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Prescription Solutions, Manatee County Collaborate On Innovative Pharmacy Benefit Program

Posted on: Thursday, 8 September 2005, 09:01 CDT

COSTA MESA, Calif., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Manatee County, Fla., and Prescription Solutions, the pharmacy benefit management subsidiary of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. , are collaborating on an innovative approach to managing pharmacy benefits for the county's 8,000 members.

The program combines targeted disease intervention programs to better manage drugs for specific conditions with an onsite retail pharmacy for employees that is located at the county's Wellness Resource Center next to the county building. Employees who fill their prescriptions at this pharmacy will pay less for their prescriptions and have the services of an in-house clinical pharmacist to review their claims history and counsel them on potential adverse reactions, compliance and correct usage.

In addition, Prescription Solutions will offer formulary development, data management and mail service to complete a comprehensive pharmacy-management process.

Sweetbay Supermarket is providing the in-house pharmacist, and an agreement is being finalized to set up and operate the in-house pharmacy later this year.

"We were looking for a pharmacy benefit management company that could provide predictive modeling to project utilization, clinical management expertise to improve drug use, improved health outcomes and cost management, and the willingness to collaborate with us on our new in-house pharmacy program," said Bob Goodman, health benefits/EMS billing manager for Manatee County. "Prescription Solutions brought the flexibility, creativity and expertise that we needed, plus the capability and commitment to deliver on its promises. We believe that Prescription Solutions works with us as a partner in this venture."

"Manatee County partnered with Prescription Solutions because of our shared belief that improved drug utilization and education can lead to better health and lower costs," said Ed Feaver, president of Prescription Solutions. "We are finding that public entities, in particular, are increasingly seeking transparency with their PBM partners, which allows them to play a larger role in the development of innovative programs that better serve the health care needs of their members."

When the program is in place, employees who make appointments at the Wellness Resource Center will also be able to meet or make appointments with the clinical pharmacist to discuss their drug therapy programs.

Goodman added: "Our ultimate goal is to integrate pharmacy and medical claims data to achieve better health outcomes. We believe this is how we will make a real impact in medical costs and in the health of our employees. Prescription Solutions understands the importance of this integration and how to manage it to enhance the success of our disease management programs."

To determine where Manatee County needed the most help, Prescription Solutions' clinical pharmacists analyzed members' drug utilization and identified classes of drugs for which physicians and/or employees would benefit from additional education regarding proper utilization, compliance and appropriate usage. Armed with this data, the county determined that high-priority, targeted disease intervention programs should be implemented for the use of statins (for lower cholesterol), antibiotic prescribing, and depression medication management.

While these efforts are still in their initial phases, the county has already realized an increase in the use of generic drugs -- from 47.6 percent of total prescriptions to 49.88 percent, in just seven months -- representing annualized savings of $341,000. Cost increases have been held to 5 percent for the first six months, with the annualized increase projected to be only 2-3 percent.

For more information about Prescription Solutions' programs, call (888) 398-5189 or visit http://www.rxsolutions.com/.

About Prescription Solutions

Prescription Solutions is an innovative pharmacy benefit management company managing the prescription drug benefit of commercial, Medicare and governmental health plans, as well as those of employers and unions representing over $2.6 billion in annual pharmaceutical purchases. A wholly owned subsidiary of PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. , one of the nation's largest consumer health organizations, Prescription Solutions now serves members through a VIPPS(R) accredited, state-of-the-art mail service pharmacy in Carlsbad, California, as well as through a national network of 53,000 community pharmacies. Online information can be found at http://www.rxsolutions.com/.

About PacifiCare Health Systems

PacifiCare Health Systems is one of the nation's largest consumer health organizations with nearly 3.3 million health plan members and approximately 11.3 million specialty plan members nationwide. PacifiCare offers individuals, employers and Medicare beneficiaries a variety of consumer-driven health care and life insurance products. Specialty plan operations include behavioral health, dental and vision, and complete pharmacy benefit management through its wholly owned subsidiary, Prescription Solutions. More information on PacifiCare Health Systems is available at http://www.pacificare.com/.

Contacts: Kim Kunody Dan Miller Prescription Solutions PacifiCare Health Systems (714) 662-4785 (714) 226-3726 Kimberly.kunody@rxsol.com Dan.miller@phs.com

Prescription Solutions

CONTACT: Kim Kunody of Prescription Solutions, +1-714-662-4785,Kimberly.kunody@rxsol.com; or Dan Miller of PacifiCare Health Systems,+1-714-226-3726, Dan.miller@phs.com

Web site: http://www.rxsolutions.com/http://www.pacificare.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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