Podcasts about mark cuban cost plus drug company

Mark Cuban was born a serial entrepreneur.  At age 12, he sold trash bags door to door.  By age 16, he had a business selling stamps.  During college at Indiana University, he taught disco lessons at sorority houses and opened a popular bar before he turned 21.  So how does an average kid growing up in Pittsburgh go on to become a self-made billionaire?For some of us, it may be hard to imagine the person that we know today as Mark Cuban quit a job, was fired from another, had a business that closed down because somebody who worked there was on probation for prostitution, and slept on the floor of an apartment for many months after moving to Dallas. But it was these experiences that made Mark the businessman, investor, philanthropist, and billionaire that he is today.  Mark's journey is one of incredibly hard work, determination and perseverance, adapting to change, and learning from failure.In this episode, Randall and Mark talk about challenges on Mark's path to excellence, the role Mark played in the early days of the internet with MicroSolutions, the story behind AudioNet/ Broadcast.com, taking it public, selling it to Yahoo for $5.7 billion, and how he sold his stock in what is considered one of the most brilliant business decisions of all-time.  Randall and Mark also discuss Mark's latest company The Mark Cuban Cost-Plus Drug Company, and his very sage advice for young entrepreneurs.Topics Include:- How his college experience prepared him for success- The lessons about sales Mark learned as a 12-year-old selling trash bags door to door- Why you can learn just as much from the bad companies as the good ones- The interview answer that got him a job with no experience- Mark's brief career as an actor and reading for Stephen Spielberg- Why owning a sports team is unique from owning a business- Mark's powerful Shark Tank episode with Tania Speaks Organic Skincare- The importance of preparation and learning from failure- Mark's thoughts on parenting- How his work-life balance has changed over time- Mark's charitable work through the Mark Cuban Foundation and Fallen Patriots Fund- And other topics…Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur, investor, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and a host of Shark Tank on NBC.  Mark made his initial fortune through the sales of his startups MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com in the 1990s, and he was was ranked #177 on the 2020 Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest residents in the United States.Mark is also the best-selling author of How to Win at the Sport of Business.  Among many ventures, Cuban is also involved in the world of film and television and occasionally appears on popular television shows including Entourage, Dancing with the Stars, and The League.Mark graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with a degree in management.  He lives with his wife and children in Dallas, Texas.Coaching and Staying Connected:1-on-1 Coaching | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | LinkedIn

Mark Cuban launched the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to provide affordable medications by selling them at a fixed mark-up over cost. The company, co-founded with Alex Oshmyansky, prioritizes transparency in the pharmaceutical sector and aims to challenge high drug prices. It operates with the goal of improving healthcare access rather than maximizing profits. The initiative addresses rising medication costs and promotes sustainable, ethical practices within the healthcare system. The company plans to offer a wide range of medications and leverages technology and an innovative supply chain model to maintain low prices. Its growth highlights ongoing discussions about healthcare costs and corporate responsibility in the industry. Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm putting a meme in the show notes. It's my second meme ever, so I'm clearly on a roll. As you can see, it's a picture of two kids taking a test; and the one kid is cheating off the other kid. It's a How to Do Spread Pricing test, and the kid with carrier has his eyes all over the PBM kid's test. For a full transcript of this episode, click here. If you enjoy this podcast, be sure to subscribe to the free weekly newsletter to be a member of the Relentless Tribe. Look, this is a thing now, medical spread. And similar to how PBM spreads adds up to millions, billions of dollars, medical spread is not change in the couch cushions. Did you see the lawsuit against Cigna? Cynthia Fisher mentions it in the conversation that follows. Spoiler alert, here's the numbers: Self-insured employer paid $4 million for a claim. In this case, there's a slide on this Cynthia Fisher gave me, by the way, if you want to see all this written out. So, the employer pays $4 million. The provider was paid—drumroll, please—$876,000. I'm pausing so that sinks in: $4 million paid by the employer; $876,000 of that makes it across the trench to the provider. What happened, you may be wondering, to the $3.2 million in the middle there that the self-insured employer wrote a check to their carrier for? If I'm the employer, I think I would sort of want to know where the $3.2 million went, because … yeah. I think anyone would be hard-pressed to explain how a prudent fiduciary is managing to pay millions of dollars of its plan members' money for services that actually cost a fraction of that. And this is just one claim. But you came here for a show about transparency. Why, you may be wondering, am I talking about medical spread pricing? It's not a super far leap, so many of you are probably there already; but let me quote Chris Deacon. She wrote, “As these conglomerates expand control over healthcare delivery and administration, radical transparency is our only bulwark. Patients and employers deserve to know exactly what they're paying for, without hidden fees disguised as care costs.” I don't think anyone would say that transparency alone is sufficient to transform healthcare, but it's definitely a start for sure. So, yeah … transparency. The reason why lawsuits about overpayments, big ones—and there's a bunch of them afoot right now, not just that Cigna one—but the reason that these are going down in the first place is because hospital prices and carrier prices are now somewhat available. And we have some plan sponsors—the ones who are worried about fiduciary duty, at least—these plan sponsors are able to cobble together the math to catch a glimpse of how much money is vanishing. Dollars they and their members are paying for medical claims that never make it to the care team providing the care. And who is shocked? Are you shocked? I'm not shocked. Let me read a sentence from a carrier contract that Justin Leader sent me the other day. Section 6.3: “Claim administrator's compensation for its services under the agreement shall include the difference between the net claim payments reimbursed to the claim administrator by the employer and the net amounts paid to providers by the claim administrator.” Translation: We are allowed to add spread pricing. We are able to arbitrage. We are able to mark up (or whatever you want to call it) by any amount we want, and you, plan sponsor, just signed up to pay for it. So, that happened. Listen to episode 433 with Justin Leader, by the way. The show is called “The Mystery of the Weekly Claims Wire,” otherwise known as the Not Transparent Weekly Claims Wire. So, look … transparency: We can talk about it in terms of medical prices. We can talk about transparency in terms of contracts. And actually also in terms of quality, but we don't get into that today. Bottom line, plan sponsors need enough access to billing data and hospital prices to calculate how much the middle folks are taking in spread, which is, as aforementioned, quite a thing. For more actual data on the magnitude of spread pricing goings-on, ask Dan Ross. That's my suggestion. He's got spreadsheets he can show you of how much plan sponsors are paying and how much providers are charging and how much is going missing in the middle. For even more on this, read the recent Owens & Minor lawsuit that just got filed, which is just a case study in how hard some of these middlemen/carrier entities are working to obscure and hide what they are doing. Because, yeah, sunshine is a great disinfectant, and that's what transparency is. Sunshine. Here's another interesting link from Chris Deacon. I say all this to say, this is the kind of transparency that Cynthia Fisher and I talk about in the show today: contract transparency, bill charges transparency, and hospital or medical price transparency for plan sponsors. We do not get into today consumers or patients using price information to shop, just FYI. We also do not get into, really, price convergence, which is what happens when hospital and carrier prices become available in a market and is often brought up on or about conversations about transparency. Okay, I will say just one thing about price convergence. There was some chatter in anti-transparency press releases from parties mostly that didn't want to be transparent at all, no way no how. But there was some talk a couple of years ago that if contracted prices became transparent, the healthcare industry would raise their prices to match the highest in the market and the result would be rising healthcare prices and greater total costs. That turns out, it seems, to be false. There's a study that shows that the bottom of the market (those with the cheapest prices) do, in fact, raise their prices but not as much as the top of the market lowers theirs. So, there is actually net savings. Read about the Turquoise Health study and an article that Forrest Xiao and team posted that shows this, and it's the first study of its kind, at least that I have seen. Okay, so contract transparency, data transparency, that's what's on deck to discuss today with Cynthia Fisher, as I have mentioned several times already, who has a long history as an entrepreneur in the healthcare space. So, Cynthia Fisher gets U.S. healthcare, and she gets being a plan sponsor and a fiduciary. She is founder and chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, as well as Power to the Patients. Her focus is on ensuring that all healthcare shows prices up front so that we can have accountability and integrity in billing and at any point of care. Cynthia has said early and often that transparency protects the ultimate purchasers of healthcare—meaning plan sponsors, plan members, and patients—from overcharges, spread pricing, or otherwise. Where there's mystery, there is margin, as Anthony Ciaccia has said often. Cynthia's call to action is as follows, but listen to the show to hear her say it more eloquently. C-suites, CFOs, in-house counsel use purchasing discipline that your company probably uses elsewhere in the procurement of health benefits.  Cynthia Fisher also says as part of the call to action, refuse to sign blank checks to the healthcare industry and refuse anti-audit provisions. She also has a call to action for the accounting industry to stop ignoring auditing the health plans. And this matters just given the bald-faced fact right now that overcharges are party sized. Let me wrap up with this: There's a lot of brute force tactics out there being deployed by some plan sponsors that effectively keep plan members from getting the care they need because they are functionally uninsured. I've done multiple shows on this, and I link to some of them below. I just can't help to think, some of this brute force, you know, high-deductible health plans and some pretty savage cost containment strategies, might be unnecessary if middleman excess profits were eliminated. Well, I say this with some evidence, actually. Andreas Mang (EP419) was on the pod. He talked about saving 15% or more by being smart about contracts and plan assets at the financial and purchasing level. Brian Uhlig … was talking to him the other day. He was telling me he saved $80 million just doing contracts right. Also Claire Brockbank (EP453) talks about this; Cora Opsahl (EP452), too, from 32BJ. Those are two recent shows, again, about how much money can be saved by only signing contracts that ensure transparency. Also mentioned in this episode are Patient Rights Advocate, Chris Deacon, Justin Leader, Dan Ross, Forrest Xiao, Anthony Ciaccia, Andreas Mang, Brian Uhlig, Claire Brockbank, Cora Opsahl, Mark Cuban, and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company.   You can learn more at PatientRightsAdvocate.org.    Cynthia A. Fisher is founder and chairman of PatientRightsAdvocate.org, a nonprofit organization seeking healthcare price transparency, giving power to American consumers—patients, employers, and unions—to lower their costs of care and coverage through a functional marketplace and choice. Cynthia is best known for her pioneering work as founder and CEO of ViaCord, Inc., a leading price-transparent umbilical cord blood stem cell banking company which she started in 1993. In 2000, she co-founded and was president of the cellular medicines company ViaCell, Inc., of which ViaCord became a division. ViaCell went public in 2005, was acquired by PerkinElmer, and exists today under the ViaCord brand. Cynthia also serves on the public company boards of the Boston Beer Company, Inc. and Easterly Government Properties, Inc. She serves on the Florida Council of 100 and the board of the National Park Foundation, and she previously served on the board of directors of Water.org. Cynthia holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's and honorary Doctorate of Science degree from Ursinus College.   09:03 What is the goal of PatientRightsAdvocate.org? 10:28 Is American competitiveness being affected by healthcare spend? 13:47 Why is transparency a root cause to healthcare costs? 15:11 What's going on across the country to empower transparency in healthcare? 19:31 “I think people are fed up.” 21:22 The Cigna lawsuit in California. 26:36 How do employers navigate contracts against anti-steering? 28:54 EP419 with Andreas Mang. 29:33 EP452 with Cora Opsahl and EP453 with Claire Brockbank. 29:45 EP433 with Justin Leader.   You can learn more at PatientRightsAdvocate.org.   Cynthia A. Fisher of @PtRightsAdvoc discusses #medicalspreadpricing and #contracttransparency on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #pharma #healthcareleadership #healthcaretransformation #healthcareinnovation   Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Stacey Richter (INBW40), Mark Cuban and Ferrin Williams (Encore! EP418), Rob Andrews (Encore! EP415), Brian Reid, Dr Beau Raymond, Brendan Keeler, Claire Brockbank, Cora Opsahl, Dan Nardi, Dr Spencer Dorn (EP451)  

