PCMA: New Analysis Shows Florida Can Reduce Medicaid Pharmacy Waste by $2.1 Billion

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Pharmaceutical Care Management Association

Nov 14, 2013, 11:38 ET

National Center for Policy Analysis Urges Florida Policymakers to Reject Independent Drugstore Lobby Agenda  

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While Florida has made strides toward reducing costs in its Medicaid program, the state could save an additional $2.1 billion by modernizing its Medicaid pharmacy program to encourage greater use of preferred pharmacies and other innovative pharmacy benefit management (PBM) tools, a new analysis by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) highlights.

Click here to read the new analysis.

"The state of Florida is taking steps to reduce wasteful spending in Medicaid while maintaining high access to care," said Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO Mark Merritt. "Florida can eliminate $2.1 billion in wasteful spending by operating Medicaid pharmacy more like Fortune 500 companies and Medicare."

The new NCPA analysis on Florida's Medicaid program finds:

  • 11 percent of the overall savings would come from paying market-based, competitive dispensing fees.
  • Nearly one-fourth (24 percent) of the savings total would come from greater use of generic medications.
  • More than half (59 percent) of the savings would come from greater use of lower cost preferred pharmacy networks.

The analysis notes that Florida should avoid policies that force plans to keep the most expensive drugstores in their networks.  According to NCPA, so-called "Any Willing Pharmacy" laws reduce the bargaining power of health plans to negotiate lower prices and "unnecessarily facilitates waste, fraud, and abuse." 

Learn more about Medicaid pharmacy at MedicaidPharmacySavings.com.

PCMA represents the nation's pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which improve affordability and quality of care through the use of electronic prescribing (e-prescribing), generic alternatives, mail-service pharmacies, and other innovative tools for 216 million Americans.

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SOURCE Pharmaceutical Care Management Association