Prescription Drugs - Medicine & Money
The truth about prescription drug costs.
Employers
- Employers and PBMs
- 10 Questions You Should Be Asking
- Mail Order Myth
- Yet Another Consultant
- Who's Making the Decisions?
- Big Business Clout
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[click here]Mail Order Myth
Rising drug expenses are prompting more employers to consider limiting their retail pharmacy network to low-cost providers or cutting out retail pharmacies from prescribing non-emergency medication altogether. (More of Story)
Patients are in a Catch 22 situation with pharmacy benefit managers and the effort to force the use of mail order pharmacies. What might seem to be a convenience in some instances actually is a serious risk. Look who's making the decisions on your drugs!
PBM profits from mail order are disproportionate to the savings, with the lion's share going to PBM profit instead of the plan client who pays the bills.
The mail order myth is perpetuated by pharmacy benefit managers. They claim mandatory mail order saves the employer money. But does it? Not according to several studies, including the only peer-reviewed study on this topic.
PBMs try to direct enrollees to mail order pharmacies owned by the PBM. In the Medicare Part D program, elderly patients have unwittingly agreed to claims and pressure by PBM employees whose sole job is to convert patients to mail order.
Another report explains how full transparency in PBM contracts is the only way to know whether mail order results in savings and whether the savings are being passed along to employers.