This show from last year was one of the most popular episodes of the past year. And it's also extremely relevant right now, given all of the PBM (pharmacy benefit manager) goings-on, as well as ongoing litigation like the J&J lawsuit, etc. Listen to the show with Julie Selesnick (EP428) for more on that one. For a full transcript of this episode, click here. If you enjoy this podcast, be sure to subscribe to the free weekly newsletter to be a member of the Relentless Tribe. Also, Brian Reid (EP456) in the episode from a couple of weeks ago. And he talks about how Mark Cuban's way of communicating and framing some of the issues with the big PBMs and just all of the perverse incentives in the drug supply chain. He says this way of communicating is “the chef's kiss.” So, besides the insights here that follow being relevant in and of themselves, there's also some lessons just in how those issues are teed up and communicated that we all can learn from. CEOs and CFOs … hey, this show is for you. Let's start here: What do all of these numbers have in common: $140,000, $3 million, $35 million, and $3 billion? These are all actual examples of how much employers, unions, and some public entities saved on healthcare benefits for themselves and their employees. The roadmap to saving 25% on pharmacy spend and/or 15% on total cost of care in ways that improve employee health and satisfaction always begins when one thing happens. There's one vital first step. That first step is CEOs and/or CFOs or their equivalents roll up their sleeves and get involved in healthcare benefits. Why can't much happen without you, CEOs and CFOs? Here's the IRL: In 2023, the healthcare industry has been financialized. There is a whole financial layer in between your company and its healthcare benefits. And unless the C-suite is involved here and bringing their financial acumen and organizational willpower to the equation, your company and your employees are currently paying hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of dollars too much and doing so within a business model that deeply exacerbates inequities. There are people out there who are very strategically taking wild advantage of a situation where CEOs/CFOs fear anything to do with healthcare in the title and don't do their normal level of due diligence. You think it's an accident that this whole space got so “complicated”? HR needs your help. Bottom line, if you are a CEO or CFO and you do not know everything that Mark Cuban and Ferrin Williams talk about on the pod today … wow, are you getting shellacked. Mark Cuban uses a different word. Healthcare benefits are, after all, for most companies the second biggest line-item expense after payroll. But don't despair here, because all of this information is really and truly actionable. Others out there are cutting zeros off of their spend and actually doing it in ways that are a total win for employees as well. My guest today, Mark Cuban, is a CEO, after all; and when he looked into it, it took him T-minus ten minutes to figure out just the order of magnitude that his “trusted” benefits consultants and PBM and ASOs (administrative services only) and others were extracting from his business. He pushed back. So can you. But just another reason to dig into that financial layer wrapping around your employee health benefits right now, you might get sued by your employees. Below is an ad currently being circulated on LinkedIn by class action attorneys recruiting employee plan members to sue their employers for ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) violations. It's the same attorneys, by the way, from those 401(k) class action lawsuits. I've talked to a few CEOs and CFOs who are scrambling to get ahead of that. You might want to consider doing so as well. Now, for my HR professional listeners, considering that some of what Mark Cuban says in the pod that follows is indeed a little spicy, let me just recognize that the struggle is real. There are multiple competing priorities out there in the real world, for sure. And bottom line, because of those multiple competing priorities out there in the real world, it's really vital that everybody work together up and down the organization in alignment. Lauren Vela talks a lot about these realities here in episode 406. This is a longer show than normal, but it's also like a show and a half. Mark Cuban talks not only about his work with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs, which is a company that buys drugs direct from manufacturers and sells them for cost plus 15%, a dispensing fee, and shipping. It's kind of crazy how so often that price is cheaper, sometimes considerably cheaper, than the price that plan members would have paid using their insurance—and the price that the plan is currently paying the PBM. Most Relentless Health Value Tribe members (ie, regular listeners of this show) will already know that, but what is also fascinating that Mark talks about is what he's doing with his own businesses and the Mavericks on other fronts, like dealing with hospital prices. In this show, we also talk the language of indie pharmacies, fee-only benefits consultants, TPAs (third-party administrators), PBMs, and providers doing direct contracting. There are, in fact, entities out there trying to do the right thing; and Mark acknowledges that. Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA, who is also my guest today, is chief pharmacy officer at Scripta and an expert in pharmacy benefits. She adds some great points and some context to this conversation. Scripta is partnering with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs. Scripta has a neat Med Mapper tool and also services to help employees find the lowest costs for their prescriptions. If you are a self-insured employer, for sure, check out Scripta. Here are links to other shows that you should listen to now if you are inspired to take action. I would recommend the shows with Paul Holmes (EP397); Dan Mendelson (EP385); Andreas Mang (EP419); Rob Andrews (EP415); Cora Opsahl (EP372); Lauren Vela (EP406); Peter Hayes (EP346); Gloria Sachdev, PharmD, and Chris Skisak, PhD (EP390); and Mike Thompson (EP389). Also Mark Cuban mentions in this show the beverage distributor L&F Distributors. Thanks to Ge Bai, Andreas Mang, Lauren Vela, Andrew Gordon, Andrew Williams, Cora Opsahl, Kevin Lyons, Pat Counihan, David Dierk, Connor Dierk, John Herrick, Helen Pfister, Kristin Begley, AJ Loiacono, and Joey Dizenhouse for your help preparing for this interview. Also mentioned in this episode are Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company; Scripta Insights; Julie Selesnick; Brian Reid; Paul Holmes; Dan Mendelson; Rob Andrews; Peter Hayes; Gloria Sachdev, PharmD; Chris Skisak, PhD; Mike Thompson; and Scott Conard, MD. You can learn more at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Scripta Insights. You can also connect with Scripta and Ferrin on LinkedIn.   Mark Cuban has been a natural businessman since the age of 12. Selling garbage bags door to door, the seed was planted early on for what would eventually become long-term success. After graduating from Indiana University—where he briefly owned the most popular bar in town—Mark moved to Dallas. After a dispute with an employer who wanted him to clean instead of closing an important sale, Mark created MicroSolutions, a computer consulting service. He went on to later sell MicroSolutions in 1990 to CompuServe. In 1995, Mark and longtime friend Todd Wagner came up with an internet-based solution to not being able to listen to Hoosiers basketball games out in Texas. That solution was Broadcast.com—streaming audio over the internet. In just four short years, Broadcast.com (then Audionet) would be sold to Yahoo! Since his acquisition of the Dallas Mavericks in 2000, Mark has overseen the Mavs competing in the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history in 2006—and becoming NBA World Champions in 2011. Mark first appeared as a “Shark” on the ABC show Shark Tank in 2011, becoming the first ever to live Tweet a TV show. He has been a star on the hit show ever since and is an investor in an ever-growing portfolio of small businesses. Mark is the best-selling author of How to Win at the Sport of Business. He holds multiple patents, including a virtual reality solution for vestibular-induced dizziness and a method for counting objects on the ground from a drone. He is the executive producer of movies that have been nominated for seven Academy Awards: Good Night and Good Luck and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Mark established Sharesleuth, a research and investigation Web site to uncover fraud in financial markets, and endowed the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents, an effort to fight patent trolls. Mark gives back to the communities that promoted his success through the Mark Cuban Foundation. The Foundation's AI Bootcamps Initiative hosts free Introduction to AI Bootcamps for low-income high schoolers, starting in Dallas. Mark also saved and annually funds the Dallas Saint Patrick's Day Parade, the largest parade in Dallas and a city institution. In January 2022, he started Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company as an effort to disrupt the drug industry and to help end ridiculous drug prices because every American should have access to safe, affordable medicines. Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA, is chief pharmacy officer of Scripta. With 15+ years' experience in the pharmacy industry, Ferrin brings a unique perspective to Scripta that spans the retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), and broker/consulting sectors. Her expertise ranges from pharmacy operations and services to innovative clinical programs, pharmacy audit, alternative payer funding, and specialty drugs. As chief pharmacy officer, Ferrin leads the company's clinical strategies organization responsible for devising innovative cost-containment strategies for prescription drugs, ensuring Scripta clients, members, and their providers are provided with best-in-class clinical insights and tools. Ferrin earned her bachelor's, Doctor of Pharmacy, and MBA degrees from the University of Oklahoma.   06:29 What was Mark Cuban's own journey as a self-insured employer with Cost Plus Drug Company? 07:44 What did Mark find when he decided to go through and look through his company's benefit program? 09:12 “When you think it through, you start to realize that money is being spent primarily by your sickest employees.” —Mark 10:02 How do you get CEOs and CFOs of self-insured employers to realize that their sickest employees are the ones subsidizing their checks? 13:00 What is the role of insurance in healthcare? 14:30 “If you can't convince them, confuse them and hide it.” —Mark 15:24 The reality behind getting a rebate check. 16:21 Why are rebates going away, and why isn't that changing PBM earnings? 19:05 How do you get CEOs and CFOs to dig into their benefits plan? 20:59 Does morally abhorrent move the needle? 21:33 “What we're trying to do is just simplify the [healthcare] industry.” —Mark 24:19 What's been changing in consumer behavior? 25:04 “Transparency is a huge part of building that trust.” —Ferrin 25:19 Why CEOs and CFOs really have the power to change healthcare. 32:29 What are Cost Plus Drugs' plans to expand? 39:21 Where is the future of the prescription drug market going? 42:09 What will happen to the prescription drug market in 10 to 20 years? 48:40 The wake-up call self-insured employers should be acknowledging now. 52:02 Where is the real change in the healthcare industry going to come from?   You can learn more at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Scripta Insights. You can also connect with Scripta and Ferrin on LinkedIn.   @mcuban and Ferrin Williams provide advice for #CEOs and #CFOs of #selfinsuredemployers on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #digitalhealth #valuebasedcare #healthcareoutcomes   Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Rob Andrews (Encore! EP415), Brian Reid, Dr Beau Raymond, Brendan Keeler, Claire Brockbank, Cora Opsahl, Dan Nardi, Dr Spencer Dorn (EP451), Marilyn Bartlett, Dr Marty Makary  

