Meet the Candidates
Candidate for President-Elect, 2020–2023
Candidates for Director, 2020–2022
- Jessica Daw, PharmD, MBA
- Pat Gleason, PharmD, BCPS, FCCP, FAMCP
- Jeffrey W. Larson, RPh, MS, MBA
- Debra J. Minich, BSPharm, RPh
- Carly Rodriguez, PharmD, FAMCP
- Celynda G. Tadlock, PharmD, MBA
Candidate for President-Elect, 2020–2023
Paul L. Jeffrey, PharmD
Director of Pharmacy, MassHealth
Associate Professor, Family Medicine and Community Health
University of Massachusetts Medical School Commonwealth Medicine Division
Biographic Statement:
Volunteer service has been a constant and important part of my professional life. My father was a prominent hospital pharmacist who instilled in me the value of personal commitment to community and professional service. I was fortunate and worked diligently to build my career bolstered by the many opportunities presented to me in volunteer service. After a brief stay in community pharmacy and a long stint in hospital pharmacy, I migrated to managed care as the pharmacy director for Massachusetts Medicaid. Along the way I’ve held management and leadership positions in both my work and professional association life. In addition to being a pharmacy director at an academic medical center, I’ve been president of two state societies of hospital pharmacy and twice chair of the regional Medicaid pharmacy association. I was honored to be elected to the AMCP Board which has cemented my resolve to further serve this extraordinary association.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
I have been directly engaged in the development of the AMCP strategic plan during my tenure on the Board. It is a very exciting time for AMCP as the plan lays out a script for the Academy to continue to evolve and advance the mission of AMCP to improve health care for all. I hope to continue the fine work of my predecessors as a convener, listener and thoughtful spokesperson, working closely with the Board, the AMCP Executive Director and staff, and the membership at large. It is a challenge to absorb the many and varied voices that inform our mission and, in collaboration with our stakeholders, sift out the most important and actionable issues the Academy can tackle within its reach and resources such as the dissemination of real-world outcomes research. I have developed a keen grasp of balancing the issues as they have been incorporated into our current business practices and future plans. As president I would bring my experiences and temperament to bear on keeping the Academy focused on delivering the promise of improving patient outcomes and controlling rising healthcare costs. This promise demands inclusivity, rigorous development of knowledge and advocating for our members. In all the noise that surrounds the health care milieu I struggle but do not lose sight of the patient who is the ultimate focus of our energy and work. I pledge my commitment to continue to guide, support and serve AMCP.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
The first step in this quest is for AMCP is to establish its role as a conscientious voice in the deliberations concerning the optimal use of medications. At this AMCP excels, and continues to advance its place among the many voices moving our health care system to one that consistently delivers value. In the environment of high cost drugs and medical breakthroughs, AMCP has an obligation to re-direct and lead the conversation to a critical assessment of the value of medications. Continuing support and dissemination of credible research, evidence-based decision making, and impartial assessment of the value of the services our members render is a key element of the strategy.
AMCP has laid out a strategic plan that positions AMCP to be the trusted, go-to source as thought leader and principal advocate to optimize the pharmacy benefit in our healthcare system. AMCP must continue to develop and deliver high quality educational content to keep the membership informed about advances which bring value to health care purchasers. Gathering and disseminating information is a core mission of AMCP and the AMCP Foundation. The Journal, our conferences, webinars, the Partnership Forums, and our organizational structure are all focused on solving the value conundrum. The best practices that derive from our efforts to convene the many stakeholders around the value of medications are indispensable tools in the hands of our members. Importantly, the organizational energy of AMCP which fuels the myriad opportunities AMCP presents to its membership must be kept vigorous.
A critical front for AMCP is the legislative and regulatory arena. As AMCP’s visibility rises, so does our opportunity to influence the foundations and framework of our business. AMCP has been instrumental in the pre-approval information exchange standards that give our members foresight into the likely impact of emerging therapies on the medication value proposition. We have raised our voice and concerns on biosimilars, drug pricing, fraud waste and abuse and many other issues. AMCP must continue to represent the concerns of our members and needs of our patients in legislative and regulatory matters. Such activities are inherently actionable by the stakeholders we are attempting to influence and represent high value to AMCP.
