The Physician's Guide to the Drug Supply Chain - Healthcare Huddle

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The Physician's Guide to the Drug Supply Chain

What They Don't Teach You in Training: Master the business side of prescribing and help your patients afford their medications

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You prescribe drugs every day. But do you understand how they're priced?

Most physicians don't. Medical school taught us pharmacology, not pharmacy economics. We learned mechanism of action, not markup structures.

That knowledge gap has consequences.

$406B

U.S. drug spending in 2022

What Americans pay vs. other countries

25-30%

Patients who don't fill Rx due to cost

80%

Of prescriptions controlled by 3 PBMs

What's Inside

A comprehensive 30-page guide that pulls back the curtain on drug pricing—with practical tools you can use tomorrow

Part 1

The Journey

How drugs move from manufacturing to patients. Meet the six key players and understand where money flows vs. where drugs flow.

Part 2

The Economics

Why U.S. drug prices are so high. Rebate structures, spread pricing, patent games, and the PBM profit model—explained.

Part 3

The Disruptors

How Cost Plus Drugs, Amazon Pharmacy, and biosimilars are bypassing the traditional system to offer lower prices.

Part 4

The Physician Toolkit

Scripts for cost conversations. PA templates that get approved. Patient resources checklist. Real case studies. This is the section you'll bookmark.

Part 5

The Future

Policy changes on the horizon. What the Inflation Reduction Act actually does. What might work. Your role as a physician-advocate.

What You'll Learn

💬

Cost Conversations

Word-for-word scripts for talking to patients about drug affordability—without feeling awkward

📋

Prior Auth Mastery

Templates for writing PAs that actually get approved. When to escalate. How to win peer-to-peer reviews

🔍

Price Checking Tools

How to check GoodRx, Cost Plus Drugs, and patient assistance programs in real time

📊

Formulary Navigation

When to request exceptions. How to work with your pharmacy committee. Questions to ask that get results

💊

The PBM Playbook

Understand rebates, spread pricing, and why PBMs profit from high list prices

🎯

Actionable Next Steps

A patient resources checklist you can hand to anyone who says "I can't afford this"

About the Author

Jared Dashevsky, MD, MEng

Physician • Healthcare Systems Engineer • Founder of Healthcare Huddle

Jared is an internal medicine resident and founder of Healthcare Huddle, a newsletter read by 30,000+ healthcare professionals. He writes about the intersection of medicine, policy, and technology—translating complex healthcare topics into clear, actionable insights.

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