Mark Cuban built a career disrupting industries and creating new ones. Now, his sights are set on healthcare. There's no secret ingredient to Mark's success. As the world sees very publicly on Shark Tank, his style is the opposite of keeping secrets. It's based on providing respectful, but direct, honest and unvarnished opinions. He's bringing that style to healthcare in order to inject what he says the industry is lacking most. Trust.To kick-off a series of Healthcare is Hard podcast episodes that will dive deep into all aspects of reinventing the pharmacy space, Keith Figlioli sat down with Mark to discuss his vision and strategy behind Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, and many other healthcare-related topics.With Cost Plus Drug Company, Mark is bringing radical transparency to what he says is the most opaque industry he's ever been involved in. He's doing it by pricing every single product the same way – the cost of a drug, plus 15% markup, plus pharmacy fee (if any), plus shipping – and publishing these details for everyone to see.Through this model, Mark aims reduce costs and improve access to drugs, while rebuilding trust in the industry. With 2,400+ drugs now available, he's off to a fast start and talked to Keith about other evolving elements of the business including wholesale operations for providers, partnerships with grocery and pharmacy chains, and more.Some of the other topics Keith and Mark discussed include:The Netflix model for specialty drugs. With revolutionary precision medicine coming to market at high costs that can reach millions of dollars per treatment, how will employers and consumers afford them? According to Mark, that's the wrong question. He's looking at the challenge through the manufacturer's lens, asking how much they've invested in drug development and at what dollar value can they make reasonable returns. He discussed conversations he's having with manufacturers about creating subscription services that could cover a wide range of high-cost, specialty drugs.Transparent, direct contracting. Mark now self-insures his employees and their family members, contracts directly with providers on payment rates, and – following the Cost Plus philosophy – publishes everything for the world to see. He shared a personal story that helped lead him to this decision where he paid a provider directly when his son needed an X-ray and realized it was a fraction of the cost of agreed upon rates with his insurance company. He talked about how this decision cuts other costs while improving employee wellness, removing burdens on HR, and ultimately helping providers by removing the risk they take and helping them get paid faster. Millions of AI models. Mark is a big believer that there will be millions of AI models and everyone will have one. He says 100 years from now you'll be able to ask him questions through a model trained on all his emails and data. But AI in healthcare will be more segmented. He talks about how there's no way leading research hospitals with respected brands will feed their data into one large language model unless they get paid an extreme amount of money. They may even stop publishing “anything and everything” to prevent their research from being ingested into someone else's model.To hear Mark and Keith discuss these topics and more, listen to this episode of Healthcare is Hard: A Podcast for Insiders.

Living well with MS means learning to plan ahead. And, while planning ahead may not solve every issue that crosses your path, taking time to understand some of the details and making the right choices when it comes to your health insurance can make a huge difference in your MS care and treatment. MS Navigator and insurance resources specialist Carla Turechek joins me to share strategies for successfully navigating the health insurance maze with a minimum number of "surprises." We're also sharing study results that can help you get the most benefit from your everyday physical activity. We'll introduce you to an early-stage biotech company that just secured funding to develop three novel therapies that will address myelin repair and neuroinflammation. We'll share study results that show that a high level of a protein in the blood is a reliable predictor of future disability progression among people living with progressive MS. We're sharing some eye-opening discount prices from the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company for generics for three different disease-modifying therapies. And, speaking of generics, we'll explain why you can buy the generic for Tecfidera in the United States today, but it won't be available in Europe until next year, at the earliest. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! This Week: Successfully navigating the health insurance maze  :22 STUDY: The benefit of physical activity lies in step rate and not step count  1:42 Myrobalan Therapeutics secures financing to develop 3 therapies that address myelin repair and neuroinflammation  3:47 STUDY: High levels of a protein in the blood may predict disability progression in people with primary progressive MS  5:41 You'll want to check out the prices of generics for 3 disease-modifying therapies at Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company  8:50 Generics for Tecfidera have been delayed at least one year in Europe  10:47 MS Navigator and insurance resources specialist Carla Turechek shares strategies for maximizing your health insurance benefits and minimizing your costs   12:03 Share this episode  26:46 Have you downloaded the free RealTalk MS app?  27:07 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/334 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com STUDY: Free-Living Ambulatory Physical Activity and Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis: The Significance of Step Rate vs Step Volume https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38214757 Myrobalan Therapeutics  https://myrotx.com STUDY: Serum Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein and Disability Progression in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acn3.51969 The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company https://costplusdrugs.com Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 334 Guest: Carla Turechek Privacy Policy

CEOs and CFOs … hey, this show is for you. Let's start here: What do all of these numbers have in common: $140,000, $3 million, $35 million, and $3 billion? These are all actual examples of how much employers, unions, and some public entities saved on healthcare benefits for themselves and their employees. The roadmap to saving 25% on pharmacy spend and/or 15% on total cost of care in ways that improve employee health and satisfaction always begins when one thing happens. There's one vital first step. That first step is CEOs and/or CFOs or their equivalents roll up their sleeves and get involved in healthcare benefits. Why can't much happen without you, CEOs and CFOs? Here's the IRL: In 2023, the healthcare industry has been financialized. There is a whole financial layer in between your company and its healthcare benefits. And unless the C-suite is involved here and bringing their financial acumen and organizational willpower to the equation, your company and your employees are currently paying hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of dollars too much and doing so within a business model that deeply exacerbates inequities. There are people out there who are very strategically taking wild advantage of a situation where CEOs/CFOs fear anything to do with healthcare in the title and don't do their normal level of due diligence. You think it's an accident that this whole space got so “complicated”? HR needs your help. Bottom line, if you are a CEO or CFO and you do not know everything that Mark Cuban and Ferrin Williams talk about on the pod today … wow, are you getting shellacked. Mark Cuban uses a different word. Healthcare benefits are, after all, for most companies the second biggest line-item expense after payroll. But don't despair here, because all of this information is really and truly actionable. Others out there are cutting zeros off of their spend and actually doing it in ways that are a total win for employees as well. My guest today, Mark Cuban, is a CEO, after all; and when he looked into it, it took him T-minus ten minutes to figure out just the order of magnitude that his “trusted” benefits consultants and PBM (pharmacy benefit manager) and ASOs (administrative services only) and others were extracting from his business. He pushed back. So can you. But just another reason to dig into that financial layer wrapping around your employee health benefits right now, you might get sued by your employees. Below is an ad currently being sent around on LinkedIn by class action attorneys recruiting employee plan members to sue their employers for ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) violations. It's the same attorneys, by the way, from those 401(k) class action lawsuits. I've talked to a few CEOs and CFOs who are scrambling to get ahead of that. You might want to consider doing so as well. Now, for my HR professional listeners, considering that some of what Mark Cuban says in the pod that follows is indeed a little spicy, let me just recognize that the struggle is real. There are multiple competing priorities out there in the real world, for sure. And bottom line, because of those multiple competing priorities out there in the real world, it's really vital that everybody work together up and down the organization in alignment. Lauren Vela talks a lot about these realities here in episode 406. This is a longer show than normal, but it's also like a show and a half. Mark Cuban talks not only about his work with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs, which is a company that buys drugs direct from manufacturers and sells them for cost plus 15%, a dispensing fee, and shipping. It's kind of crazy how so often that price is cheaper, sometimes considerably cheaper, than the price that plan members would have paid using their insurance—and the price that the plan is currently paying the PBM. Most Relentless Health Value Tribe members (ie, regular listeners of this show) will already know all that, but what is also fascinating that Mark talks about is what he's doing with his own businesses and the Mavericks on other fronts, like dealing with hospital prices. In this show, we also talk the language of indie pharmacies, fee-only benefits consultants, TPAs (third-party administrators), PBMs, and providers doing direct contracting. There are, in fact, entities out there trying to do the right thing; and Mark acknowledges that. Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA, who is also my guest today, is chief pharmacy officer at Scripta and an expert in pharmacy benefits. She adds some great points and some context to this conversation. Scripta is partnering with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs. Scripta has a neat Med Mapper tool and also services to help employees find the lowest costs for their prescriptions. If you are a self-insured employer, for sure, check out Scripta. Here are links to other shows that you should listen to now if you are inspired to take action. I would recommend the shows with Paul Holmes (EP397); Dan Mendelson (Encore! EP385); Andreas Mang (upcoming); Rob Andrews (EP415); Cora Opsahl (EP372); Lauren Vela (EP406); Peter Hayes (EP346); Gloria Sachdev, PharmD, and Chris Skisak, PhD (EP390); and Mike Thompson (EP389). Also Mark Cuban mentions in this show the beverage distributor L&F Distributors. Thanks to Ge Bai, Andreas Mang, Lauren Vela, Andrew Gordon, Andrew Williams, Cora Opsahl, Kevin Lyons, Pat Counihan, David Dierk, Connor Dierk, John Herrick, Helen Pfister, Kristin Begley, AJ Loiacono, and Joey Dizenhouse for your help preparing for this interview. For a full transcript of this episode, click here.   You can learn more at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Scripta Insights. You can also connect with Scripta and Ferrin on LinkedIn.     Mark Cuban has been a natural businessman since the age of 12. Selling garbage bags door to door, the seed was planted early on for what would eventually become long-term success. After graduating from Indiana University—where he briefly owned the most popular bar in town—Mark moved to Dallas. After a dispute with an employer who wanted him to clean instead of closing an important sale, Mark created MicroSolutions, a computer consulting service. He went on to later sell MicroSolutions in 1990 to CompuServe. In 1995, Mark and longtime friend Todd Wagner came up with an internet-based solution to not being able to listen to Hoosiers basketball games out in Texas. That solution was Broadcast.com—streaming audio over the internet. In just four short years, Broadcast.com (then Audionet) would be sold to Yahoo! Since his acquisition of the Dallas Mavericks in 2000, Mark has overseen the Mavs competing in the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history in 2006—and becoming NBA World Champions in 2011. Mark first appeared as a “Shark” on the ABC show Shark Tank in 2011, becoming the first ever to live Tweet a TV show. He has been a star on the hit show ever since and is an investor in an ever-growing portfolio of small businesses. Mark is the best-selling author of How to Win at the Sport of Business. He holds multiple patents, including a virtual reality solution for vestibular-induced dizziness and a method for counting objects on the ground from a drone. He is the executive producer of movies that have been nominated for seven Academy Awards: Good Night and Good Luck and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Mark established Sharesleuth, a research and investigation Web site to uncover fraud in financial markets, and endowed the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents, an effort to fight patent trolls. Mark gives back to the communities that promoted his success through the Mark Cuban Foundation. The Foundation's AI Bootcamps Initiative hosts free Introduction to AI Bootcamps for low-income high schoolers, starting in Dallas. Mark also saved and annually funds the Dallas Saint Patrick's Day Parade, the largest parade in Dallas and a city institution. In January 2022, he started Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company as an effort to disrupt the drug industry and to help end ridiculous drug prices because every American should have access to safe, affordable medicines. Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA, is chief pharmacy officer of Scripta. With 15+ years' experience in the pharmacy industry, Ferrin brings a unique perspective to Scripta that spans the retail pharmacy, pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), and broker/consulting sectors. Her expertise ranges from pharmacy operations and services to innovative clinical programs, pharmacy audit, alternative payer funding, and specialty drugs. As chief pharmacy officer, Ferrin leads the company's clinical strategies organization responsible for devising innovative cost-containment strategies for prescription drugs, ensuring Scripta clients, members, and their providers are provided with best-in-class clinical insights and tools. Ferrin earned her bachelor's, Doctor of Pharmacy, and MBA degrees from the University of Oklahoma.   05:41 What was Mark Cuban's own journey as a self-insured employer with Cost Plus Drug Company? 06:56 What did Mark find when he decided to go through and look through his company's benefit program? 08:23 “When you think it through, you start to realize that money is being spent primarily by your sickest employees.” —Mark 09:13 How do you get CEOs and CFOs of self-insured employers to realize that their sickest employees are the ones subsidizing their checks? 12:10 What is the role of insurance in healthcare? 13:42 “If you can't convince them, confuse them and hide it.” —Mark 14:35 The reality behind getting a rebate check. 15:32 Why are rebates going away, and why isn't that changing PBM earnings? 18:17 How do you get CEOs and CFOs to dig into their benefits plan? 20:13 Does morally abhorrent move the needle? 20:47 “What we're trying to do is just simplify the [healthcare] industry.” —Mark 23:33 What's been changing in consumer behavior? 24:18 “Transparency is a huge part of building that trust.” —Ferrin 24:33 Why CEOs and CFOs really have the power to change healthcare. 31:42 What are Cost Plus Drugs' plans to expand? 38:36 Where is the future of the prescription drug market going? 41:25 What will happen to the prescription drug market in 10 to 20 years? 47:56 The wake-up call self-insured employers should be acknowledging now. 51:18 Where is the real change in the healthcare industry going to come from?   You can learn more at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Scripta Insights. You can also connect with Scripta and Ferrin on LinkedIn.   @mcuban and Ferrin Williams provide advice for #CEOs and #CFOs of #selfinsuredemployers on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast   Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Dan Mendelson (Encore! EP385), Josh Berlin, Dr Adam Brown, Rob Andrews, Justina Lehman, Dr Will Shrank, Dr Carly Eckert (Encore! EP361), Dr Robert Pearl, Larry Bauer (Summer Shorts 8), Secretary Dr David Shulkin and Erin Mistry  

