PBMI Offers New Drug Benefit Training Workshop, USA

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Also Included In: Conferences
Article Date: 10 Jan 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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As part of its 2008 Drug Benefit Conference, the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute will offer a new, half-day workshop for benefits generalists on the essentials of managing the prescription drug benefit. The workshop will be held the morning of Feb. 27, 2008, before the opening of PBMI's Drug Benefit Conference, which runs from February 27-29 at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort in Phoenix.

Now in its 13th year, the PBMI Drug Benefit Conference advances best practices that help employers, union groups and other drug benefit purchasers realize the greatest return from their investment. The 2008 conference will feature an educational track for human resource managers, technical programming for managed care pharmacy professionals, and an industry trends track.

"PBMI's new workshop is designed for benefits generalists who spend only a small portion of their time overseeing the drug benefit, but want to understand more about what they're buying and how to manage the investment," says PBMI President Dana H. Felthouse, MBA. "The workshop also will be valuable for professionals new to drug benefit management."

The "Essential Training Workshop for Drug Benefit Management" will be taught by recognized industry leaders. The 2008 faculty includes Felthouse; Estay Greene, PharmD, Director of Pharmacy Benefits, Cleveland Health Network/Cleveland Clinic; and Jerrell Riley, CEBS, Associate Director, H&W Benefits Design, AT&T Wireless. After completing the workshop, participants will be able to:

- Analyze the factors that impact the cost and quality of the employee drug benefit,

- Identify metrics necessary to evaluate the performance of the organization's drug benefit program, and

- Assess changes that can decrease drug spend and increase the value of the pharmacy benefit.

Online resources, in-class exercises and group discussions will provide information that human resource professionals can use immediately on the job. A key advantage of the workshop will be access to workshop faculty after the training for ongoing coaching as benefits managers implement ideas learned in the workshop.

More information on PBMI's workshop and Drug Benefit Conference is available at http://www.pbmi.com/conference.asp.

The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute provides research, continuing education, publications and Web resources that help health care benefit executives work effectively with their pharmacy benefit managers to improve the design and management of drug benefit programs.

Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute