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Keenan Pharmacy Purchasing Coalition (KPPC) Grows to 144,000 Participants in First Seven Months

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 August 2007, 09:13 CDT

California employers joining a new pharmacy purchasing coalition are saving over 10% compared to their current projected pharmacy expenditures, with savings ranging as high as 28 percent of prescription drug costs.

Launched by benefits consultant Keenan & Associates and pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, Inc. on January 1, 2007, the Keenan Pharmacy Purchasing Coalition (KPPC) offers a unique joint group purchase arrangement as well as programs to encourage use of lower cost drugs. The Coalition provides significant retail and mail order discounts, among the lowest dispensing fees in the market, excellent guaranteed rebates and is completely transparent.

Since its inception, the Coalition has grown to serve more than 144,000 employee members in just eight months. According to Henry Loubet, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Keenan, "the Coalition's high performance features include a national network of over 50,000 retail pharmacies, and comprehensive clinical programs that help patients and physicians manage many health conditions, while being extremely cost-effective. Employer interest in the Coalition speaks for itself based on the growth rate increase of 100,000 members or over 300%."

The Coalition also generates substantial plan savings through its unique Zero Dollar Generic Copay program. Cheryl Dugan, vice president, Clinical Program Management for Express Scripts, explains, "The Zero Dollar Generic Copay program encourages members to change from brand-name drugs to therapeutically equivalent generic drug alternatives." The program waives the generic copay when members taking brand name drugs in common disease categories like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, depression, heart disease, and arthritis, make the switch from brand to a generic.

KPPC provides an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability to its participating employers. Innovative plan design, financial savings and performance guarantees are all supported by state of the art reporting, which provides specific data on plan financials and utilization. An independent auditor reviews 100% of paid prescription claims to insure contract compliance, savings, and patient effectiveness. This review is ongoing and assures the PBM program is being administered correctly and that maximum savings are realized for our customers.

For additional information on the Keenan Pharmacy Purchasing Coalition, please contact Jeff Hall at jhall@keenan.com; or Henry Loubet, hloubet@keenan.com.

About Keenan

Keenan & Associates, headquartered in Torrance, CA, was founded in 1972. Keenan has grown to the 17th largest insurance consulting and brokerage firm in the United States. With a network of offices located throughout California and a staff of more than 650 insurance specialists, Keenan is a full service consultant and broker, dedicated to providing superior insurance products and services for public agencies and health care organizations. The company's exceptional growth is directly related to its concentration on meeting the risk management, employee benefits, workers' compensation and property & liability consulting and brokerage objectives of public entities, health care systems and high-tech firms. For more information, visit www.keenan.com

About Express Scripts, Inc.

Express Scripts, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESRX) is one of the largest pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies in North America, providing PBM services to more than 50 million patients through facilities in 13 states and Canada. Express Scripts serves thousands of client groups, including managed-care organizations, insurance carriers, third-party administrators, employers and union-sponsored benefit plans. Express Scripts is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. More information can be found at http://www.express-scripts.com.

Source: Business Wire

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