The N.C. League of Municipalities’ Health Benefits Trust is excited to announce PharmAvail as our new pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) beginning January 1, 2012.
This change is expected to save you, our membership, 12 percent in pharmacy claims, or $1.2 million.
This change follows an extensive analysis of our pharmacy contract, which was due to expire on January 1. This new pharmacy contract enables us to realize savings that will serve as a hedge against medical trend which continues to increase 8 percent per year.
FAQs FOR EMPLOYERS
What will this change mean for our employees?
All of your employees will be issued new identification cards that will include the PharAvail information. These cards will be sent to you, the employer, in early December.
As an employer, what do I need to do?
Once you receive the cards, please distribute them to your employees. As noted above, we plan to have these delivered in early December, but they will not become effective until January 1. Please advise your employees to destroy their current cards after January 1 and to begin using the new card.
Does this change to PharmAvail mean that my pharmacy benefits will be reduced?
No. Pharmacy co-pays, reference pricing, step therapy, dose optimization, etc., will all remain the same. The only change for you is that PharmAvail will now be processing these claims with your pharmacist. Given the contractual arrangement we will have with PharmAvail, the cost of these drugs will be much less to the health plan, thus saving us all money.
We will be providing more details on this transition in the weeks ahead; we are very excited about this new partnership that will allow us to effectively serve you at reduced costs.