AMCP is ideally positioned to bring together the diverse elements of managed care pharmacy and promote balance and equity between and among the stakeholders. The need for collaboration between pharmaceutical manufacturers, payers, advocates and clinicians has never been greater. High quality outcomes research assists our members in making informed policy decisions about the role of a particular therapy. AMCP must continue to support the conduct, evaluation, and presentation of such research.
The patchwork nature of our current health care system provides one of the greatest challenges to AMCP. The diversity of our membership and the vibrancy of the AMCP create an excellent crucible for innovative solutions for our members and constituents. AMCP must redouble its efforts to position well managed drug therapy as an integrated component of healthcare that provides value by promoting wellness and reducing the consumption of other resources. It is critical for AMCP to expertly outfit its members with the tools to address the many complexities enveloped in the medication value deliberations. AMCP is in a solid position to advance the contributions of managed care pharmacy.
Candidates for Director, 2020–2022
Jessica Daw, PharmD, MBA
Senior Director, Clinical Pharmacy
UPMC Health Plan
Biographic Statement:
Jessica Daw, PharmD, MBA currently serves as the Senior Director, Clinical Pharmacy at UPMC Health Plan and has over fifteen years of managed care experience in multiple lines of business, including Commercial, Medicaid, Medicare, and Exchange. She has experience focusing in quality, medication therapy management, care management programs, formulary and utilization management, value-based contracting, physician risk sharing arrangements, compliance, and PBM oversight.
Jessica has been a member of AMCP since 2004. She has participated in both the Professional Practice Committee and Educational Affairs Committee, serving as a Chair for both. She also participated in the Nominations Committee. Jessica worked on the AMCP/ISPOR/NPC Comparative Effectiveness Research Collaborative and spoke at several events related to this project. She currently serves in the DHS Pennsylvania P&T Committee and DUR Board. She is also the Co-Chair of the North American Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Roundtable for ISPOR and is on the ISPOR HTA Council.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
With fifteen years of managed care experience, I have operated multiple lines of business including Commercial, Medicaid, Medicare, and Exchange within an integrated delivery system. I have had project experience improving patient outcomes and controlling the rising heath care costs through my focus on quality, medication therapy management, clinical programs, formulary and utilization management, and value-based payment models. These experiences allow me to contribute to Thought Leadership with the ability to provide ideas and speak on managed care issues. As an AMCP visionary, I encourage other pharmacists to join and actively participate in AMCP, which contributes to Member Engagement. My own contributions to committees, educational programming, and volunteering at meetings has given me a robust perspective on engagement in AMCP. My involvement with ISPOR and our state Medicaid committees provides me an opportunity to advocate for managed care and AMCP. Serving as a chair of 2 AMCP committees over the past 6 years has given me insight on the goals of AMCP, which I promote in all aspects of my work, helping to Build the Brand. I will work to advance the profession through participation in establishing the AMCP strategic direction. Through my knowledge of managing people and the pharmacy benefit, I can offer guidance for Operational Excellence. My experience with managed care in an integrated delivery system and AMCP provides a unique perspective to contribute to the AMCP Strategic Plan. I look forward to collaborating and engaging with multiple stakeholders to support AMCP as an innovative thought-leader.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
A conversation around value requires outlining the scope and definition of value. Actionable plans related to value need to be differentiated from affordability and include a multi-stakeholder approach to defining outcomes and success. The scope of what is considered value should be expanded to include not only the coverage of medications, but also other patient centric ways in which value can be addressed, including clinical programs and payment models.
In terms of affordability and value, AMCP should continue to help with determining best practices around payment models for medications that incentivize value. These multi-stakeholder payment models should include value-based contracting with manufacturers, payment to retail pharmacies, and risk sharing models with physicians. Managed care should continue to promote paying for outcomes, which may require small steps at first, with a goal of changing the payment paradigm. Opportunities should be considered to include dispensing pharmacy partners in the conversations and in the solutions. It may be challenging to keep pushing reimbursement lower, so instead a different payment model needs to be developed. Retail and specialty pharmacies can help to drive value through patient care with a focus on quality, including the ability to capture patient reported outcomes. Sharing data between the health plan and the dispensing pharmacy improves available information to enhance clinical programs and interactions with patients. Using both the pharmacy and physician relationships offers an opportunity to optimize drug utilization mix and coordinate care for patients.
