Specialty drug benefit design isn’t just one decision — it triggers a domino effect impacting employer and health plan costs, patient access, care delivery and patient cost-sharing. In this episode, we unpack PSG’s latest research on how employers and health plans are rethinking specialty strategies amid rising pressure: cost management as a top priority, movement toward rebate alternatives, shifting site of care models, and evolving approaches to affordability and utilization management. Our guests break down where the biggest shifts are happening, what’s still missing, and how smarter benefit design can create better outcomes across the healthcare system.

• PSG (Pharmaceutical Strategies Group)
• 2025 Trends in Specialty Drug Benefits Report
• Specialty Drugs
• Drug Utilization
• PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Manager)
• Copay Assistance (Maximizers & Accumulators)
• Drug Rebates
• Drug “Carve Outs”
• Value-Based Agreements
• Utilization Management
• Step Therapy
• Biosimilars
• Site-of-Care

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In this episode, we interview Brian Reid, the founder of Reid Strategic and the creator and editor of our favorite industry newsletter, the Cost Curve. Brian shares his journey to create the Cost Curve and how he navigates the onslaught of information to identify the most important issues of the day. We also get his take on what he calls the highest & importance-to-attention &; healthcare stories, highlighting critical topics that are undercovered related to their significance. We also get the opportunity to understand his perspectives on the threats to innovation, the risks to patient affordability programs, and what all of us should be doing to be better healthcare consumers.

• Brian Reid- Reid Strategic
• Cost Curve Newsletter
• Martin Shkreli & Daraprim
• BioPharma Dive: Biotech and Pharma Industry News
• GLP-1s
• Net Price– “a drug’s net price equals the actual revenues that a manufacturer earns from a drug after rebates, discounts, and other reductions” Source: Drug Channels 
• Armamentarium
• Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)
• Mark Cuban Pharmacy
• Psuedo-Generic Medication
• CVS Cordavis
• Quallent
• Nuvalia
• Biosimilars
• Lilly Direct
• Novo

• 340B Drug Pricing Program

• Copay maximizers
• AFPs

Questions or comments?
Email us at comments@prescriptionforbetteraccess.com.
Find us on social media! Follow us on X, LinkedIn, YouTube and Threads.