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Value & Innovation Forum Briefing – PBMs 101
Thursday, June 15 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
PBMs 101
At the Value & Innovation Forum briefing, “PBMs 101,” experts will share multiple perspectives and insights on the benefits and harms of PBMs, and their effects on people’s access to innovative therapies. Register here.
Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs) 101:
Speakers
Julie Balter, JD
Clinical Innovations Program Manager · Alliance of Community Health Plans
As the Innovation Programs Manager, Ms. Balter helps shape and execute the Alliance of Community Health Plan’s clinical innovation strategy, which supports and advances ACHP’s vision and mission and guides its learning and innovation efforts. In the role supports ACHP’s Pharmacy Director Community, research portfolio, and clinical programming. Prior to joining ACHP, she worked for the National Association of Community Health Centers, where she served as the Specialist of Provider Networks supporting state-level accountable care efforts. Ms. Balter completed her Juris Doctorate at American University, Washington College of Law where she worked for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. She received her undergraduate degree from the George Washington University with a major in Communication and minors in Statistics and Organizational Sciences.
Jim Ballenger, R.Ph., MBA
Principal · BallengeRx Consulting
Mr. Ballenger is Principal at BallengeRx Consulting. He is a senior level executive with over 30 years of experience in the field of managed health care, specializing in the organization, administration, and effective control of managed pharmacy benefit programs. He has extensive experience in the areas of formulary management and development, drug benefit design, pharma manufacturer contract negotiation, trend management, product marketing strategies and data analysis in national and regional health plan environments. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and his MBA from Capital University Graduate School of Administration.
Kristin Bass, MBA
Chief Policy and External Affairs Officer · Pharmaceutical Care Management Association
Kristin Bass is the Chief Policy and External Affairs Officer at the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. In this role, she leads PCMA’s strategic development of the industry’s legislative policies. Ms. Bass joined PCMA from the Senate Finance Committee staff, where she served as Health Policy Advisor to Ranking Minority Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), with responsibility for private plan options in Medicare and commercial insurance issues. Previously she was the Senior Vice President for Policy at the Healthcare Leadership Council, where she led efforts on health IT, privacy, and quality improvement. Prior to that, she headed WellPoint, Inc.‘s Federal Affairs office and before that, the federal lobbying team at the American Association of Health Plans (now AHIP). She holds a BA and an MBA from Yale University.
Barak Richman, PhD, JD
Professor of Law and Business Administration · Duke University, Margolis Center for Health Policy
Dr. Richman is the Katharine T. Bartlett Professor of Law and Professor of Business Administration at Duke University. His primary research interests include the economics of contracting, new institutional economics, antitrust, and healthcare policy. His work has been published in the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Law and Social Inquiry, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Health Affairs. Dr. Richman also is on the Health Sector Management faculty at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and is a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. He has had visiting appointments at Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford. Dr. Richman has an A.B., magna cum laude, from Brown University, a J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Nobel Laureate in Economics Oliver Williamson.
Michael Baxter, MA
Head of Government Affairs · American Pharmacists Association
Mr. Baxter currently serves as the Acting Head of Government Affairs for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and he is a registered federal lobbyist. He leads APhA’s Government Affairs department and heads the regulatory and legislative affairs advocacy team and oversees state advocacy efforts. He worked to successfully pass federal legislation (Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, P.L. 115-263), signed into law, prohibiting pharmaceutical benefit manager (PBM) “gag clauses.” He also worked to help secure the largest ever federal and state expansions of pharmacists’ scope or practice in COVID-19 testing and treating (immunization, therapeutics ordering and administration) during a national pandemic through the use of Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (P.L. 109-148) declarations. Mr. Baxter holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Albright College and a master’s degree in Legislative Affairs and Public Policy from the George Washington University.