Session and installed at a private ceremony at APhA headquarters on March 13. Also officially installed in the Board Room was an exhibit of blackand-white photographs of all 138 APhA presidents from 1852 to 1991. This exhibit was made possible by a grant from A. H. Robins.
Health Care Rationing Is Inevitable, Economists Say ncreased rationing of health care Inomics is inevitable, health care ecoexperts told the American Pharmaceutical Association Annual Meeting attendees. Both demands and costs for health care are increasing, contrary to supply-anddemand economics theory, and resources to pay for them will have to be rationed or still more dollars will have to be spent on health care. The realities are that the major health care consumer group - the elderly - is growing faster than any other group and new drug and device development has become more complex and expensive. Cost management reforms introduced in the 1980s "are swimming against the tide of technical and demographic change," said Elizabeth Chrischelles, assistant professor at the University of Iowa, specializing in drug economics research. "We must decide to either allocate our limited resources or pay more for health care." If government decides not to get
APhA Honorary President George B. Griffenhagen hangs a portrait of the late William S. Apple.
APMs past and present leadership view an exhibit of the Association's past presidents.
involved, she said, rationing will occur by default. Rationing is based on a combination of medical need and social worth, said Chrischelles. Decisions are based on who is most likely to benefit, the individual's age, degree of illness, existence of psychiatric disorders, and potential contribution to society. Health care costs have been increasing at two times the rate of inflation. One response to the continual escalation of costs has been managed health care, the experts say. Its goals are to improve quality, control costs, provide the greatest good for the greatest number, and protect against medical financial catastrophe. These are also the goals of managed care pharmacy, with the addition of "assuring that the best drug is used for each patient, only when necessary," noted Peter Penna, professional coordinator of pharmacy service, Group Health Pharmacy Services, Renton, Wash. Developing biotechnologically based drugs is necessarily expensive, acknowledged Chrischelles, and
the technology used to administer the drug can be expensive, as in the case of radiopharmaceuticals. With drugs such as tPA, erythropoietin, and zidovudine, which have limited use or a small patient base, the individual user is expected to cover the costs of development. As new uses are found, as in the case of zidovudine, costs have dropped. But introduction of a new drug will continue to be accompanied by high prices, Chrischelles said. As more prescription drugs become nonprescription products, fewer drugs will be covered by prescription drug programs, the experts noted. Some expressed interest in broadening reimbursement to include the nonprescription products as well as clinical or "cognitive" services, but that is "not going to happen," in the opinion of Jeffrey McCombs, assistant professor of pharmacy administration, University of Southern California. What is possible, he said, is establishing through research that pharmacists can cost-effectively counsel certain patient groups on certain drugs or drug classes. ®
American Pharmacy, Vol. NS30, No.6 June 1990/347
43