NovoLogix Launches First Annual Symposium for Healthcare Thought Leaders

Minneapolis, MN (October 29, 2008)—NovoLogix^SM has announced the launch of an ongoing series of symposia that will explore creative, forward-thinking ideas and strategies for managing the changing healthcare landscape. The first in this series, entitled Innovations in Healthcare Technology: Managing Medical Pharmacy, will convene Wednesday evening, October 29, at the recently opened W Minneapolis – The Foshay and run through Thursday, October 30, 2008.

This invitation-only event will bring together leading thinkers, policy makers, and industry experts—representing state-funded programs, global employers, pharmacy benefit management companies, national health plans, and academia. Noted panelists and attendees will address critical challenges and viable solutions affecting the medical pharmacy space, a growing and ever-more influential segment of the American consumer’s healthcare spend, in sessions that include:

• Brand the Clinical Landscape will explore the medical pharmacy space, define the terrain, discuss key trends, and investigate the tools needed to manage expenses for health plans, providers, and consumers alike
• Model a Benefits Approach will survey the options from the payers’ perspective: Medical benefit vs. carve out? Specialty pharmacy or PBM? What are plan sponsors thinking?
• Explore Policy Directions will look to legislative and federal-level initiatives, including mandates from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), innovations in e-prescribing, electronic health records, and pharmacoeconomic measurements

“NovoLogix is proud to be sponsoring this one-of-a-kind event and providing an opportunity for some of the very best minds in the field to come together to discuss and strategize solutions to healthcare’s most formidable challenges,” NovoLogix CEO David J. McLean said. “With medical benefit spend already at $36 billion and growing 10-20% per year, we are at a critical juncture. With this symposium, we have an opportunity to really sharpen our focus on what it will take to effectively manage in the new world of medical pharmacy—a world in which old technology no longer provides the tools we need, shifting sites of care are adding unexpected complexity to billing and reimbursement, and of the high-cost injectable and infusible drugs coming to market in the near term, nearly 70% will require assistance from a healthcare professional to ensure safe and proper administration. Working together I am confident we can develop creative and cost-effective solutions to meet the challenges ahead.”

NOTE: Medical pharmacy is generally defined as prescription drugs administered in the home, outpatient clinic, or physician office and paid for under a beneficiary’s medical benefit plan. Unlike prescription drugs filled at a retail pharmacy or administered in a hospital or other acute care setting and covered by a pharmacy benefit plan, this medical pharmacy segment of the overall healthcare space is often paper-based and extremely labor-intensive. And most importantly, it is plagued with significant inefficiencies that result in imprecise pricing, excessive reimbursements and overpayments, and insufficient prior authorization controls, and severely limits both government programs and commercial plans from participating fully in collecting drug manufacturers’ rebates.

About NovoLogix

NovoLogix is a performance-based healthcare technology company delivering electronic claims re-pricing processes, prior authorization controls, and integrated patient care and pharmaceutical programs. Generating economic results for payers and their stakeholders and improving the management and delivery of drugs and services for healthcare consumers, Minneapolis-based NovoLogix covers millions of members for the nation’s largest health plans, pharmacy benefits management companies (PBMs), and government programs. The company holds full accreditation by EHNAC. www.novologix.net

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