An Oklahoma Win over Mandatory Mail Order Worth Revisiting

By Kevin Schweers

Recently NCPA asked the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York how New York pharmacists prevailed over mandatory mail order during a 2011 legislative fight. Late last year, Oklahoma was also home to a win for patients and local pharmacists over mandated mail. So NCPA asked one of the Sooner State pharmacists involved in the effort how they did it, as many community pharmacists and patients are engaged in similar efforts across the country and could benefit from the lessons learned.

NCPA CEO Talks Up Community Pharmacy, Advocacy, and Medication Adherence in Convention Address

By Kevin Schweers

NCPA Executive Vice President and CEO B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA looked back on his first year as CEO and gave independent community pharmacists a preview of some “coming attractions” in his address Monday morning to the 113^th Annual Convention and Trade Exposition.

Mail Order Pharmacy Waste Highlighted at Congressional Hearing

During his questioning before the House Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet, Express Scripts CEO George Paz was asked what was the best way to reduce prescription drug costs.  Reducing waste, fraud and abuse, he said. A good place to start would be mail order pharmacies, such as those owned by Express Scripts.

Community Pharmacies Reducing Costs through Generic Drug Use; Mail Order Pharmacies Continue to Lag Behind

By Zachary French

Local pharmacists are consistently cutting costs for patients, employers and other health plan sponsors by maximizing the use of less-expensive generic drugs, where appropriate. By contrast, mail order pharmacies owned by major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) dispense generics 10 to 13 percent less frequently, according to their own data. New PBM arguments to explain away that gap simply don’t add up.

Yet Another Slanted Attempt to Promote Mail Order Pharmacies

By John Norton

Several publications have run what appears to be a mail order pharmacy advertisement, masquerading as a news story, entitled “A Pharmacy in Your Mailbox,” It lists five reasons why patients should use mail order pharmacies to fill prescriptions for maintenance medications – 90-day supplies of drugs for chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc. But as many consumers and health plans have discovered, mail order is not for everyone.

Express Scripts Report Puts PBM Mail Order Profits Ahead of Patients, Health Plan Sponsors

The Express Scripts, Inc. (ESI) 2010 Drug Trend Report claims that the annual cost of “wasteful spending,” or what it considers suboptimal pharmacy-related behavior, is a staggering $403 billion.  Unfortunately, the company’s recommendations for dealing with this problem are exactly backward.