Physician risk sharing arrangements should be explored in the context of accountable care organizations, integrated delivery systems, and other types of health plan to physician relationships. Understanding best practices in these different scenarios will provide learnings for improving the process. These best practices should consider how to leverage the knowledge of a health plan in population health management and translate it into individual physician practices or groups. The focus should be on generating value in terms of cost-effective drug utilization, clinical opportunities to optimize medication use, reduce medical costs, and improve quality. Consideration also needs to be made to working with specialists. Diving into risk sharing arrangements that may exist with specialists is important to tie in high cost specialty medications, including those in the pipeline.
Value-based contracting with pharmaceutical manufacturers should also be more innovative and truly focus on the outcomes that are important in defining the success of the medication. These outcomes may be medication-focused, medical utilization, or patient reported outcomes. Working with the pharmaceutical manufacturers to define and measure outcomes of importance will continue to move managed care towards a focus on value. Barriers that currently exist to value-based contracting need to be overcome.
AMCP needs to be part of these discussions, understanding strategies of different organizations and how this translates into a bigger picture for success. AMCP can establish focus group activities to collect this information and generate new ideas either through Partnership Forums or surveys. AMCP should consider if a more focused group or committee should be established in defining and working towards goals associated with value. A multi-stakeholder group of people with diverse experience promoting and educating on new models
of payment and value could provide a more structured focus. AMCP should be an organization that collects best practices, establishes pilot projects, and coordinates multiple stakeholders to innovate around value in healthcare.
Pat Gleason, PharmD, BCPS, FCCP, FAMCP
Assistant Vice President, Health Outcomes Prime Therapeutics
Biographic Statement:
During my career, I have worked as a clinician at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Minnesota, as a Medial Liaison at Pharmacia, and for the past 17 years with Prime Therapeutics a pharmacy benefits manager owned by 18 Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. I am an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota where I advise PhD students, teach, and mentor pharmacy students. I lead a health outcomes research team at Prime Therapeutics, conducting managed care pharmacy outcomes research, publishing the findings in JMCP, and presenting the findings at AMCP scientific poster sessions. I have been fortunate to serve on the AMCP Board of Directors for one term and on the JMCP Editorial Advisory Board for 12 years, two years as Chair. I have served for many years as a JMCP peer reviewer and meeting abstract reviewer. In 2014, I received the AMCP Spirit of Volunteerism Award.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
Medication affordability is a top five societal and political concern. AMCP’s mission “to improve patient health by ensuring access to high-quality, cost-effective medications and other therapies” and what we are about “leading the way to help patients get the medications they need at a cost they can afford” resonates with me. Addressing affordability begins with comprehensively understanding the value each medication brings commensurate to its price, i.e., price to value, negotiating with the manufacturer for a payment process linking price to value, and ensuring access with cost sharing that does not impede adherence.
I would like to work with the AMCP membership to develop medication affordability solutions. For the past 17 years, I have been providing medication affordability insight and strategic leadership through my research, my work at a pharmacy benefit manager, and through national panel participation. I have been negotiating value-based contracts (VBCs) with pharmaceutical manufacturers for the past 5 years. I intend to use the VBC learnings and members ideas, as well as innovations, to fulfill the VBC promise of moving from drug discounts based on volume to value. Moving VBCs forward requires AMCP leadership and collaboration among patients, policy makers, regulators, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and payors. AMCP has been a VBC advocate, providing policy maker education and policy change recommendations, we are well positioned to influence policy makers. I would like help with advocacy and bring my managed care pharmacy experience to work with you, AMCP members, and others to find medication affordability solutions.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
Medication affordability is a critical public health issue. Another critical issue is medication access, equally important and intertwined with affordability. Society and politicians are scrutinizing managed care and pharmaceutical manufacturers declaring we are excessively profiting, causing medications to be unaffordable. We must accept the scrutiny and demonstrate how we are working together to ensure medications are priced to value, affordable and accessible. The AMCP membership is diverse, made up of employees across the health care industry, with many of us employed by pharmaceutical manufacturers, insurance payors, and health care providers. We need to work together, not point fingers. I commend AMCP on their mission “to improve patient health by ensuring access to high-quality, cost-effective medications and other therapies” and what we are about “leading the way to help patients get the medications they need at a cost they can afford”. AMCP recognizes the need to address medication price to value, affordability and access, now the hard part, what can the Academy do to ensure actionable progress toward this goal?
