CVS Caremark out as pharmacy-benefit manager for Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California is dropping its pharmacy-benefit manager CVS Caremark in favor of a group of companies that will provide the same services at a lower cost, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Among those included in the new network are Amazon, which will handle drug delivery, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, which will have access to several pharmacies for cheaper medication, and Abarca to handle drug claims. Blue Shield will also be using drug-pricing contracts of pharmacy-benefit manager Prime Therapeutics. CVS Caremark will still be used for specialty drugs, which are the most complicated and expensive.

Blue Shield of California estimates the change, which will be ready to launch in 2025, will save the company more than $500 million annually and will use the savings on its clients. The Wall Street Journal said other companies are expected to use this new system that looks to a team of handlers in an effort to keep the cost of medications down.

However, some believe the use of a team might have too many disadvantages. According to the Wall Street Journal, experts in the pharmacy sector think dealing with multiple companies will be difficult to coordinate and that some of the biggest pharmacy-benefit managers will still be able to get the lowest costs on drugs.

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Blue Shield officials are not on board with that mindset, instead saying their new setup will include transparency and will eliminate hidden pockets of profit, reports the Wall Street Journal. Companies will not have financial bonuses linked to higher prices and larger quantities of medication.

There also is this unique nugget of using a network which was pulled from the Wall Street Journal’s interview with Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich: Markovich said he wants to link payments for drugs to the outcomes they provide patients.