Jacob and Nikhil sit down with Mark Cuban to discuss his pharmaceutical startup, The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. They discuss why Mark entered the healthcare industry, competing on price, staying curious, and the future of AI. (0:00) intro (1:05) Mark's journey into healthcare (3:57) how the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company works (7:51) B2B angle and disrupting PBMs(12:51) getting into biologics and biosimilars (24:46) manufacturing drugs (27:11) how much of a role can technology play in healthcare? (33:06) why Mark doesn't put his name on buildings (35:35) over-hyped/under-hyped (40:08) policy changes that could improve healthcare (41:17) Mark's best cameo

Why It's Controversial to Compare Healthcare & Hospitality Could healthcare really have its own version of customer reward programs? Peter Yesawich thinks so, and he joins the show to talk about how providers may implement the same techniques as hospitality organizations to enhance the patient experience. Peter and his coauthor Stowe Shoemaker's new book Hospitable Healthcare examines 22 service touchpoints that are common to both hospitality and healthcare experiences.  All that, plus the Flava of the Week about Blue Shield of California's newly announced partnerships with Amazon and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Are they truly ripping the PBM playbook, and is this the first of many dominoes to fall in the quest to find cost savings for both the business and healthcare consumers? Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen/

Could healthcare really have its own version of customer reward programs? Peter Yesawich thinks so, and he joins the show to talk about how providers may implement the same techniques as hospitality organizations to enhance the patient experience. Peter and his coauthor Stowe Shoemaker's new book Hospitable Healthcare examines 22 service touchpoints that are common to both hospitality and healthcare experiences.  All that, plus the Flava of the Week about Blue Shield of California's newly announced partnerships with Amazon and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Are they truly ripping the PBM playbook, and is this the first of many dominoes to fall in the quest to find cost savings for both the business and healthcare conusmers? This show is produced by Shift Forward Health, the channel for change makers. Subscribe to Shift Forward Health on your favorite podcast app, and you'll be subscribed to our entire library of shows. See our full lineup at ShiftForwardHealth.com. One subscription, all the podcasts you need, all for free. (#284)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's episode is with Mark Cuban, founder of multiple businesses, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, one of the sharks on Shark Tank, and cofounder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. He is joined by Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health. Together, they talk market forces in healthcare, the importance of trust to patients, and Mark's ideas to tackle the Gordian knot that is American healthcare. Listen to our last two episodes on Healthcare x Fintech:When Two Giants Intersect: Healthcare Meets FintechHow Fintech is Reshaping Our $4T Healthcare Industry Stay Updated: Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithioPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Among other things, Dr. Erin L. Albert is a pharmacist and an attorney.  She currently serves as Vice President of Pharmacy Relations and Chief Privacy Officer at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which is a Public Benefit Corporation.  We discuss pharmacy law and Erin's book The Life Science Lawyer during our interview.  The episode ends with a sample of the book read by Erin.  If you're in healthcare and considering law school, you need to listen to this episode! This is episode 4 of 15 in my Pharmacist Authors Series.  Subscribe to or follow The Pharmacist's Voice ® Podcast to get each episode delivered to your podcast player and YouTube each time a new one comes out.   Thank you for listening to episode 223 of The Pharmacist's Voice ® Podcast! To read the FULL show notes, visit https://www.thepharmacistsvoice.com/podcast.  Click on episode 223. Subscribe to or Follow The Pharmacist's Voice Podcast! Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/42yqXOG  Google Podcasts  https://bit.ly/3J19bws  Spotify https://spoti.fi/3qAk3uY  Amazon/Audible https://adbl.co/43tM45P YouTube https://bit.ly/43Rnrjt  Bio Dr. Erin L. Albert is an edutainer, pharmacist, attorney, writer, entrepreneur, STEM advocate, podcaster and instructor, and former preceptor who helps get affordable, safe Rx drugs to the masses in the US. She currently serves as Vice President of Pharmacy Relations and Chief Privacy Officer at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which is a Public Benefit Corporation or PBC, founded by Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, MD, PhD. She was also named a LinkedIn Top Voice in Healthcare in 2022. To learn more about Erin, visit https://linktr.ee/erinalbert, and click on the “Media Kit” tab.

Today's episode is with Mark Cuban, founder of multiple businesses, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, one of the sharks on Shark Tank, and cofounder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. He is joined by Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health. Together, they talk market forces in healthcare, the importance of trust to patients, and Mark's ideas to tackle the Gordian knot that is American healthcare.

Episode Summary Investing your money is one thing, but people often overlook the fact that they should also be investing in themselves. An article in the Wall Street Journal in late 2022 suggested that “The Best Investment to Make in 2023 Is in Yourself” and that people should treat their own career development like they do their investment portfolios. To discuss this, we are joined by Erin Albert, PharmD, JD, MBA. Erin is the vice president of pharmacy relations and the chief privacy officer at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. In addition to being a pharmacist, she's an attorney, author, and podcaster. She explains the concept of investing in oneself by building a portfolio of how we spend our time and money and how she applies this to her own life. She talks about the five categories that make up her professional development portfolio, how often she revisits this framework, and what it looks like to pay herself dividends along the way. She also talks about what she looks for in education and training programs and how her personal brand and network have accelerated the achievement of her goals.  About Today's Guest Erin L. Albert is Vice President of Pharmacy Relations and Chief Privacy Officer at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC. She is both a pharmacist and an attorney. Prior to joining Mark Cuban, she worked in a variety of pharmacy roles, including pharmacy benefits, taught pharmacy students at Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for over a decade, served as a director of content for two different ACPE accredited Continuing Pharmacy Education programs, consulted in both fee for service and managed care Medicaid, worked in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of roles—(including pharmacovigilance, clinical trials, medical affairs, and medical marketing), and in community practice pharmacy as a staff pharmacist and pharmacist-in-charge. She is also a freelance writer and author of over a dozen books, and podcaster (at The Edutainer Podcast.) Links Mentioned in Today's Episode Erin Albert    Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company   Shark Tank “The Best Investment to Make in 2023 Is in Yourself”  Book: Find Your Unicorn Space by Eve Rodsky] Book: Strengths Finder by Don Clifton The Team Cuban Card  Survey: Team Cuban Benefits Card YFP Planning: Fee-Only Financial Planning for Pharmacists YFP Disclaimer  

Our guest on this episode is Mark Cuban. In addition to a storied business career that includes owning the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a role on ABC's Shark Tank, Mark is the founder and lead investor in the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a generic pharmaceutical distributor that prices medications at cost, plus a 15% administrative markup and any relevant pharmacy and shipping fees. Founded in early 2022, over 1.7M patients have signed up for the service in their first year, and Cost Plus Drugs now offers over 1,000 generic medications for purchase on their website. Mark founded the company with CEO Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, a pediatric radiologist who originally tried to start an organization similar to Cost Plus Drugs as a non-profit, before pivoting and convincing Mark to be his partner. In this episode, I spoke with Mark about: His journey to starting Cost Plus Drugs How the company is able to drive down prices so drastically compared to the existing players How incumbents, such as traditional pharmacy benefit managers and new entrants, such as the Amazon RxPass, will impact the success of Cost Plus Drugs

There are a multitude of factors that go into achieving success. But when it comes down to it, how you get there is less important than how you treat and interact with the people you meet along the way. This week Adrian Rodriguez discusses the importance of respecting your leadership and understanding how your behavior impacts others.   How do we exhibit self-discipline to our team? Here's what you'll learn in this episode: How to make the next best right decision The importance of respecting your people How to handle conflicts with your leadership Why you should communicate with everything in writing   Adrian Rodriguez is an accomplished healthcare professional with over 20 years of experience in pharmacy and quality management.   He began his career in healthcare at Baptist Medical Center (VBMC) in south Texas, where he first worked three years as a pharmacy technician in the central in-patient pharmacy filling unit-dose prescriptions and preparing Total Parental Nutrition bags for ICU patients.   By 2003, Mr. Rodriguez had completed both his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, with a concentration in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin.   Between 2003 and 2009, Mr. Rodriguez worked in management roles for retail pharmacies such as Walgreens and Target, followed by a transition into an instructor at a local technical vocational college, where he taught anatomy and physiology, as well as prepared pharmacy technicians for their certification exam.   Mr. Rodriguez used this opportunity as an instructor to simultaneously enroll as a student himself at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he would earn his MBA in Finance and Strategic Management in 2009.   In 2021, Mr. Rodriguez accepted a position with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company working as the head of Quality and Safety where in his words: "I have finally found a company whose strong leadership   Whether you are a C-Suite Leader of today or tomorrow, take charge of your career with confidence and leverage the insights of The CEO's Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track.  To learn more about The CEO's Compass, you can get your copy here: https://amzn.to/3AKiflR    Other episodes you'll enjoy: C-Suite Goal Setting: How To Create A Roadmap For Your Career Success - http://bit.ly/3XwI55n Natalya Berdikyan: Investing in Yourself to Serve Others on Apple Podcasts -http://bit.ly/3ZMx8yw Questions to Guarantee You Accomplish Your Goals - http://bit.ly/3QASvymSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Cuban is famous for his "Shark Tank" reality TV show on ABC and is one of America's most prominent investors. But he's also trying to disrupt the prescription drug space. Earlier this year, he made a foray into health care, launching the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to take on the pharmaceutical market and lower drug prices. Ben Leonard talked with him about the Cost Plus Drug company he founded with Dr. Alex Oshmyansky and how he plans to pull it off.