It starts with a collaborative effort focused on generating evidence from implementing innovative ideas, collecting data, performing research, and sharing the findings. The Academy has the membership expertise to demonstrate both the value medication brings to the health system and to evaluate which medication management tools work, thus ensuring medication affordability while managed care pharmacy information and should consider further developing other avenues to disseminate information above and beyond in person conferences and the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy (JMCP). For example, AMCP members could be invited to share their pilot projects and innovative programs via podcasts, webinar and conference presentations, social media and practice insights publication in the JMCP. Awards could be created to recognize the most innovative impactful programs, thereby individual’s and company’s innovations can be recognized and rewarded. Award winning work can then be turned into AMCP educational offerings.
The Academy must also continue to advocate for legislative change in the medication pricing and payment process. AMCP has taken a leadership role in evaluating the current system in which medications are priced, discounted and paid to help address affordability and access and will need to continue with a focus on price to value. For example, AMCP has made clear in their Policy Statements and Where We Stand positions on how the current federal government best price (i.e., price discount rules) hamper value based contracting thus mitigating a potential means to improve medication affordability. Our diverse membership are the stakeholders, along with patients and the federal government, who will be impacted by medication pricing and payment rule changes. Rules changes will be imposed upon us if we do not act to show how we are addressing medication affordability and access. One action that could be taken by AMCP is to develop a position statement and Where We Stand on medication value framework assessment and price to value evaluation, e.g. the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) value framework methods. A clear position on the best methods used to assess medications price to value will help guide our discussions with policy makers and the public on how we make sound medication management decisions associated with pricing and payment to ensure medication affordability and accessibility.
AMCP must utilize its members to collectively debate the position statements and policies, distill the information, do the research, and disseminate the findings related to medication management activities impacting medication affordability and access. In the end, we are all patients and it is patients who are ultimately impacted by our decisions.
Jeffrey W. Larson, RPh, MS, MBA
Clinical Director
CVS Health
Biographic Statement:
I have spent nearly 25 years within a national-leading PBM where my consultative approach has supported many health plans with commercial, Medicaid, Exchange and Medicare Part-D lives. As a Clinical Director, I oversee a team of pharmacists that have direct clinical account responsibility for their health plan relationships.
I have a very strong commitment to volunteer service as well as student education. I precept an APPE elective rotation in Managed Care Pharmacy for multiple schools of pharmacy. I proudly serve as the AMCP Diplomat for North Dakota State University. I am involved with the Clinical Management rotation of the Pharmacy Residency program. I have also served AMCP in various capacities since becoming a member in 1996 and have also held multiple leadership positions including the Program Planning and Development Committee Chair and currently as the Schools of Pharmacy Relations Committee Chair and the Diplomat Director.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
I believe that all four areas of the AMCP2020 Strategic Plan are crucial for the continued growth and viability of AMCP. As a potential Board member, I recognize the need to balance collective effort and energy across each of these strategic pillars. It is imperative that AMCP engage the premier thought leaders within our industry to contribute to the message around the value of managed care pharmacy. With my tenure within the industry and my broad contacts in and outside of AMCP, I can assist in identifying these premier thought leaders and engage them to contribute and support AMCP2020.
Healthy membership growth is vital to any organization and the lifeblood of AMCP resides within our growing student membership. With my experience around student engagement as a preceptor, Diplomat and a leader of the Schools of Pharmacy Relations Committee, I will continue to support enhancements to our robust programming that will successfully transition student members into professional members.
