Obesity, GLP-1 Solutions and the Impact on an Employer’s Health Plan

The escalating price of prescription drugs—particularly in the case of GLP-1 drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity—is driving up employers’ pharmacy benefits costs to unprecedented levels. Vanderbilt Health Employer Solutions is hosting a town hall on Thursday, March 7 at 12 p.m. to share best practices on meeting the health-plan challenges presented by these popular weight-loss medications. Register now to hear from and ask questions of a panel of Vanderbilt Health experts.

Vanderbilt Health experts will discuss the cost implications of GLP-1 medications for health plans and offer solutions to help employees who may be coming off these medications.

The town hall will cover:

• GLP-1 drugs’ impact on obesity and its co-morbidities
• How increased usage of these medications leads to higher pharmacy benefits costs
• Recommendations for combating high costs and mitigating the impact on health plans
• Strategies for communicating pharmacy benefits to employees

Our panelists are:

• Sabrina Poon, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Office of Episodes of Care, VUMC
• Rick Ohmer, Executive Director of Compensation and Benefits, VUMC
• Jared Schnake, PharmD, Staff Pharmacist, VUMC
• Michelle Ross, RD, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Center for Surgical Weight Loss, VUMC

Attendees are encouraged to send in questions prior to the town hall here.

About the Experts

Sabrina Poon, MD, MPH, Medical Director, Office of Episodes of Care, VUMC

Dr. Poon is medical director of the Office of Episodes of Care in the Office of Population Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where she is also an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. She helps to lead VUMC’s value-based care initiatives, including its direct-to-employer bundled payment programs and care standardization efforts. In addition, she has published widely on health services research and value-based care in top-tier medical journals.

Rick Ohmer, Executive Director of Compensation and Benefits, VUMC

As executive director of compensation and benefits for VUMC, Ohmer is responsible for overseeing the institution’s compensation structure and its health, welfare and retirement programs. Before joining Vanderbilt, he helped develop the health, welfare and retirement plans for Johns Hopkins Health System and oversaw its executive compensation and benefit programs.

Jared Schnake, PharmD, Staff Clinical Pharmacist, VUMC

Schnake is a clinical pharmacist at the Center for Surgical and Medical Weight Loss at VUMC, where he is responsible for patient education, formulary management and insurance navigation. He earned his doctor of pharmacy degree from St Louis College of Pharmacy in 2011. Before his current role, he worked in a diverse array of health care settings, including pediatrics and hospital-based care. His interests include health policy, medication education and chronic disease management.

Michelle Ross, RD, LDN, Registered Dietitian, Center for Surgical Weight Loss, VUMC

Ross is a registered dietician at the Center for Surgical Weight Loss at VUMC. With more than 10 years of dietician experience, Ross has worked in general and critical care, food service management, general outpatient counseling, and now specializes in medical and surgical weight loss. She is passionate about empowering and guiding others to make positive lifestyle choices to achieve their personal health goals, improve quality of life and reduce risk of many diseases.