PBM – Benefits Canada.com

Pharmacy benefits managers to play growing role in boosting outcomes, addressing costs

mschmit — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 10:22:24 +0000

Health-care costs are projected to increase a whopping 130 per cent over the next eight years after a period of relatively flat growth, according to a study published by Mercer in 2017. One of the key drivers is rising drug costs, with expensive specialty medications and gene therapies making up the majority of new products in development. So […]

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UnitedHealth to buy pharmacy benefits manager Catamaran

mschmit — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 06:37:32 +0000

The largest health insurer in the United States, UnitedHealth, plans to spend more than US$12 billion to buy pharmacy benefits manager Catamaran Corp., one of the top healthcare stocks listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Using PBMs to control prescription drug costs

mschmit — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:26:14 +0000

Pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services are one option available to enable plan sponsors to better manage the cost of their prescription drug benefits while also providing members with an enhanced prescription drug service.

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A lesson in winning benefits plan design

mschmit — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:05:20 +0000

The Halifax Professional Firefighters Benefits Trust has been actively managing its plan since going to an administrative services-only program and moving its drug plan to a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) five years ago.

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Express Scripts introduces new business model

mschmit — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:46:28 +0000

Benefits management services provider Express Scripts Canada has announced the introduction of a new business model, which, it says, will enable companies to better control the costs of their drug plans.

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PBMs help drug plan sponsors cut costs

mschmit — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:21:50 +0000

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) will save U.S. consumers and payers almost $2 trillion in prescription drug costs—a 35% savings—over the next decade, according to new research from Visante, a consulting firm. The research also indicates that another $550 billion could be saved if payers used the full array of savings tools that PBMs offer. “PBMs […]

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U.S. PBM usage on the rise due to increasing drug costs

mschmit — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:17:52 +0000

A U.S. study released by Buck Consultants indicates that the use of third-party pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) has increased by 10% in the past two years (47% in 2009 to 57% in 2011). With 67% of respondents citing pharmaceutical pricing as “‘highly important ” more and more employers are using PBMs to process and pay […]

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