Employers across the US are expecting a spike in health care costs in 2023. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company has partnered with the Purchaser Business Group on Health, a large employer coalition. And, former-Theranos executive Sunny Balwani has been sentenced to prison after being convicted for fraud. That's coming up on today's episode of Gist Healthcare Daily. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

**In this Episode of the Becoming a Badass Pharmacy Owner Podcast; Dr. Lisa Faast talks about Media Opportunities in Comparison to Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company** **Show Notes:** 1. **Independent Pharmacies Opportunities** [0:28] 2. **Lesson To Learn** [1:53] 3. **Strategies To Use** [2:24] 4. **Free Document To Use** [4:35] 5. **Important Thing To Talk About** [5:53] 6. **Advertising** [9:39] **Links mentioned in this episode:** [Free Document/Template For Media People] (https://diversifyrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Local-Pharmacys-Reaction-to-Mark-Cuban-Cost-Plus-Drug-Company.docx) ----- #### **Becoming a Badass Pharmacy Owner Podcast is a Proud to be Apart of the Pharmacy Podcast Network**

Mark Cuban was horrified at how many Americans struggle to pay for their medications, which are 250% more expensive in the U.S. than in other OECD nations. In this episode, he shares the details of his online pharmacy for generic drugs that offers steep discounts. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company cuts out the middle-man, charging customers a transparent price that is equal to the manufacturers' price, plus a flat 15% markup.The episode transcript is available here atVisit the Heart of Healthcare website for more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we're dropping a very special throwback to a bonus episode of Out of Patients. Out of Patients is just one of many shows on the OffScrip Health network – and we want to make sure all of our excellent podcasts are on your radar!The Heart of Healthcare is a show that explores the social determinants of health, including our food system, housing, climate change, and more. It's hosted by long-time healthcare advocate Halle Tecco. Halle recently had the opportunity to welcome Mark Cuban to the show. The two hit it off and talked about the soaring costs of prescription drugs and his new venture – Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amazon buys iRobot, Mofi vinyl controversy, Cybertruck cost increase Amazon announces deal to buy Roomba maker for $1.7 billion. Amazon's iRobot Deal Would Give It Maps Inside Millions of Homes. Ring, Google, and the Police: What to Know About Emergency Requests for Video Footage. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign offenders in UK. Disney could soon lose exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse. California Regulator Accuses Tesla of Falsely Advertising Autopilot. U.S. Senate passes major $430 billion bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs. Bill Gates: A Clean Energy Future is in the Hands of Congress. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a 'public debate' about bots. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be more expensive than originally planned. How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire. Citing Danger of "Ink Spills" Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers. Post-quantum encryption contender is taken out by single-core PC and 1 hour. Pearson (LON:PSON) Sees NFT, Blockchain Helping Making Money From E-Books Sales. Samsung Unpacked Date Is Aug. 10: This Is What To Expect. Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse. HBO Max, Discovery+ to Launch as Merged Product in Summer 2023. Why HBO Max Spent $130 Million to Shelve 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob 2'. French Scientist's Photo of 'Distant Star' Was Actually Chorizo. Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Christina Warren, Abrar Al-Heeti, and Georgia Dow Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Blueland.com/TWIT podium.com/twit UserWay.org/twit

Amazon buys iRobot, Mofi vinyl controversy, Cybertruck cost increase Amazon announces deal to buy Roomba maker for $1.7 billion. Amazon's iRobot Deal Would Give It Maps Inside Millions of Homes. Ring, Google, and the Police: What to Know About Emergency Requests for Video Footage. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign offenders in UK. Disney could soon lose exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse. California Regulator Accuses Tesla of Falsely Advertising Autopilot. U.S. Senate passes major $430 billion bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs. Bill Gates: A Clean Energy Future is in the Hands of Congress. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a 'public debate' about bots. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be more expensive than originally planned. How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire. Citing Danger of "Ink Spills" Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers. Post-quantum encryption contender is taken out by single-core PC and 1 hour. Pearson (LON:PSON) Sees NFT, Blockchain Helping Making Money From E-Books Sales. Samsung Unpacked Date Is Aug. 10: This Is What To Expect. Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse. HBO Max, Discovery+ to Launch as Merged Product in Summer 2023. Why HBO Max Spent $130 Million to Shelve 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob 2'. French Scientist's Photo of 'Distant Star' Was Actually Chorizo. Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Christina Warren, Abrar Al-Heeti, and Georgia Dow Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Blueland.com/TWIT podium.com/twit UserWay.org/twit

Amazon buys iRobot, Mofi vinyl controversy, Cybertruck cost increase Amazon announces deal to buy Roomba maker for $1.7 billion. Amazon's iRobot Deal Would Give It Maps Inside Millions of Homes. Ring, Google, and the Police: What to Know About Emergency Requests for Video Footage. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign offenders in UK. Disney could soon lose exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse. California Regulator Accuses Tesla of Falsely Advertising Autopilot. U.S. Senate passes major $430 billion bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs. Bill Gates: A Clean Energy Future is in the Hands of Congress. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a 'public debate' about bots. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be more expensive than originally planned. How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire. Citing Danger of "Ink Spills" Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers. Post-quantum encryption contender is taken out by single-core PC and 1 hour. Pearson (LON:PSON) Sees NFT, Blockchain Helping Making Money From E-Books Sales. Samsung Unpacked Date Is Aug. 10: This Is What To Expect. Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse. HBO Max, Discovery+ to Launch as Merged Product in Summer 2023. Why HBO Max Spent $130 Million to Shelve 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob 2'. French Scientist's Photo of 'Distant Star' Was Actually Chorizo. Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Christina Warren, Abrar Al-Heeti, and Georgia Dow Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Blueland.com/TWIT podium.com/twit UserWay.org/twit

Amazon buys iRobot, Mofi vinyl controversy, Cybertruck cost increase Amazon announces deal to buy Roomba maker for $1.7 billion. Amazon's iRobot Deal Would Give It Maps Inside Millions of Homes. Ring, Google, and the Police: What to Know About Emergency Requests for Video Footage. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign offenders in UK. Disney could soon lose exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse. California Regulator Accuses Tesla of Falsely Advertising Autopilot. U.S. Senate passes major $430 billion bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs. Bill Gates: A Clean Energy Future is in the Hands of Congress. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a 'public debate' about bots. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be more expensive than originally planned. How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire. Citing Danger of "Ink Spills" Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers. Post-quantum encryption contender is taken out by single-core PC and 1 hour. Pearson (LON:PSON) Sees NFT, Blockchain Helping Making Money From E-Books Sales. Samsung Unpacked Date Is Aug. 10: This Is What To Expect. Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse. HBO Max, Discovery+ to Launch as Merged Product in Summer 2023. Why HBO Max Spent $130 Million to Shelve 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob 2'. French Scientist's Photo of 'Distant Star' Was Actually Chorizo. Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Christina Warren, Abrar Al-Heeti, and Georgia Dow Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Blueland.com/TWIT podium.com/twit UserWay.org/twit

Amazon buys iRobot, Mofi vinyl controversy, Cybertruck cost increase Amazon announces deal to buy Roomba maker for $1.7 billion. Amazon's iRobot Deal Would Give It Maps Inside Millions of Homes. Ring, Google, and the Police: What to Know About Emergency Requests for Video Footage. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign offenders in UK. Disney could soon lose exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse. California Regulator Accuses Tesla of Falsely Advertising Autopilot. U.S. Senate passes major $430 billion bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs. Bill Gates: A Clean Energy Future is in the Hands of Congress. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a 'public debate' about bots. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be more expensive than originally planned. How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire. Citing Danger of "Ink Spills" Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers. Post-quantum encryption contender is taken out by single-core PC and 1 hour. Pearson (LON:PSON) Sees NFT, Blockchain Helping Making Money From E-Books Sales. Samsung Unpacked Date Is Aug. 10: This Is What To Expect. Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse. HBO Max, Discovery+ to Launch as Merged Product in Summer 2023. Why HBO Max Spent $130 Million to Shelve 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob 2'. French Scientist's Photo of 'Distant Star' Was Actually Chorizo. Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Christina Warren, Abrar Al-Heeti, and Georgia Dow Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Blueland.com/TWIT podium.com/twit UserWay.org/twit

Amazon buys iRobot, Mofi vinyl controversy, Cybertruck cost increase Amazon announces deal to buy Roomba maker for $1.7 billion. Amazon's iRobot Deal Would Give It Maps Inside Millions of Homes. Ring, Google, and the Police: What to Know About Emergency Requests for Video Footage. Facial recognition smartwatches to be used to monitor foreign offenders in UK. Disney could soon lose exclusive rights to Mickey Mouse. California Regulator Accuses Tesla of Falsely Advertising Autopilot. U.S. Senate passes major $430 billion bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs. Bill Gates: A Clean Energy Future is in the Hands of Congress. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Elon Musk challenges Twitter CEO to a 'public debate' about bots. Tesla's Cybertruck is going to be more expensive than originally planned. How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire. Citing Danger of "Ink Spills" Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers. Post-quantum encryption contender is taken out by single-core PC and 1 hour. Pearson (LON:PSON) Sees NFT, Blockchain Helping Making Money From E-Books Sales. Samsung Unpacked Date Is Aug. 10: This Is What To Expect. Tinder scales back its plans for dating in the metaverse. HBO Max, Discovery+ to Launch as Merged Product in Summer 2023. Why HBO Max Spent $130 Million to Shelve 'Batgirl' and 'Scoob 2'. French Scientist's Photo of 'Distant Star' Was Actually Chorizo. Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Christina Warren, Abrar Al-Heeti, and Georgia Dow Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: Blueland.com/TWIT podium.com/twit UserWay.org/twit

