Middle men are standing in the way of good patient care and doctors’ recommendations
Dr. Ravi Rao spoke with Drs. Travis Stork, Sonia Bartra and Andrew Ordon of “The Doctors” TV show about the difficulties a cCARE patient, Norma, had to endure just to get her prescribed medications. Dr. Rao discussed pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who act as a “middle man” between the patient and his/her insurance company. PBMs are not physicians.
“[PMBs] get my prescription, make sure it is appropriate, get it approved and then get it to the patient,” said Dr. Rao, an oncologist at California Cancer Associates for Research and Excellence. However, that did not happen in Norma’s case, which caused serious delays in her cancer treatment and recovery.