The final two pillars go hand in hand in order to position AMCP as the authority on managed care pharmacy. With my years of experience as an AMCP committee member, I can support an effective association infrastructure to support the activity of engaged member committees. Successfully promoting all of these activities through the AMCP brand will contribute to sustained growth, and I will ensure this by continuing to positively promote the AMCP brand in all of my professional activities with current and future AMCP students and members.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
Pharmaceutical pricing is the most publically visible component of healthcare spend. The debate on prescription drug pricing has been center stage since the last presidential election and will continue to be a leading political platform topic for individuals on both sides of the aisle through 2020 and likely beyond. It is imperative that the debate focus on the value that pharmaceuticals deliver to the overall healthcare system.
AMCP is the national voice of managed care pharmacy to help ensure actionable progress towards these population health goals. I envision three key areas where AMCP can be successful in support of these goals: continue to require independent research that supports the value proposition of current and future pharmaceuticals; continue to advocate government to allow flexibility in pharmaceutical coverage benefit designs that allow true evidence-based management of pharmaceuticals; and continue to dialogue with the pharmaceutical industry around the development of innovative medications that deliver true value to the global population.
Independent research that clearly uncovers the value proposition of pharmaceuticals must be strongly supported and continue to be promoted. When this information is available, managed care pharmacists are uniquely positioned to make sound formulary decisions for their organizations. AMCP can continue to promote evidence-based research through many different facets including support of the student P&T Competition; national and regional advocacy for this research; incorporate exceptional research into national AMCP meeting programming; continue to promote the Format for Formulary Submissions; as well as directly commissioning independent research that will highlight evidence-based management of pharmaceuticals.
Strengthening efforts in all of these facets will continue to shine the light on the importance of independent value-based research that supports sound formulary decisions.
AMCP can make an appreciable difference for managed care pharmacy through the strong support of flexible benefit design. AMCP must leverage the strength of the membership and effectiveness of leadership to advocate state and federal government officials to preserve the flexibility of benefit design that will result in value-based decisions on formulary placement. AMCP can mobilize the membership base to be the one voice to government leaders on the sustained need for flexibility in pharmacy benefit design that is supported by evidence-based research.
And lastly, AMCP can be effective to ensure progress towards attaining population health goals directly with the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is the starting point for drug development. AMCP must continue to challenge the pharmaceutical industry to develop medicines that add value to the overall system and support independent research that highlights that value. A critical eye must be employed on all available research to ensure sound study design support the conclusions.
There is no stronger voice in the nation than AMCP when discussing the value of pharmaceuticals and managed care principles. We, as a member-driven organization, have an opportunity to further elevate the value message to support achieving population health goals through these three distinct areas outlined above. Together, we can move the conversation from cost to value.
Debra J. Minich, BSPharm, R.Ph.
Vice President, Clinical Account Services
MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc.
Biographic Statement:
As a member of the Academy for several decades, I have greatly benefitted from those who have served in leadership roles with the vision to optimizing medicines and improving lives. I have worked in managed care for close to 30 years within a large health plan, a specialty pharmacy and several PBMs. Those roles have afforded me the ability to develop and implement innovative and evidence based clinical programs to numerous beneficiaries, while improving the value of the pharmacy benefit and patient outcomes. In addition to my work experience, my Academy work has included past Chair of Membership, of Organizational Affairs Committee, past President of the Midwest Affiliate and other volunteer opportunities; a Conference Buddy and Diplomat for several colleges of pharmacies. The combination of my work experience and AMCP committee work will serve me well, if given the privilege to again serve as a Director.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
It is an interesting and exciting time to work in managed care pharmacy. Healthcare will continue to be a prominent topic of discussion at the national level and AMCP has established itself as the leading professional association to help patients get the medications they need at a cost they can afford. As members of AMCP we all have an obligation to deliver on the promise focusing on the four strategic initiatives; thought leadership, member engagement, building the brand and improving operational excellence.
My years of managed care pharmacy experience and volunteering for the Academy in various capacities of increased leadership / responsibility will serve me well if elected to continue in the position of Director. I have conscientiously chosen to contribute my time to the Academy through committee work that exposed me to numerous facets of the organization, from Schools of Pharmacy Relations to Organizational Affairs to Finance. I’ve also been the President of the Midwest Affiliate, with the Day of Education being a hallmark success and a model for other affiliates to implement. Thus, contributing to increasing member retention and growth.