Today, we have two interviews with founders innovating in the US prescription drug market to bring prices down for consumers. First up, Molly talks with Alex Oshmyansky, CEO of The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, about building a "parallel supply chain", the importance of transparency, and a breakdown of the "financial engineering" in the industry. (3:22) Then, she talks to Capital RX CEO AJ Loiacono for a full breakdown on PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) and the opaque pharmaceutical supply chain. (40:35) (0:00) Molly intros today's two interviews (3:22) Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company CEO and Founder Alex Oshmyansky on operating a startup while still being a practicing doctor and Cost Plug Drugs' business model (11:21) Harmonic - Get $4000 off at https://harmonic.ai/twist (12:43) Alex explains the state of the US drug space, why they're trying to build a "parallel supply chain", the importance of transparency, and the origin story of the company (23:44) Prometheus - Go to https://prometheusalts.com or download it on the App Store and use the access code TWIST to sign up (25:11) Drug production, hot button drug issues (32:16) Alex explains the "financial engineering" and profiteering in the prescription drug space (39:15) BairesDev - Go to https://baires.dev/twist and get $10,000 off when you sign your first contract (40:35) Molly intros the next guest: Capital RX CEO AJ Loiacono, who explains the convoluted and opaque pharmaceutical supply chain (54:30) Understanding PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) and the broader healthcare industry (1:04:09) AJ gets into his background, starting Capital RX, and how it fits into the ecosystem

The search for truth in drug pricing is complicated by a lack of transparency. Fortunately for us, at least one drug company was committed to tell us what a drug actually costs to produce. Using the public information provided by the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, we can follow albendazole's price from the factory all the way to the health plan in the retail pharmacy channel.

July 1, 2022: A special episode of Keynote this week combines different guests and topics that really illustrate what this channel is all about and what conversations we've been able to have the past 6 months. We've clipped together some of our favorite moments, though it was hard to choose just a few. In Part 1 of our curated playlist, we feature the following guests and topics: 1. Mark Cuban, American billionaire & entrepreneur, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company - https://youtu.be/uGrhGnB4XoM (How will Mark Cuban Break into the Existing Systems in Healthcare to Make Equity Changes?) 2. John Halamka, President of Mayo Clinic Platform - https://youtu.be/yyBrKCUYOCE (AI and the Future of the EHR in Healthcare) 3. Angela Yochem, EVP Chief Transformation & Digital Officer at Novant Health - https://youtu.be/0MM_sRyNjwc (The Future Of Healthcare Is Empowering The Individual To Manage Their Wellness In A Continuum) 4. Lee Shapiro, Managing Partner at 7wireVentures - https://youtu.be/qSkj5PghCX0 (2022 Fundraising Predictions from Managing Partner of 7WireVentures) 5. Glen Tullman, CEO at Transcarent - https://youtu.be/sOq9T9adsxs (How Transcarent is Challenging the Confusing, Complex, and Costly State of Healthcare) 6. Missy Krasner, Venture Chair at Redesign Health - https://youtu.be/V7om0ZjE-fU (Big Tech's Decentralized Approach To Healthcare Innovation And Its Affect On Partnerships) 7. Rob DeMichiei, Former CFO / Board Director and Strategic Advisor at Health Catalyst- https://youtu.be/mBNPsyOfBGI (Healthcare Providers Reassess Strategy to Compete with 2022 Landscape) 8. Lee Milligan, CIO at Asante - https://youtu.be/u12sN2jK-_I (The First Moments of a Ransomware Attack: That First Phone Call)

This week on Pharm 5: Medicare Part D overpaying by $3.6B vs. Mark Cuban Vaxneuvance Pneumococcal-15 for kids Healthcare Implications from Biden's LGBTQI+ Executive Order ANCHOR Study reduces progression to anal cancer by 57% in PLWH and HSIL ADVANCE Study enrollment open for MSM interested in donating blood References: Lalani HS, Kesselheim AS, Rome BN. Potential medicare part D savings on generic drugs from the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2022. doi:10.7326/m22-0756 Merck & Co., Inc. U.S. FDA Approves Merck's VAXNEUVANCETM (Pneumococcal 15-valent Conjugate Vaccine) for the Prevention of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Infants and Children. Merck.com. https://bit.ly/3tXVlDL. Published June 22, 2022. Accessed June 23, 2022. Fact sheet: President Biden to Sign Historic Executive Order advancing LGBTQI+ equality during Pride Month. The White House. https://bit.ly/3yfS6Kf. Published June 15, 2022. Accessed June 23, 2022. Palefsky JM, Lee JY, Jay N, et al. Treatment of anal high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions to prevent anal cancer. New England Journal of Medicine. 2022;386(24):2273-2282. doi:10.1056/nejmoa2201048 Advance study. https://bit.ly/3Nbzu2p. Accessed June 23, 2022.

Serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban was one of the very first guests on How I Built This, way back in 2016. Mark has been founding and investing in startups for decades, but he's never put his name on a company until now. This week on How I Built This Lab, Mark joins Guy to talk about what he's been up to since he was last on the show. They discuss his interest in NFTs and how his latest business, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, is looking to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry. Listen to Mark's original How I Built This episode: https://wondery.com/shows/how-i-built-this/episode/10386-serial-entrepreneur-mark-cuban/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Cuban was born a serial entrepreneur.  At age 12, he sold trash bags door to door.  By age 16, he had a business selling stamps.  During college at Indiana University, he taught disco lessons at sorority houses and opened a popular bar before he turned 21.  So how does an average kid growing up in Pittsburgh go on to become a self-made billionaire? For some of us, it may be hard to imagine the person that we know today as Mark Cuban quit a job, was fired from another, had a business that closed down because somebody who worked there was on probation for prostitution, and slept on the floor of an apartment for many months after moving to Dallas. But it was these experiences that made Mark the businessman, investor, philanthropist, and billionaire that he is today.  Mark's journey is one of incredibly hard work, determination and perseverance, adapting to change, and learning from failure.In this episode, Randall and Mark talk about challenges on Mark's path to excellence, the role Mark played in the early days of the internet with MicroSolutions, the story behind AudioNet/ Broadcast.com, taking it public, selling it to Yahoo for $5.7 billion, and how he sold his stock in what is considered one of the most brilliant business decisions of all-time.  Randall and Mark also discuss Mark's latest company The Mark Cuban Cost-Plus Drug Company, and his very sage advice for young entrepreneurs.Topics Include:- How his college experience prepared him for success- The lessons about sales Mark learned as a 12-year-old selling trash bags door to door- Why you can learn just as much from the bad companies as the good ones - The interview answer that got him a job with no experience - Mark's brief career as an actor and reading for Stephen Spielberg - Why owning a sports team is unique from owning a business- Mark's powerful Shark Tank episode with Tania Speaks Organic Skincare- The importance of preparation and learning from failure - Mark's thoughts on parenting - How his work-life balance has changed over time- Mark's charitable work through the Mark Cuban Foundation and Fallen Patriots Fund- And other topics…Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur, investor, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and a host of Shark Tank on NBC.  Mark made his initial fortune through the sales of his startups MicroSolutions and Broadcast.com in the 1990s, and he was was ranked #177 on the 2020 Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest residents in the United States.Mark is also the best-selling author of How to Win at the Sport of Business.  Among many ventures, Cuban is also involved in the world of film and television and occasionally appears on popular television shows including Entourage, Dancing with the Stars, and The League. Mark is also the founder of the Mark Cuban Foundation, which leads programs including the AI Bootcamps Initiative and The Fallen Patriot Fund.  The AI Bootcamps provide free Artificial Intelligence training to underserved high school students, and the Fallen Patriot Fund was established to help families of U.S. military personnel who were killed or seriously injured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Mark graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with a degree in management.  He lives with his wife and children in Dallas, Texas.Resources Mentioned: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: https://www.amazon.com/Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451191153 

Mark Cuban has taken on the pharmaceutical industry. Clark discusses what he hopes to accomplish with the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and how it can help consumers save more.  Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Cuban invests in dozens of companies, but he's never put his own name on one before. That changed with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. In this conversation, he tells LinkedIn's Editor-in-Chief, Dan Roth, exactly why he wants to make commonly prescribed prescription drugs available as cheaply as he can, and what industries he thinks up-and-coming entrepreneurs should set their sights on. Follow Mark Cuban on LinkedIn Follow Daniel Roth on LinkedIn Join our This is Working community by subscribing to Dan's newsletter and posting your thoughts using the hashtag #ThisIsWorking.

The newly launched Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which aims to provide hundreds of commonly used prescription medications to patients at steep discounts, officially opened for online orders earlier this year. Using Truepill, a health tech platform, to fill and deliver prescriptions, the company keeps prices down by cutting out pharmacy benefit managers. Leader's Edge caught up with co-founder Alex Oshmyansky, a medical researcher and former professor at Stanford University, and Ron Harrison, the company's vice president of business development, at The Council's Legislative & Working Groups Summit, to hear about the company's goal to curb drug costs by working both as a retailer and its own PBM.

Some people are natural born leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, free thinkers - even fewer are all of those things and then some. The one and only Mark Cuban shares his honest and unfiltered thoughts with Kasich & Klepper on the issues of big pharmacy, insurance, and banking. He also predicts the future of artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and why too much power and influence in the hands of Mark Zuckerberg scares him. To learn more about The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and how Cost Plus Drugs works, go to costplusdrugs.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's MS Awareness Week and my guest is Marti Hines. Marti is a successful event producer, entrepreneur, film producer, and director. She was diagnosed with MS in 2018, and Marti has been very transparent in sharing the highs and lows of her MS journey on her social channels.  Like so many people living with MS, Marti has an amazing energy and a seemingly endless supply of resilience. You're going to enjoy meeting her.  We're also talking about why increasing diversity in clinical trials is so vital. And we're highlighting the Consensus Statement on Health Equity in Clinical Trials and Real-World Evidence Data Collection that was released by the National MS Society's Corporate Healthcare Roundtable. You'll learn about the Cost Plus Drug Company, billionaire Mark Cuban's effort to disrupt the prescription drug market by offering generic drugs that truly are affordable. And we'll share the results of a study that shows that a keto diet may be beneficial for people living with relapsing MS. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! It's MS Awareness Week!  :22 MS Society Corporate Healthcare Roundtable issues a consensus statement on health equity in clinical trials  1:03 Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company is compassionate capitalism in action  5:59 Keto diet shows benefits for people with  relapsing MS  11:18 Marti Hines talks about why sharing her MS journey is important  14:51 Share this episode  26:08 Have a minute? Leave a rating and review for RealTalk MS!   26:28 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/237 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jonstrum@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com National MS Society COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance for People Living with MS https://www.nationalmssociety.org/coronavirus-covid-19-information/multiple-sclerosis-and-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-guidance National MS Society MS Awareness Week https://nationalmssociety.org/msawareness National MS Society Corporate Healthcare Roundtable Consensus Statement on Health Equity in Clinical Trials and Real-World Evidence Data Collection  https://nmsscdn.azureedge.net/NationalMSSociety/media/MSNationalFiles/Documents/Corporate-Healthcare-Roundtable_Consensus-Statement-on-Health-Equity-in-Clinical-Trials-and-Data-Collection-(2).pdf National MS Society Public Policy Conference Replay https://nationalmssociety.org/ppc Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company https://costplusdrugs.com STUDY: Ketogenic Diet as a Strategy for Improved Wellness and Reduced Disability in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis https://index.mirasmart.com/aan2022/PDFfiles/AAN2022-000622.html Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 237 Guests: Marti Hines Tags: MS, MSAwareness MultipleSclerosis, MSResearch, MSSociety, RealTalkMS Privacy Policy

