Westerville, Ohio – In the latest installment of Progressive Medical’s SignatureSeries, two Texas policymakers walk viewers through the state’s Pharmacy Closed Formulary, which has already shown early signs of positive impact through reduced drug costs and improved accountability and better injured worker outcomes since implementation in 2011.
The guests, Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Rod Bordelon and Senator Leticia Van de Putte, discuss the state’s workers’ compensation reform initiated through House Bill 7 and offer a rare glimpse inside politics and the minds of legislators.
In his conversation with the company’s vice president of government affairs, Brian Allen, Bordelon talks about the collaboration that resulted in the passage of HB 7 and the commission’s wise move to implement the Closed Formulary in phases.
“We’ve gone from being one of the most costly states in the country to one of the least costly states,” he said. “If you look at the prescription patterns prior to September 2011 and then after the formulary went into effect, we’ve seen a 56 percent reduction in the prescription write of those not-recommended drugs that are on the closed formulary and a cost reduction of over 81 percent. So it’s had a huge impact.”
Bordelon added that a significant reduction in costs for legacy claims had already taken place well before the recent adoption deadline.
With a unique perspective as a pharmacist and small-business owner and known as a strong advocate for health care, Van de Putte offers an overarching view of the role of policymakers in workers’ compensation and the responsibility placed on legislators to do the right thing.
“I’m hoping what we’ve done in Texas will provide the framework not only for cost efficiency but for other variables, like return to work,” she said. “I know that if the injured worker gets the proper treatment and stays on their medication and we do our job, then they’re going to get better quicker and that means they have a chance of getting their life back.”
Van de Putte also suggests payors take advantage of “50 state laboratories” to improve and innovate.
“There’s an opportunity to do things better,” she said. “Don’t think that just because it’s government that you’re supposed to wait until we come up with it. Unless you tell us, we’re not going to know that there’s a better way.”
View these and all the SignatureSeries conversations by visiting www.progressive-medical.com/signatureseries. The site also houses other resources both specific to the states discussed as well as legislative information applicable across the country.
Source: Progressive Medical