MCKESSON SETS MANAGED CARE GOALS

RAMONA G. FLOOD

SAN FRANCISCO -- Increasing participation in managed care plans and improving customer performance are among the key goals for Terry Cater, who recently joined McKesson Corp. here as vice president of managed care.

"Our mission is to make sure that our customers, whether they are hospitals or community pharmacies, improve their participation, performance and profitability in the challenging world of managed care," he said.

Cater, who served as director of pharmacy of Save Mart Supermarkets, Modesto, Calif., since 1989, is a member of the senior management team of McKesson, overseeing the company's managed care function. "My experience as a manager of supermarket pharmacies, especially in the state of California, has been excellent preparation for my new position because of widespread participation in managed care programs," said Cater.

Cater said managed care brings a better quality of health care at a better price to members of provider networks. At Save Mart, Cater was responsible for increasing the chain's pharmacy revenues 160%, and he significantly expanded the chain's participation in managed care plans.

In 1992, he founded and served two years as president of Super Net, a national pharmacy provider network that currently has more than 5,000 supermarket participants, including Safeway, Albertson's, Vons, Raley's and Save Mart. McKesson currently has two pharmacy networks, covering nearly 20 million people, that enable retailers to participate in pharmacy benefit management programs: the Value-Rite Provider Network and the McKesson Pharmacy Provider Network. McKesson's provider network includes many independent pharmacies and pharmacies of major retail chains, including Wal-Mart, Albertson's and Save Mart.

"We represent a broad spectrum of pharmacies," Cater said.

McKesson's units include pharmaceutical distribution, home health care, managed care, health care delivery systems with a special focus on biotech drug distribution, and a hospital division.