Peter Wickersham, senior vice president, cost of care at Prime Therapeutics, appointed to Pharmacy Quality Alliance Board

ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Peter Wickersham, senior vice president, cost of care at Prime Therapeutics (Prime), has been appointed to a four-year term on the board of directors of Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA), a collaborative organization committed to improving the quality of medication use across health care settings. As a member of the board, Wickersham will help shape a strategy for measuring and reporting performance information, particularly related to pharmacy care in the community pharmacy sector.

"It is my personal mission to focus efforts on the cost-effective use of prescription drugs throughout the U.S. health care system," said Wickersham. "Becoming an active Pharmacy Quality Alliance board member fits with that personal mission as well as aligns with Prime's purpose of helping people get the medicine they need to feel better and live well."

Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA, Inc.) is a consensus-based, multi-stakeholder membership organization committed to improving health care quality and patient safety with a focus on the appropriate use of medications. The organization provides a leadership role in identification and selection of metrics for evaluating the quality of the medication-use system, provides education on quality improvement, and connects pharmacists to health care improvement initiatives.

"PQA is pleased to appoint Peter Wickersham to the PQA board," said Laura Cranston, PQA executive director. "His expertise and understanding of performance measures and the implementation of those measures across a variety of commercial and public health plans will be valuable to the organization. We look forward to Peter's leadership on our board and to Prime's continued engagement with PQA."

Wickersham manages Prime's clinical, network pharmacy and trade relations teams and leads Prime's efforts to optimize the cost-effective use of prescription drugs for its clients and to deliver innovative clinical programs that increase the health and well-being of its members. Wickersham also serves on the editorial advisory board for a leading publication company serving the health care industry.

Prior to Prime, Wickersham served in leadership roles at Cigna, Mercer and Aetna.

About Pharmacy Quality Alliance
Established in 2006, Pharmacy Quality Alliance represents pharmacy providers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, academicians, consumer advocates, employers, pharmaceutical research and manufacturing companies, and other stakeholders interested in improving the quality of the medication-use system. Pharmacy Quality Alliance's mission is:

To improve the quality of medication management and use across health care settings with the goal of improving patients' health through a collaborative process to develop and implement performance measures and recognize examples of exceptional pharmacy quality.

Pharmacy Quality Alliance provides a leadership role in identification and selection of metrics for evaluation of the quality of the medication-use system, provides education on quality improvement, and connects pharmacists to health care improvement initiatives.

About Prime Therapeutics
At Prime Therapeutics, people are at the center of all we do and every decision we make. As a leader in pharmacy benefit management, Prime is dedicated to making it easier for our members to obtain more affordable medicines. We leverage our unique connections to deliver programs that lead to the best health outcomes.

Prime's integrated pharmacy benefit management services include claims processing, benefit plan design, network management, clinical program consultation, rebate management, formulary administration, mail-service pharmacy and specialty pharmacy.

Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., Prime Therapeutics serves nearly 20 million people and is collectively owned by 13 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, subsidiaries or affiliates of those Plans. Prime has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation by Inc. 5000 and as a most engaged workplace by Achievers.

For more information, visit www.primetherapeutics.com or follow @Prime_PBM on Twitter.

SOURCE Prime Therapeutics