Today we're dropping a very special bonus episode. Out of Patients is just one of many shows on the OffScrip Health network – and we want to make sure all of our excellent podcasts are on your radar!The Heart of Healthcare is a show that explores the social determinants of health, including our food system, housing, climate change, and more. It's hosted by long-time healthcare advocate Halle Tecco. Halle recently had the opportunity to welcome Mark Cuban to the show. The two hit it off and talked about the soaring costs of prescription drugs and his new venture – Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you take prescription medication, Mark Cuban is about to save you money. He is determined to upend the industry! So far, he's well on his way. Get ready to pay less... much less for your prescriptions.The pharmaceutical  industry is nearly $600 billion a year! It actually could be much more! Most of it is waste and corruption. Unfortunately, the American people are force to pay the bill. Some drugs sell for hundreds, yet are made for pennies. Why? Well, Mark is going to tell you why. This discussion is only the beginning. On his website www.costplusdrugs.com he says, "We started Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company because every American should have access to safe, affordable medicines. If you don't have insurance or have a high deductible plan, you know that even the most basic medications can cost a fortune. Many people are spending crazy amounts of money each month just to stay healthy. No American should have to suffer or worse - because they can't afford basic prescription medications. If you are fortunate enough to have health insurance with a low deductible, the high cost of drugs is driving up the premiums that you or your employer pay, making getting health insurance expensive and challenging.The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company takes these problems head on." Mark discusses this and more on the podcast.  

This week, we kick off a new season by introducing our all-new format on The Catchup: New episodes driven ENTIRELY by you! From here on out, every episode will feature the topics that have YOU talking in your world, what's been on your mind, and anything trending. There's no limits to what we can talk about, and it puts you even more in the driver's seat of our conversations, and gives us a whole new chance to connect with you. So with that said, let's go ahead and get into it!Darien Mack submitted this topic: "Something that's been on my mind lately is all of this hoarding and the subsequent shortages. Sure, folks can get a little greedy (at times), but did you REALLY need the shelf of hot cheetohs? Was it necessary for that ENTIRE DESK of cheeze-itz? I can understand a couple of cases of bottled water, but sheesh"And we don't disagree! But while the rush to hoard supplies ahead of looming storms and supply shortages does seem worse, it's definitely nothing new. But what is feeding into the selfish behavior? How did we get to a point where we don't consider the people around us and instead, only consider ourselves? We discuss the impact this could have on an already-struggling supply chain, and how you could be affected - even if you don't take more than your share.Then, Mark Cuban is taking on Big Pharma with a brand new company offering prescription drugs at an affordable price. The recently launched Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company charges customers the same price it costs to manufacture these drugs, plus a 15% markup and a pharmacist fee. That means some extreme savings, including some savings in the 4 digits. This is already making a big splash, and it's just getting off the ground. How will this impact drug companies, and will the industry change to be more affordable for everyone? We discuss! Let's get into it!Follow us:FacebookInstagramYouTubeOfficial WebsiteEmail us: TheCatchupCast@Gmail.comSupport the show (https://www.nosignalrocks.com/the-catchup-podcast/)

Heads up, there's a lot of swears in this one. Well-justified swears, we think, but if you have younger listeners nearby, you might want to put on your headphones. Just this past week, billionaire Mark Cuban launched a new healthcare service called - because he's a megalomaniac -  the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. The company claims to sell prescription drugs at more affordable prices. We claim that Mark Cuban is a full-on asshole. (Told you there'd be swears.) The site touts that all drugs sold through the service are offered at manufacturers' cost with a 15% markup. But is it for real? Let's break down what Mark Cuban is trying to do here – including whether this really is a viable solution for rising drug costs. Show Notes Mark Cuban, for those who don't know, is known for owning the Dallas Mavericks, selling early 90s internet provider Compuserve, and being the jerk on Shark Tank. Mark is creating the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company with the goal of "saving America from high prescription drug prices." The company itself is a Pharmacy Benefits Manager (or PBM). ** Pharma Bullshit Mountain*** PBMs work directly with health insurers, drugmakers, and pharmacies to manage drug benefits and the cost of prescription medicine. CVS's Caremark is the largest PBM. The MCCPDC currently has around 100 generic versions of popular drugs on its site for sale. Examples: Imtanib, a leukemia treatment drug: Typically retails at $9,500+ a month, on the site it's available for $47 a month. Metformin, a diabetes drug, sells for $3.90 a month versus the typical $20.  The MCCPD claims that it's biggest benefit is its commitment to transparency and avoiding “middle men”; with every drug for sale, the company lists what drives the cost – from manufacturer price to pharmacy labor markups.  One big caveat: the company only accepts cash payments, not insurance. If you're uninsured, this may end up being a decent option, but not everyone is cash flush – especially if you're a minimum wage earner. If you are a person with insurance who is struggling with high prescription drug costs, this won't help you. More important context: they are only selling generic drugs. That was less than 11% of prescription drug spending in 2020. If you're struggling to afford a brand name drug, this won't help you either. If we had to predict, this effort will probably be most beneficial to Mark Cuban, not patients. Probably the long game: Eventually, they want to be making the drugs themselves, and then charging whatever they want. This sounds a lot like GoodRX? Is it the same thing? For those lucky enough not to know what GoodRX is: GoodRX is a service when you have no other options to get your prescription. GoodRX provides discounts for prescriptions, but you can't use your insurance. So they're similar in that these are both services for the uninsured - or people who are insured but aren't getting their drug covered by insurance. So a pretty small percentage of the population. The difference is that you can ONLY use GoodRX at in-person pharmacies, whereas Mark Cuban's service is ONLY for mail order. Mail order will always be cheaper since you're not paying for the pharmacy's overhead. The other difference is that GoodRX lets you shop the prices of multiple PBMs at any pharmacy - so for example, Caremark might have a lower price at a CVS since they're OWNED BY CVS, while Express Scripts might have a better price at a Walgreens. GoodRX launched itself as a publicly traded company on Wall Street a couple of years back, and said at the time they were making a 40% profit rate!!!! This means, even if their prices are lower than what you'd have to pay at a pharmacy on your own, they are still robbing you blind compared to what that pill actually costs to make and ship. New Segment; Ben & Gillian's drugs Shark Tanked!! Gillian's Fluoxeitine (Generic Prozac): 60 mg/day at 12 from Good RX at HEB,

Ok, I talk to much and then frustrated when I have to edit. Trying to think with an exhausted brain. I  pulled out the section on this new fangled service and will post it as quickly as I can.   Still working on chopping the main topic down. I have a mental block about it. Like I so want to get it right that I'm mucking it up.   Resources Mentioned:  To find out the best practices for selecting an U.S. online pharmacy the Food and Drug Administration has a page on Considering an Online Pharmacy?    If you want to check out the website for the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to find out how the service operates and is it an option for you. Have you had your #walkingtherapy today? It's good for you you know? Just 30 minutes can elevate your mood & improve your overall health

In this episode Molly Gamble, Vice President of Editorial at Becker's Healthcare, discusses the hottest healthcare business news of the day. Here she discusses: 1) The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. 2) Supply chain issues exacerbated by the Olympics 3) Getting ahead of the next Covid variant

Today is Wednesday, February 2, and we're looking at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company vs. CVS.Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/bwdailySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Cuban was horrified at how many Americans struggle to pay for their medications, which are are 250% more expensive in the U.S. than in other OECD nations. In this episode, he shares the details of his new online pharmacy for generic drugs that offers steep discounts. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company cuts out the middle-man, charging customers a transparent price that is equal to the manufacturers' price, plus a flat 15% markup.Visit costplusdrugs.com for more information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every week “In the News…” brings you the top stories and headlines around the diabetes community. This week: a new look at access to #diabetes meds, a look at stress in parents of children with type 1, Mark Cuban's new online pharmacy is open, can worry contribute to type 2 risk factors? And Lilly gets another slap from the FDA, this time about an Instagram ad. Join Stacey live on Facebook every Wednesday at 4:30pm EST and in Instagram at 4:45pm EST Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Episode Transcription Below (or coming soon!) Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! *DEXCOM* Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I'm Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. If you're new we go live on social media first and then All sources linked up at diabetes dash connections dot com when this airs as a podcast. XX Looking to get organized? Check out my new guide with top tips to clear your diabetes clutter. Everything from how to start to where to donate and how to keep it from taking over your house. Head over to the home page to get organized. XX Among people with type 2, minority ethnic groups have more limited access when it comes to newer diabetes medication.. This study used data gathered from 2005 to 2019 in a large clinical trial conducted at Johns Hopkins and other sites across the U.S. They found that compared with white patients, all minority groups were less likely to start newer diabetes medications. Black patients were 20% less likely to start newer medications, and American Indian or Alaskan Native patients, were 50% less likely. The researchers stress the findings were not driven by the patient's income – didn't matter how much money they made. The researchers say the next step is to look at how insurance coverage impacts which diabetes medications get prescribed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-minorities-diabetes-medications.html XX Billionaire Mark Cuban has opened up an online pharmacy offering prescription drugs at cheaper prices. Insulin isn't included.. yet.. but there are some diabetes medications listed. Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company says they want to – quote - "bypass middlemen and outrageous markups.” Cuban is not the first to enter the market.. it's a highly competitive one with contenders like GoodRx https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/01/24/mark-cuban-cheaper-prescription-drugs/6636901001/ XX Really good write up about the stress of parenting a child with type 1 diabetes.. and what can be done about it. This is in Endocrinology Advisor – they spoke to pediatric psychologists and endos. Familiar stories of no sleep, fear of hypos and of future complications but also some good information about how the stress changes over time and over the child's life. Acknowledging different challenges face parents of very children compared to those of teens. Not a lot of solutions here.. but very good reading about supporting a parent's well being as well as the child's. https://www.endocrinologyadvisor.com/home/topics/diabetes/type-1-diabetes/children-with-type-1-diabetes-and-parents-and-psychological-and-impact/ XX Obesity is a main risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes, but it has not been previously seen as a major complication in type 1 diabetes. However, a new study shows that obesity rates in adults with type 1 diabetes are increasing and mirror the rates in the general adult population. These researchers, also at Johns Hopkins, say adults with type 1 diabetes also now have a higher risk of kidney disease than those with type 2. https://scitechdaily.com/obesity-is-more-common-in-people-with-type-1-diabetes-than-previously-thought/ XX Middle-aged men who are anxious and worry more may be at greater biological risk for developing heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, also called cardiometabolic disease, as they get older. This study used a long-running research project, started in 1961 and mostly including white men. They followed different groups of men through 2015 and measured worry through questions and surveys. Higher worry levels were associated with a 10% higher likelihood of having six or more cardio-metabolic disease risk factors. These researchers say it would be important to follow up to see if these associations exist among women and people from diverse racial and ethnic groups. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-01-men-heart-disease-diabetes-factors.html XX Big slap for Eli Lilly from the FDA.. they say an Instagram ad for the type 2 diabetes drug Trulicity was “misleading” and “particularly concerning.” Lilly has since deleted the post in question, but the FDA says it failed to adequately communicate the indication and limitations of use associated with Trulicity, FDA says. It was alerted to the post via complaints to its Bad Ad program. The FDA said that this isn't the first time it's warned Lilly on Trulicity ads. https://endpts.com/fda-slams-eli-lillys-misleading-instagram-ad-for-its-type-2-diabetes-injection/ XX MIT engineers are working on a couple of devices to streamline some of the daily diabetes tasks – this got a lot of buzz this past week but is in the very early stages. They have one device that takes a photo of your food, calculates the carbs, measures your blood glucose via a finger stick.. then calculates your insulin dose & gives the injection. That's all in one device. The second device is all of that AND it's set up so the blood glucose measurement and insulin delivery happen through the same needle. As I understand it this would be like giving an insulin injection through the CGM wire. We'll see if it gets out of the lab and into clinical trials.. https://scitechdaily.com/mit-all-in-one-approach-to-diabetes-treatment-features-app-that-identifies-and-quantifies-food-content/ XX Before I let you go, our long format episode this week is with Tandem Diabetes. They released an ambitious 5-year plan to add a tiny pump they're calling Mobi and eventually move to a tubeless system. Next week we're talking about what it's like when type 1 is just one of the auto immune conditions you live with.. and the other one makes it very difficult to get a COVID vaccine. Listen wherever you get your podcasts That's In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.

