Health group’s drug
plan gets thumbs up

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

The Hawaii Coalition for Health says it believes the Hawaii Medical Service Association used a sound process in developing its new drug plan.

"The public can be reassured that HMSA's process is fair," said Dr. Arleen Jouxson-Meyers, the coalition's president.

The advocacy organization had raised questions about HMSA's new drug formulary after it went into effect last month.

In many cases, costs were raised significantly for "nonpreferred brands" -- medicines not on HMSA's select drug list.

Jouxson-Meyers and other coalition members met Friday with HMSA officials and members of its pharmacy committee.

"We asked for specific information and for minutes of the pharmacy committee meeting regarding 11 drugs we asked to review," Jouxson-Meyers said.

She said the coalition questioned why certain drugs were chosen over others for the select list.

"We came out feeling like they were utilizing a very fair process," she said. "We were really impressed with their openness. We looked at the thing in depth."

Jouxson-Meyers said there doesn't appear to be any conflicts of interest by pharmacy committee members. "They are not paid by HMSA, nor are they beholden to the drug companies. We really asked them some hard questions."

The coalition also looked into rebates which drug companies across the country give to health plans, Jouxson-Meyers said.

"If the size of a rebate actually influences whether a drug gets on the formulary, it can interfere with competition and may even be illegal," she said.

"We asked them the very hard question of how the rebate programs work. We feel satisfied that the way they work does not interfere with competition."

She said proposals are invited from drug companies at the beginning of the process, and then are closed. The proposals have confidentiality clauses, she said.

The pharmacy committee reviews and compares drugs according to critical factors. Then, if two drugs are comparable, they may open the rebate bids and see which company offers the largest rebate, she said.

"It's a very fair process. We were really concerned about all this and left very pleased," Jouxson-Meyers said. "We want to ask other health plans to permit us to go through the same review."