Here's the pitch . . .

One of my favorite pitchers, 4 time Cy Young Winner, Greg Maddux

            And it’s a change up.  A change up is a type of throw that baseball and softball pitchers have in their arsenal to beat batters.  At first the ball appears to be traveling faster than what it really is, and then it slows down.  The ideal batter’s response, for the pitcher, is to swing early and get a strike.  A change up changes the tempo of pitches a batter sees.  It keeps him or her on their toes.

            It is here I want to ask you reading this to have an open mind.  A change up is designed to keep a batter on their toes, a similar scenario can be seen unfolding in the pharmaceutical’s field.  As I mentioned in a previous post I interviewed Chris Roberts, who shared with me a little bit about what is on the horizon for him and his company.

            With the affordable care act starting to pick up in implementing parts of that gigantic law, the government is slowly making (and enforcing) rules and laws about health care.  Since the government pays Chris’s company, Eli Lily, it must follow the rules set forth and in place.  In a sense the government is slowly taking over health care.  The major change for Eli Lilly will be tailoring their style and strategies around a doctor’s changes.  He feels confident his company will be flexible to change for the better.

            Eli Lily is just a pharmaceutical company; they just deal with medicine that can be prescribed to patients.  A company like Arthrex, whose specialty is with orthopedic surgeons, may face bigger changes to their business.  There are many other companies and businesses out there who are competing with Eli Lilly and Arthrex, but the rules of the games for everyone are change.

            The changes are in place to hopefully make the entire health care world better, that is still up for debate (and won’t be in this blog, but I am sure it is the main subject of many other blogs out there).  Chris did share that since all electric medical records were mandated, that area of business is flourishing well.  However, changes are on the horizon.  Medical companies need to stay on their toes and be flexible.  Each medical company out there probably is preparing for the new laws to come.

            Johnson and Johnson, perhaps the company recognized most around the world for medicine and care, is preparing for changes.  I doubt the availability of Tylenol, Motrin products, Pepcid, and many more Johnson and Johnson products will change.  But what goes on behind the scenes will change.  The journey that medicine takes to get to the shelf has years of traveling behind it.  The map is changing for every company/business.

            The end users, the consumers, may see a few changes, major changes, or no changes depending if the health care website is working or not.  I follow the status on that subject on the news every so often, last I heard it was up.  To some people that is a good thing, to others its bad.  We all have to wait and see how this one plays out.  Until next time, laugh often, with everyone, but never at someone.

Riley Banach