I currently have the honor and privilege of serving as a Board member. Within this role, I have been instrumental in the new brand development and rollout to the membership at the recent Annual meeting, working directly with staff and the marketing firm.
I have a deep understanding of AMCP2020 and would be able to quickly and effectively contribute as a Director to further the strategic priorities.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
One critical way to ensure actionable progress to support population health goals today is to holistically address the increased spend on specialty agents with roughly 40% of that is seen on the pharmacy side, while another 50% to 60% is attributed to the medical side of a member’s benefit. These agents have brought cures to diseases where no treatment was previously available or have improved outcomes significantly over previously available treatment modalities. While utilization of these agents is still low compared to traditional medications, they account for significant amount of every payers’ spend. The pipeline is robust and will continue to bring forward advances in patient care. The members of AMCP are in a unique position to assure we are good stewards of the total healthcare spend. Academy members have access to various educational, research and resources through both the Annual meeting and Nexus, for example, to engage in the discussion on how best to monitor and advocate the place in therapy for these agents with proven improved outcomes over what is currently available. Specialty agents, by definition are high cost and require high touch to assure the member understands their disease, the agent’s administration/storage intricacies as well as potential adverse events and how to manage them.
The Academy is and will continue to be thought leaders in these strategic, clinically based initiatives. The Academy is a credible and authoritative voice as it relates to the various stakeholders monitoring specialty spend and trend. Using managed care principles that have been proven time and again, our members are in an advantageous position to influence specialty agent utilization management tools assuring the right drug gets to the right patient at the right dose for the right length of treatment and the right price. I was taught this my first day in pharmacy school and our current students of managed care, through the Academy’s work with schools of pharmacy and student chapters are being trained to assure these principals remain. Now more than ever, as specialty agents can routinely cost thousands of dollars per month, to millions of dollars for a single dose, are these pillars of managed care critical to assure the affordability of the benefit is monitored for the longer term. We are seeing the opportunity to work with pharmaceutical manufacturers for outcomes-based rebates, which rely heavily on data. This is an interesting opportunity to reward agents that achieve the results seen in clinical trials and translate to real world experience.
It’s an exciting time to be in managed healthcare and part of an organization that takes its responsibility to provide leading edge delivery of quality and affordable healthcare as a strategic priority. AMCP members are the individuals who help patients receive the medications they need at a cost they can afford.
Carly Rodriguez, PharmD, FAMCP
Pharmacy Director, Clinical Innovation
Moda Health
Biographic Statement:
Carly Rodriguez is Pharmacy Director, Clinical Innovation at Moda Health where she provides strategic leadership for clinical initiatives, operations, innovation, and the integration of medication management across pharmacy and medical benefits. She has spent her entire career in managed care pharmacy, including in several leadership roles.
Carly is an active AMCP member of 11 years and was recognized as a Fellow in 2019 for exceptional contribution, commitment, and sustained excellence in managed care pharmacy. She currently serves as Immediate Past President for the Northwest Affiliate and Chair of the Organizational Affairs Committee. She is most proud of her career-long dedication to mentorship of pharmacy students. She is Diplomat to University of Washington, is a past Chair of the Schools of Pharmacy Relations Committee, and has provided student programming at past AMCP meetings.
Carly earned her PharmD from University of Washington, and resides in Oregon with her husband and three children.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
AMCP2020 focuses on thought leadership, member engagement, building the AMCP brand, and operational excellence to position AMCP as the recognized authority in managed care pharmacy practice. Member engagement and furthering the profession of managed care pharmacy are areas that I am particularly passionate about. Students, residents, and new practitioners have unique needs for education and career development. Engaging managed care professionals early in their careers creates an opportunity to develop lifelong members who gain tremendous value from their AMCP membership, but who also have the skills and training necessary to successfully lead managed care pharmacy through the rapidly changing healthcare landscape and into the future.
