In this episode, our guest is Antonio Ciaccia, President of 3 Axis Advisors and CEO of 46brooklyn Research. Born and raised in the world of pharmacy, Antonio Ciaccia has been crawling around pharmacies his entire life. After three years as a pharmacy technician and two years of pre-pharmacy curriculum, Antonio diverted course, graduating from The Ohio State University in 2007 with dual degrees in communications and political science before moving into the world of association management, eventually heading up government affairs for the Ohio Pharmacists Association, where his data analytics work helped lead state officials to audit and uncover $244 million in hidden prescription drug overcharges in the state Medicaid managed care program.

After years of studying the pharmacy marketplace, Antonio became increasingly perplexed and concerned as he saw drug costs spiking while payouts to pharmacies were declining and more drugs were being excluded from plan coverage. Knowing something was being lost somewhere in the middle of an ever-growing transaction, Antonio has spent years working to crack the drug pricing code and pull the rug out from what he believes is one of the most dysfunctional marketplaces in the world.

Today, he serves as the President of 3 Axis Advisors, a consulting firm that works with Medicaid Fraud Control Units, provider groups, research firms, technology companies, law firms, investment analysts, employers, government agencies, benefit consultants, and private foundations to diagnose and eliminate inefficiencies and inappropriate incentives in the prescription drug supply chain. Within that capacity, he also serves as an advisor to the American Pharmacy Cooperative, Inc. (APCI) and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). He is also the CEO and co-founder of 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the transparency and accessibility of drug pricing data for the American public.

Main Points:

Drug pricing is way too complex, and many entities make money off that complexity.

Unfortunately, industry consolidation and vertical integration has put many pharmacies in a tough spot, as their once reliable business model has now become increasingly compressed over time.

Because pharmacy economics has been primarily derived from revenue harvested from filing prescriptions, the service of pharmacists has been overlooked and thrown into the drug pricing stew.

Drug prices are currently being exploited by arbitrageurs, compromising pharmacy viability and their ability to provide a high level of service to patients.

Arbitrage must be eliminated, and pharmacists should derive compensation from better aligned incentive structures that emphasize the delivery of value-added services.

Guest - Antonio Ciaccia, President of 3 Axis Advisors and CEO of 46brooklyn Research

-LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonio-ciaccia-390879b/

-Instagram: @A_Ciaccia

-Twitter: @A_Ciaccia

-Website: https://www.3axisadvisors.com/ and https://www.46brooklyn.com/

Host - Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, MBA

www.hillaryblackburn.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillary-blackburn-67a92421/

@talktoyourpharmacist for Instagram and Facebook

@HillBlackburn Twitter