Unscripted - The AMCP Podcast

In this episode of Unscripted, Jessica Fann, Program Director for Research and Strategic Partnerships at Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy, is joined by Jason Dranove, MD, Medical Director of the Gastroenterology and Motility Program at Atrium Health Levine Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, to discuss pediatric IBS-C and functional...

In this episode of Unscripted, Steve Kheloussi, Principal Consultant with Kheloussi Consulting, speaks with Rachel Unger, Director of Research and Data Analytics at the Economic Alliance for Michigan, about bringing employers, health plans, providers, and patient advocates together to improve access to evidence-based precision oncology care. They discuss biomarker testing, payer coverage policies,...

In this episode of Unscripted, guest host Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, MBA, FAMCP, welcomes returning guest Dr. Arash Mostaghimi, MD, MPA, MPH, Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chair of Clinical Trials and Innovation and Director of the Dermatology Inpatient Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to discuss the rapidly evolving treatment landscape for alopecia ar...

In this episode of Unscripted, host Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, principal consultant with Kheloussi Consulting and a managed care pharmacist, is joined by Tianyi Wang, consultant at Omnicom Health Market Access, and Irvin Molina, PharmD, BCOP, director of clinical pharmacy at IPD Analytics and a board-certified oncology pharmacist, to explore how National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline...

In this episode of Unscripted, Dr. Ryan Haumschild, Vice President of Pharmacy at Emory, is joined by Dr. Naveen Pemmaraju, Professor of Leukemia and founding director of the BPDCN program at MD Anderson, to discuss blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), an ultra-rare and aggressive blood cancer. They examine the recent FDA approval of pivekimab sunirine-pvzy (PVEK), a CD123-directe...

In this episode of AMCP Unscripted, host Amy Lugo, PharmD, BCPS, BC-ADM, FAPhA, FAMCP, Founder and CEO of LoneStar Health Solutions, is joined by Dr. Joshua Lennon, Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, to discuss the unique challenges of diagnosing and treating narcolepsy in children. They explore why pediatric narcolepsy is frequently misdiagnosed, the signifi...

Today on Unscripted, guest host Denise Wolff, PharmD, CEO & Founder of Denise & Co., LLC, welcomes Zachary Contreras, PharmD, RPh, Director of Pharmacy Benefits, Sharp Health Plan, for a discussion on idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), a chronic neurological sleep disorder that remains widely underrecognized despite its profound impact on patients’ lives. Together, they explore the challenges of...

Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer remains one of the most challenging settings in oncology, with limited treatment options and historically poor outcomes for many patients. In this episode of Unscripted, the AMCP Podcast, guest host Abby Kim, PharmD, BCOP, Senior Director of Clinical Strategy and Oncology Specialty Solutions at Prime Therapeutics, sits down with Kathleen Moore, MD, Deputy Director...

In this episode of Unscripted – The AMCP Podcast, guest host Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, MBA, FAMCP, principal consultant at Kheloussi Consulting, speaks with Amy Lugo, PharmD, BCPS, BC-ADM, FAPhA, FAMCP, founder and CEO of LoneStar Health Solutions, about the evolving treatment landscape for narcolepsy. The discussion explores the burden of delayed diagnosis, the real-world impact of excessive dayti...

In today’s episode, guest host Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, CPEL, Vice President of Pharmacy at Emory University and Emory Health Plan, Winship Cancer Institute, discusses the real-world impact of non-medical switching in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) with Timothy Mok, Manager of Clinical Utilization Intelligence at Kaiser Permanente and board-certifi...

In this episode of Unscripted, guest host Steve Kheloussi, Principal Consultant with Kheloussi Consulting, sits down with Dr. John Fox, Senior Medical Director for the Americas at Illumina, to untangle the complexities of clinical utility. Drawing on his experience as a pediatrician and former health plan medical director, Dr. Fox explains why defining clinical utility remains a challenge for the...

What’s driving vaccine hesitancy—and what’s actually true? In this episode of Unscripted, the AMCP Podcast, guest host Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, MBA, FAMCP speaks with Ria Westergaard, Head of Commercial Strategy Intelligence Solutions at Evernorth Health Services, and Rekha Lakshmanan, Executive Director of The Immunization Partnership, about the growing tension between science, policy, and public...