Kathleen opens the show drinking Love Street Blonde ale from Karbach Brewing in Houston. She reviews her favorite Mexican restaurants that she ate at while in San Antonio (Rosario's) and Houston (Ninfa's Downtown) for shows. She takes a few minutes to toast and acknowledge the life of her dear friend Louie Anderson, who passed away on January 21st, sharing a few memories.“GOOD BAD FOOD”: In her quest for new and delicious not-so-nutritious junk food AND in continuing her search for the best Ranch, Kathleen samples her Buc-ee's jerky, which she loves and recommends eating as soon as you get it from the counter, and Buc-ee's Baked Cheese Curls which she likes as much as Cheetos. She finishes her tasting with Duke's Creamy Potato Salad Dressing, which she can't wait to use during Super Bowl weekend. QUEEN'S COURT: Kathleen is excited that Queen Stevie has expanded her summer tour to include New Orleans' JazzFest, Queen Chaka Khan has booked some 2022 shows, and Queen Dolly is releasing a new album called “Run Rose, Run” in March 2022.UPDATES: Kathleen gives updates on Adele's cancellation of her Las Vegas residency hours before it was set to open, Britney's family feud, the South Dakota Attorney General who hit and killed a man in 2020, and David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen selling their music catalogs along with John Legend.BADGER FINDS RARE ROMAN COINS: Kathleen laughs reading an article from Spain where a badger has led archaeologists to a stash of rare Roman coins. VICKI MADIGAN'S METAL DETECTOR: Kathleen reads an article about an amateur metal detectorist who found a Henry III gold penny in a field, which is one of England's earliest gold coins. The item will auction for almost $500K. MONKEY QUEEN RISES IN JAPAN: Kathleen reads an article about the first monkey “queen” in a Japanese sanctuary. The monkey led a violent coup to become her troop's first female leader, but her reign could be in jeopardy during mating season. CRUISE SHIP REPO: Kathleen laughs as she reads an article advising that Crystal Cruise line's Crystal Symphony is on the run from the law, changing their routing from Miami to Bimini, the Bahamas in order to escape bankruptcy repo seizure and stranding at least 300 people. Florida's U.S. District Court ordered that the ship be seized upon its arrival in Miami due to unpaid fuel bills of $4.6 million. MAN FOUND DEAD WITH 124 SNAKES: Kathleen is horrified to read an article about a 49-year-old man who was recently discovered in his Maryland home dead and surrounded by over 120 deadly poisonous snakes. AN ISLAND WITHOUT A PUB: Kathleen reads an article about a campaign that the small Scottish island of Rum Isle is undertaking in an effort to increase its population to 40 people. The island boasts beautiful, deserted beaches, a castle originally built as a hunting lodge and a lot of deer, and not a pub or restaurant in sight so you'd better love to cook at home. WALMART'S METAVERSE: Kathleen reads an article advising that Walmart appears to be venturing into the metaverse with plans to create its own cryptocurrency and collection of NFTs. She laughs out loud, musing scenarios where Walmart's employees have to explain these concepts to their general consumer base. CUBAN DRUGS: Kathleen is thrilled to read an article about a new business venture that billionaire Mark Cuban. Cuban is bringing affordable and transparent prescription drug pricing to the average consumer. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company announced the opening of its online pharmacy, stating that it will bypass health care industry "middlemen" and help consumers avoid high drug prices by charging manufacturers' prices plus a flat 15% markup and pharmacist fee.NFL PLAYOFF DIVISIONAL ROUND: Kathleen provides some colorful commentary leading into the NFL Divisional Championship weekend, including her thoughts on LA Ram's owner Stan “Enos” Kroenke.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alex Oshmyansky, MD, PhD, is the CEO/Founder of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. alex@costplusdrugs.com

RxSafe & ApproRx have sponsored a gathering of 200+ pharmacy owners interested in learning more about a drug manufacturer interested in working directly with Pharmacy owners. Thanks to Bruce Kneeland and Todd Eury for hosting this LIVE presentation from March 2nd 2021. Today was the 12th anniversary of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. The 1st podcast about the profession of pharmacy launched episode 1 on March 2nd 2009. Today the PPN has 30+ hosts & is dedicated to the success of our pharmacists & pharmacy techs. Alex Oshmyansky, MD, PhD is the CEO & Founder at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Dr. Alex along with strategic investor & business mogul Mark Cuban has launched Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a pharmaceutical company that plans to make less expensive versions of selected generic drugs. The company's first drug is a generic version of albendazole, an antiparasitic drug used to treat hookworm. Treated early, two tablets will treat the infection; left untreated, cognitive defects and neurological problems can result. Cost Plus Drug Company is dedicated to producing low-cost versions of high-cost generic drugs. In this interview, Dr. Alex pledges to provide radical transparency in how they price their drugs. Dr. Alex has committed letting everyone know what it costs to manufacture, distribute, and market drugs to pharmacies. They will add a flat 15% margin to get wholesale prices. This will help to ensure they remain viable and profitable. There are no hidden costs, no middlemen, no rebates only available to insurance companies. Everybody gets the same low price for every drug they make. The Pharmacy Podcast Network is the global leader in podcast content for the Business & Profession of Pharmacy. Since March 2009, the Pharmacy Podcast was the first audio blog for the pharmacy industry and has developed into a directory of over 25+ podcasts with different vertical informational themes. Collectively, over 2.5M downloads, more than 2,000+ episodes, and 30+ participating Pharmacists and Pharmacy Professionals hosting the podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RxSafe & ApproRx have sponsored a gathering of 200+ pharmacy owners interested in learning more about a drug manufacturer interested in working directly with Pharmacy owners. Thanks to Bruce Kneeland and Todd Eury for hosting this LIVE presentation from March 2nd 2021. Today was the 12th anniversary of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. The 1st podcast about the profession of pharmacy launched episode 1 on March 2nd 2009. Today the PPN has 30+ hosts & is dedicated to the success of our pharmacists & pharmacy techs. Alex Oshmyansky, MD, PhD is the CEO & Founder at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Dr. Alex along with strategic investor & business mogul Mark Cuban has launched Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a pharmaceutical company that plans to make less expensive versions of selected generic drugs. The company's first drug is a generic version of albendazole, an antiparasitic drug used to treat hookworm. Treated early, two tablets will treat the infection; left untreated, cognitive defects and neurological problems can result. Cost Plus Drug Company is dedicated to producing low-cost versions of high-cost generic drugs. In this interview, Dr. Alex pledges to provide radical transparency in how they price their drugs. Dr. Alex has committed letting everyone know what it costs to manufacture, distribute, and market drugs to pharmacies. They will add a flat 15% margin to get wholesale prices. This will help to ensure they remain viable and profitable. There are no hidden costs, no middlemen, no rebates only available to insurance companies. Everybody gets the same low price for every drug they make. The Pharmacy Podcast Network is the global leader in podcast content for the Business & Profession of Pharmacy. Since March 2009, the Pharmacy Podcast was the first audio blog for the pharmacy industry and has developed into a directory of over 25+ podcasts with different vertical informational themes. Collectively, over 2.5M downloads, more than 2,000+ episodes, and 30+ participating Pharmacists and Pharmacy Professionals hosting the podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new podcast called “Decoder with Nilay Patel” episode 1 @reckless released on Nov 10, 2020 with special guest MARK CUBAN ON AMERICA'S FUTURE & a short clip about Cost Plus Drugs. Alex Oshmyansky, MD, PhD is the CEO & Founder at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Dr. Alex along with strategic investor & business mogul Mark Cuban has launched Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a pharmaceutical company that plans to make less expensive versions of selected generic drugs.  The company's first drug is a generic version of albendazole, an antiparasitic drug used to treat hookworm. Treated early, two tablets will treat the infection; left untreated, cognitive defects and neurological problems can result. Cost Plus Drug Company is dedicated to producing low-cost versions of high-cost generic drugs. In this interview, Dr. Alex pledges to provide radical transparency in how they price their drugs.  Dr. Alex has committed letting everyone know what it costs to manufacture, distribute, and market drugs to pharmacies. They will add a flat 15% margin to get wholesale prices. This will help to ensure they remain viable and profitable. There are no hidden costs, no middlemen, no rebates only available to insurance companies. Everybody gets the same low price for every drug they make. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices