Bill Barr

Bill Barr is a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry and specializes in quantifying the impact of payers on physician prescribing. Bill also wrote "Selling Pharmaceuticals in a Managed Care Environment," an educational handbook for pharmaceutical sales professionals. He can be contacted at bill@wcbarr.com.

Formularies are often described using terms such as "open," meaning all products are available, and "closed," meaning that only certain products are available. However, given the complex nature of pharmacy-benefit design, these terms are inadequate as labels to describe formularies.

To maximize sales in a managed care environment, pharmaceutical representatives must identify the "true payers" who assume the financial risk for their products.