Health Insurance Companies Fighting Compound Pharmacy Marketing

People in the business of marketing and/or lead generation for compound pharmacies, have been

found wondering why all of a sudden this innovative and very popular enterprise is getting

lambasted in the press and by the FDA.

Thanks to an indepth article in the New York Times (published during the same period when the

politicians were in a flutter about helping to defeat ISIS and ignoring the medical crisis of ebola

in western nations of Africa), it turns out that the insurers are screaming that the pharmacies are

“profiteering at their expense”. Apparently, only health insurance companies are allowed to

profiteer.

Wesley Yuhn has had plenty of experience in marketing for medical industries and trying to

appease the insurance companies. “The main strategy going forward for the compound

pharmacy marketing strategies is to worry about the insurance company’s hounding the FDA

as much as possible and support Jay McEniry’s Patients and Physicians for Rx Access coalition

that is fighting for the needs of those who are prescribed compound medications because they

cannot use other products”, Wesley Yuhn reportedly remarked in a press conference.

The Times article reported that some of the compound pain relief creams can result in six-

figure incomes to the pharmacy sales reps that have connections with physicians and can present

the compound pharmacies products in a legitimate way.

Wesley Yuhn states that any salesman making a 6-figure income has to really burn the insurance

companies. On the other side of scheme, private pharmacists that make compound products

cannot give kickbacks to doctors, even though pharmaceutical companies are allowed to do so.

So, who are the big whiners? According to Wesley Yuhn and the Times, United Health, Blue

Cross and Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim and a group of unnamed states’ worker’s compensation

coverages are the main leaders of this weeping pack – which is completely understandable

because these are the “poorest” guys on the block.

Express Scripts, one of the largest prescription plans for those on Medicare, is taking a different

tactic. They are just refusing to pay for a list of over 1,000 commonly used ingredients in making

compound medications.

At the end of last year, Wesley Yuhn suggests the main irritant was all medications in any form

that were made by compound pharmacies and the insurance companies insisted that congress

pass a regulation forcing the FDA to have stricter oversight. It is worth noting, however, that the

stricter oversight did not include hiring of additional inspectors to do the work which has

resulted in putting many smaller pharmacies out of business because they could not get

appointments for inspections.

Perhaps, the insurance companies were disappointed because not enough compound pharmacies

were shoved out.