If elected, I will work with other AMCP leaders to develop strategic initiatives that engage managed care professionals from various disciplines and backgrounds early in their careers. These could include mentorship programs, expanded internship opportunities, targeted educational programming, and interdisciplinary managed care education within schools of pharmacy, medicine, nursing, and/or dentistry. As value-based benefit design and population health emerge as key initiatives across the healthcare industry, it is critical for managed care pharmacy to play a strong role in facilitating interdisciplinary approaches to achieve success. As some pharmacy schools work towards team-based curricula with other healthcare professionals, AMCP has a unique opportunity to reach students within pharmacy and other healthcare disciplines to introduce managed care concepts. Through these efforts, I will collaborate with others to develop educational programming that positions AMCP as a thought leader in interdisciplinary approaches to managed care issues.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
Population health management is a growing area of interest and focus across nearly all segments of healthcare. In order to identify, establish, and measure goals related to population health it is critical to understand all factors that contribute to healthcare trends. Population health programs require clinical, utilization, and cost data to manage them effectively. While many managed care pharmacy professionals may not be trained in conducting healthcare data analyses, being able to interpret these analyses and provide actionable recommendations is a critical skill to be successful in population health management.
Value-based benefit design and value-based payment models are frequently used tools to promote population health management goals. Examples can include waiving copayment/coinsurance or deductibles to influence or reward healthy behaviors, establishing risk-sharing agreements with providers for quality and cost measures, and creating benefit designs that encourage participation in high value programs or services. Some states have passed legislation, or have otherwise made commitments, to increase the proportion of healthcare payments that are tied to value. As medication spend under both the medical and pharmacy benefits continues to comprise a larger portion of the overall healthcare spend, managed care pharmacy professionals must ensure that medication management is included in models aimed at meeting those commitments. Medications are a critical component of chronic disease management, so promoting medication adherence and incentivizing optimal medication utilization can play an important role in overall program success. Pharmacists are uniquely qualified to build and refine these programs over time.
AMCP is well positioned to support progress towards population health management goals given its broad reach and thought leadership within the managed care community. Managed care pharmacy professionals who have the skills and experience necessary to effectively design and implement population health and value-based care programs typically acquired these skills through on-the-job training. AMCP should grow this knowledge base by creating forums for sharing best practices across interdisciplinary teams, establishing educational programming, encouraging research, and providing training programs.
Continuing education is important for managed care pharmacy professionals to make meaningful contributions towards reaching population health management goals. For example, social determinants of health such as education, employment, and access to healthcare have major implications for program success. AMCP should foster learning in these areas by bringing together thought leaders across various disciplines, such as medicine, social work, and pharmacy, by forming a partnership forum or advisory group to share best practices. One goal of these collaborations should be to provide direction to the AMCP Educational Affairs Committee on developing educational programming for national meetings. This programming will provide an accessible venue for the broader membership to build or enhance their skillset in an area that is so critical to population health management.
The evolution of population health programs is data-driven. Another educational need is training around clinical, utilization, and cost data interpretation. As managed care pharmacy professionals develop and inform pharmacy aspects of population health models, they must have the skills to critically evaluate a variety of data to identify trend drivers which will influence program improvements. AMCP should partner with other organizations to develop training programs to help members build these important skills.
While these ideas are targeted towards existing membership, AMCP should build upon these programs to influence curricula within schools of pharmacy to introduce these critical skills to students early in their careers. These opportunities can position AMCP to not only support, but lead actionable progress towards population health goals. As experience is gained through facilitating education and information exchange, AMCP should provide leadership in defining the role of pharmacy within population health models, which will help states, providers, and payers reach their goals.
Celynda G. Tadlock, PharmD, MBA
Former Vice President,
Clinical Strategy and Pharmacy Experience
Former Aetna, a CVS Health Company
Biographic Statement:
As a member of the Academy for over 25 years, I have benefited from tremendous networking opportunities and great educational conferences that have supported me throughout my career. Most recently I had the privilege of leading all aspects of the pharmacy experience serving 15M members with $22B drug spend each year in the role Vice President, Clinical Strategy and Pharmacy Experience at Aetna. Previously I served in numerous Vice President roles at Aetna; as President and Chief Operating Officer, Pharmacy at Coventry; and held executive roles at Express-Scripts, Inc. and Anthem.
I received a PharmD from Mercer University and a MBA from Keller Graduate School. I am passionate about mentoring young professionals, supported a managed care residency program, and encouraged staff to serve in AMCP leadership roles. I love spending time with my husband and our children, supporting community health and wellness events, and serving individuals with special medical needs.