What happens when a diagnosis is delayed—not because symptoms aren’t there, but because they don’t fit expectations? In this episode of Unscripted, guest host Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, MBA, FAMCP, speaks with Blair and Dallas Burleson about delayed MS diagnosis, the realities of living with an unpredictable disease, and the impact on caregivers. The conversation also examines where managed care can...

In this episode of Unscripted, the AMCP podcast, host Laura Bobolts, PharmD, BCOP, talks with Kirollos Hanna, PharmD, Director of Pharmacy at Minnesota Oncology, about the rapidly shifting treatment landscape for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The discussion covers the transition toward oral fixed-duration frontline regimens, the latest 2026 NCCN guidelines, and the emerging role of MRD testi...

In this episode of Unscripted, the AMCP podcast, we talk with Jeffrey Dunn, PharmD, MBA, President and CEO of Cooperative Benefits Group, about the rapidly evolving treatment landscape for HER2-positive biliary tract cancer (BTC) and its implications for managed care. The discussion covers the importance of biomarker testing and molecular profiling in guiding targeted therapy, key NCCN guideline c...

In this episode, we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the AMCP Foundation. AMCP President Carly Rodriguez, PharmD, FAMCP joins guest host Jordan Bernard, AMCP Foundation/Pfizer Managed Care Intern and Rebecca Brown, AMCP Foundation/Pfizer Managed Care Intern to discuss how the Foundation’s internships and mentorship programs shape the future of managed care. We explore the transition from student...

In this last installment of our rare disease series, we speak with Angela Luong, PharmD, Senior Clinical Consultant at Pharmaceutical Strategies Group. Our discussion focuses on the burden of sickle cell disease, chronic pain management, limited treatment options, and the implications for managed care programs, including the use of data and care coordination to improve patient outcomes. This activ...

In this episode of Unscripted, we continue our rare disease series with a focus on hemophilia and the substantial clinical, financial, and psychosocial burdens it places on patients and families. We speak with Janna Evans, Director of Pharmacy Sales Support at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, who discusses how health plans manage high-cost therapies, balance individualized patient needs with a...

This episode continues AMCP’s rare disease series with an in-depth look at IgA nephropathy (IgAN), a progressive autoimmune kidney disease that often goes undiagnosed until advanced stages. We speak with Ami Gopalan, Senior Vice President of Strategic Content and Growth Optimization at Precision AQ. As a patient living with IgAN, Ami brings both a professional and personal perspective to the discu...

In this episode of Unscripted, we speak with Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, MBA, FAMCP, Principal Consultant at Kheloussi Consulting, LLC, in the first installment of our four-part series on rare diseases. We discuss a practical overview of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the current treatment landscape, and the evidence gaps that complicate payer decision-making. We also touch on the importance of w...

In this episode of Unscripted, AMCP explores vitiligo as a complex autoimmune disease with significant psychosocial and clinical implications. Dr. Iltefat Hamzavi, MD, FADD discusses the burden of delayed diagnosis, the societal and emotional challenges patients face, and the importance of early, individualized treatment. He outlines current therapeutic approaches—including topical agents, phototh...

In this episode of Unscripted, AMCP speaks with Sheena Crosby, PharmD, BCGP, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Pharmacist at the Mayo Clinic in Florida. Sheena breaks down the American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) updated guidelines for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, highlighting major shifts in treatment strategy, including the move toward earlier use of advanced therapies and u...

In this episode of Unscripted, we talk with Marty Acevedo, MS, RD, Patient Advocate and President & Board Chair of the Parkinson’s Association of San Diego. Marty shares her personal journey with Parkinson’s disease—from a delayed diagnosis to managing symptoms, treatment decisions, and the impact on daily life. She discusses the importance of individualized care, the essential role of caregiv...

In this episode of Unscripted, we speak with Dr. Kartik Kalra, Clinical Nephrologist at Geisinger Medical Center. We discuss IgA nephropathy and the newly released, comprehensive 2025 KDIGO guidelines. We explore what IgAN is, why diagnosis is often delayed, how it commonly presents, and the impact the disease can have over a patient’s lifetime. Dr. Kalra also discusses what prompted the latest gu...

Personalized medicine has moved from concept to proven science—but implementation lags behind. In this episode of Unscripted, Daryl Pritchard, Senior Vice President of Science Policy at the Personalized Medicine Coalition, discusses how precision medicine is transforming care and where critical gaps remain. He shares findings from recent studies showing how many patients are still lost along the t...