Spring 2009

The authors found that the Part D doughnut hole significantly reduced the use of medications for treating potentially disabling and life-threatening conditions, but increased out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

The President of the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Society reviews the vision and goals for 2009 and announces its selection of The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits as the Society's new official publication.

The increase in generic medications, changes in utilization patterns, and the significant decrease in the approval of new molecular entities have slowed 2008 pharmacy trends to historically low levels.

Comparative effectiveness research must incorporate the needs of individual patients.

This brief commentary emphasizes the importance of applying evidence-based practices to ensure the safe and effective use of specialty medications to optimize treatment outcomes and minimize healthcare costs.

In her editorial for this inaugural issue, the Editor-in-Chief lays out the philosophy and editorial scope of The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits.

The President & CEO of the Center for Health Value Innovation uses the Hunter article as a springboard to call us to action�to share our successes, to learn from our mistakes, and to use the data available to develop value-based systems within our own organizations.

The author broadly discusses the concept of value-based insurance design and provides examples of three corporations that have implemented this benefit model.

Empirical findings suggest that hyaluronan injections and diacerein are similarly effective. Yet the authors found that monetary savings could be realized when conservative treatment with diacerein is chosen.