Reality TV Star Kim Kardashian curbs her temptation to overeat with an unusual trick: when she's had enough to eat, she spoils the rest of her food by pouring a soft drink or something else unpleasant on it. Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, explains how they use a psychological exercise called "pre-commitment” to get employees to exercise.

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This article reports on Vitality’s pill cap that comes free to patients with their medications and connects to the AT&T network. This device always patients to opt in to receive reminder alerts pertaining to taking their medication. Other medication reminder services have pursued a direct-to-patient approach, however, Vitality’s program, which was recently launched with Express Scripts, distributes certain medications in bottles outfitted with its caps. The device has been shown to lift adherence. Read More.

This article reports that new research by Saint Louis University and Express Scripts suggests that men with multiple sclerosis (MS) may require more education and support to manage their disease and therapy than women with MS. Men also may benefit from more targeted adherence interventions. The study found that female MS patients report better awareness of disease symptoms and have more positive perceptions of their ability to manage therapy with disease-modifying medications. The article features quotes from study co-investigator Amy Rauchway, the National MS Society’s vice president of biomedical research Patricia O’Looney, and Express Scripts’ president of research and analysis Emily Cox.

This article reports on the healthcare system’s experimentation with behavioral economics to deal with skyrocketing costs and errors and waste and inefficiencies. The article mentions Express Scripts and its Center for Cost-Effective Consumerism, noting that Alan Garber is a member of its advisory board. It also states that individual behavior related to prescription drugs costs $163 billion annually in wasteful spending according to Express Scripts. The article also mentions Express Scripts’ program for employers which requires workers to sign up for mail-order pharmacy delivery, and features quotes by chief scientist Bob Nease. Read More.

This article reports on Express Scripts’ drug trend report, stating that $163 billion are wasted simply because patients don’t take their meds in the ways they’re supposed to. The article points out that Express Scripts does have financial incentives to point out the dangers of noncompliance and to encourage methods to improve this number, but also states that other studies have noticed the same problem. The article features quotes by Bob Nease and also summarizes five of types of people who are likely to miss meds due to certain behaviors. Read More.

This article, which is the lead story on Reuters Health’s website, reports that Express Scripts’ 2009 Drug Trend Report shows that making simple changes like getting people to take their medicines exactly as directed or to refill their prescriptions on time could save employers and their workers as much as $163 billion a year in healthcare costs. The report outlines ways for companies and patients to make people aware of the common habits that can increase the cost of healthcare in the United States as the nation looks for ways to pay for its newly passed healthcare reform legislation. Express Scripts identified various behaviors including brand loyalty, procrastinating on refills and occasional forgetfulness, that increase treatment costs. According to the report, failure to take drugs as directed had the biggest impact on costs. The article features quotes by Express Scripts’ chief scientist Bob Nease, who emphasizes that this is the first year the report has looked at the behavioral factors that are driving spending. Read More.

The objective of this study was to determine if there is a difference in long‐term medication adherence in patients on diabetes medications who switched to mail-order pharmacy and to determine if patients who made this switch have lower long‐term healthcare costs.

Researchers used a long-term observational cohort study of MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters (MCCE) data from January 1, 2005, through December 31, 2007. The final cohort included 14,600 individuals who switched to mail order pharmacy after at least six months in retail pharmacy, and 43,800 patients who remained in retail pharmacy for at least 18 months. After adjusting for measured confounders of medication adherence and initial retail claim period, patients who switched to mail-order pharmacy services had greater adherence to their diabetes medication at the end of their follow‐up, and patients who switched to mail-order pharmacy services trended lower in both total and diabetes related healthcare and medical costs. To learn more about this research, view the abstract in the Journal of Medical Economics. . . .. Read More.

Express Scripts Inc. is preparing to launch a test of an electronic medicine bottle that will remind patients to take their medication. . . . Read More

Much of the medicine prescribed to treat chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes doesn't work—because patients neglect to take it.

But what if someone, or something, called to remind them every time they were due for a dose?

Express Scripts Inc., the big St. Louis pharmacy-benefit manager, is about to test an electronic pill container that issues a series of increasingly insistent reminders, in a national study among patient members. . . . Read More

On the cusp of what will become the biggest change in our nation’s health care system, the debate continues over health care costs and coverage, and who is responsible for ensuring Americans have adequate insurance. There is no doubt that the cost of health care to the nation is staggering, and one of the biggest drivers of this cost is prescription drug coverage. . . . Read More

If your health insurance covers prescriptions, you are probably a customer of a pharmacy benefit management company. These are third-party administrators for prescription drug programs, and they make up one of the few industries growing during this recession . . . Read More

Just when MCOs think they've got value-based insurance design (VBID) wrapped up in a neat little package, the underlying force of behavioral economics begins driving the actions of the beneficiaries. In simple terms, behavioral economics is the effect the actual decision-making process has on the decisions that members reach. . . . Read More

ST. LOUIS – Two healthcare IT vendors are joining forces to help patients manage their prescription drug costs before leaving the doctor’s office.

Express Scripts, Inc., which develops integrated pharmacy benefit management solutions, has announced a partnership with Greatwater Software, Inc., that will allow Express Scripts to offer its PBM services to patients through Greatwater’s PatientPoint kiosks. . . . Read More

Express Scripts Inc. and Greatwater Software Inc. announced a program Tuesday that will allow patients to review options for reducing prescription costs when checking in for appointments at their physician’s offices. . . . Read More

In his current role at pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts, Michael Holmes has been able to apply health care savings programs using behavioral economics to its own workforce before rolling them out to clients. Holmes spoke to writer Jessica Marquez about how companies can apply behavioral economics, which looks at the psychological factors of economic decisions, to reduce health care costs and what he hopes to see come out of Congress. Read More

CHICAGO, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Express Scripts (Nasdaq:ESRX) Center for Cost-Effective Consumerism, the American Benefits Council and Hewitt Associates along with other leading health and policy organizations are continuing the momentum of the ignite09 symposium, a groundbreaking series of symposiums on the convergence of behavioral economics and healthcare, by bringing the conversation to Chicago. Read More

By Alex MacGillis

People are more likely to buckle their seat belt than follow the speed limit, even though the penalties for speeding are higher. They are more likely to go along with hotel efforts to reduce linen laundry if told that other guests are doing the same. . . . Read More

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX) Center for Cost-Effective Consumerism, the American Benefits Council and Hewitt Associates along with other leading health and policy organizations are bringing the ignite09 symposium, a groundbreaking series of symposiums on the convergence of behavioral economics and healthcare, to San Francisco.  Read More