Platform Statement:
Based on AMCP2020 (AMCP Strategic Plan) explain how you would contribute to the success of AMCP during your term.
If elected to the AMCP Board, I will contribute to the success of the 2020 Strategic Plan by creating venues to showcase the magnitude of involvement in AMCP by the highest leadership level of the corporations from which our members are employed and by expanding opportunities for involvement across the entire membership. Active, visible participation at the highest levels will assist the Academy in being recognized as the thought leader for helping managed care pharmacy professionals improve patient outcomes while controlling health care costs.
An equally high priority is to expand opportunities for involvement across the membership. Throughout my career I have supported and encouraged staff to attend and be actively involved in AMCP. Having a passion for mentoring young professionals; I have supported staff involvement in AMCP leadership roles, committee work, conference presentations, developing and operating a managed care residency program, and submitting poster presentations and articles. As AMCP embarks on building a new group of practice leaders, numerous involvement opportunities across the membership will be required.
Creating a highly visible forum for senior leadership and expanding opportunities for involvement across the membership focus directly on the thought leadership strategic pillar. They also have an indirect impact on supporting all other pillars by attracting new members, increasing meeting attendance and sponsorship, and expanding the membership contribution to the Academy goals. In addition these actions will allow AMCP to advance to become the primary source of policy and regulatory recommendations and to advance managed care pharmacy.
Election Question:
As the conversation around value in health care evolves, how can AMCP ensure actionable progress to support population health goals?
Ensuring actionable progress on any initiative depends highly on having a shared mission that unites the interests and activities of all involved stakeholders.
As we examine initiatives in health care, alignment of stakeholder interests become increasingly challenging due to conflicting goals and financial incentives. Just a few common conflicting goals include profitability, cost containment, access to care, site of care, quality, safety, satisfaction, convenience and patient-centricity. Lack of goal clarity has the potential to lead to misalignment in approach, lack of initiative impact, and limited actionable progress.
As the value in health care conversation evolves, the Academy should consider establishing a patient-centric value improvement objective; inform the market relative to delivering value to patients; and become recognized as the innovator in managed care pharmacy. The Academy should remain actively engaged in the conversation to establish a well-defined shared objective to unite interests and activities of all involved stakeholders. A patient-centric, value improvement approach aligns the interests of patients, providers, suppliers, and payers. The establishment of a patient-centric objective that focuses upon providing high value in healthcare for patients will resonate for all stakeholders and ensure actionable progress to support population health goals.
Next, the Academy should be the catalyst to inform the market that the core principles of value based health care revolve around the concept of aligning all stakeholders toward value delivered to patients. Value based health care is often defined as delivering the best health outcomes at a given cost. Creation of value for patients support rewards for all stakeholders, as value based care begins to shift the focus from volume to value. Since the value equation is defined as outcomes over costs, each component (outcomes and costs) is critically important. Cost reduction without consideration to outcomes achieved leads to false savings and potentially ineffective care. Informing the market on aligned value delivered to patients ensures actionable progress supporting population health goals.
Finally, the Academy should become the innovation center for managed care pharmacy by exploring new, patient-centric methodologies for older practices such as prior authorization. AMCP has over 31 years of managed care pharmacy experience dedicated to improving patient health by ensuring access to high-quality, cost-effective medications. It is likely time to look at bringing new innovation and improved member experiences. We are leaders with a vision to deliver best practices and improved patient care value. We should leverage our expertise and equip our membership with the skills necessary to modernize managed care tools. This could be accomplished by utilizing the Academy’s successful platform of partnership forums or by perhaps creating an Innovation Summit membership competition.
AMCP will be successful in ensuring actionable progress to support population health goals as the discussion on value based health care evolves by establishing a patient-centric value improvement objective; informing the market on value delivered to patients; and becoming known as bringing innovation to managed care pharmacy. Achieving high value from the perspective of the patient should become the overarching objective across all stakeholders that are a part of health care delivery. Communicating the value to the patient in the marketplace will help ensure a focus on patient outcomes and focusing upon innovation will help shape the future of managed care pharmacy and the Academy.