Content about Pharmacy Benefit Management

LISLE, Ill. — Pharmacy benefit manager SXC Health Solutions has picked a new name following its recent merger with another PBM, the company said.

SXC, which recently merged with Catalyst Health Solutions to become the country's fourth-largest PBM by prescription volume, said it has changed its name to Catamaran. The company's shares will be traded under the ticker CTRX on the Nasdaq and as CCT on the Toronto Stock Exchange starting Wednesday. The company said the new name would reflect its "nimble, flexible" approach to serving clients.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Narrow networks. They're all the rage. If nothing else, narrow pharmacy benefit management networks emphasize local; and one analysis thread common among all the pundits discussing Walgreens' recent acquisition of USA Drug is that Walgreens just got a whole lot more local across the Southeast.

Is Walgreens’ decision to buy a major stake in European drug store giant Alliance Boots a good idea?

If you're an independent pharmacist trying to make ends meet in the state of Texas, good luck. A shift in the way the Lone Star State pays for Medicaid — as enacted by Texas legislature — is hammering many pharmacies, according to a June 14 report from the Texas Tribune, as reported in the New York Times.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Monday confirmed its legal dispute with Express Scripts has been mutually dropped in what many analysts are heralding as the beginning of the end of the Walgreens-Express Scripts dispute of 2012.

Community pharmacy’s high-stakes pushback against the powerful pharmacy benefit management lobby continues.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — It was a rainy Thursday morning in Woonsocket, R.I., but that didn’t dissuade CVS Caremark stockholders from flocking to the company’s sprawling headquarters to attend its annual meeting of stockholders — an event that proved to be one filled with optimism as president and CEO Larry Merlo provided key highlights of 2011 and discussed how the company is reinventing pharmacy and capitalizing on its “integration sweet spots.”

WASHINGTON — The battle for public opinion and legislative sway was in full swing Monday as executives from the National Community Pharmacists Association lobbied congressional leaders regarding several pieces of "pro-patient, pro-pharmacist legislation." To counter that effort, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association issued some marketing firepower of its own.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has expressed its support for enactment of the Pharmacy Audit Integrity Program (HF 1236/SF 973) by Minnesota governor Mark Dayton. The law will establish standards in the pharmacy audit process conducted by pharmacy benefit management companies in the state of Minnesota.

NACDS sent a letter of support to Dayton prior to enactment, emphasizing the importance of this legislation in ensuring transparency in the PBM audit process.
 

PITTSBURGH — The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Wednesday accepted an amici curiae from the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumers League, the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices and U.S. PIRG (a federation of 28 nonprofit, nonpartisan state Public Interest Research Groups) on behalf of retail pharmacy plaintiffs in their suit to dismantle the Express Scripts-Medco merger.

ST. LOUIS — Workers' compensation pharmacy costs took on an extra $2.1 billion in 2011 due to unnecessary use of more expensive drugs, according to a new report by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart and healthcare partner Humana are out with a new prescription drug program called Rx4Value that guarantees savings and relies on the proven strategy of improving affordability by restricting choice to generic drugs.