CVS Caremark defines future of pharmacy benefit management

CVS Caremark laid out its renewed pledge to American businesses, unions and health plans—building on what the company said it is doing to deliver greater transparency, lower drug costs and better clinical care.

"The way we have done our work over the past few decades has driven greater cost savings, better care and more robust benefits for the Americans we serve," said David Joyner, president of CVS Caremark. "Our work is rooted in greater simplicity and transparency for those who pay for pharmacy benefits, for people who take medicine and for the pharmacies that serve our patients."

CVS Caremark said it is committed to:

• "Deliver greater affordability. We are dedicated to driving affordability for prescription drugs. By continuing to promote generics, expand availability of biosimilars and secure significant discounts on brand-name medications, we ensure Caremark members pay an average out-of-pocket cost of less than $8 for a 30-day supply of medicine. This proactive approach is at the heart of what we do.
• Promote lowest net cost drugs. We provide choice to our clients who design the benefits that are best for their members, and as part of that work, we continue to promote and advocate for low-list price, low net cost drugs.
• Strengthen the alignment between client benefit design, physician choice and patient need. We will continue to drive transparent prescriber connectivity—with real-time updates on benefit and formulary changes to reduce delays. We continue to closely align to and advocate for client needs, patient needs and doctors' orders.
• Innovate to drive greater transparency. Our new TrueCost solution aligns client and pharmacy reimbursement specific costs, provides greater transparency and includes additional dispensing fees for the services pharmacists provide. We will continue to offer differential reimbursement to independent and rural community pharmacies to maintain member access. 

[Read more: CVS launches new pharmacy reimbursement model, brand for health services segment]

• Encourage pharmacy models that deliver rebate value directly to patients. Today, 99% of rebates we negotiate are passed through to clients, which they use to pay down the cost of benefits. With our TrueCost model, we return savings to patients directly at the pharmacy counter, which we do for employees at CVS Health today.
• Improve relations with pharmacies. We will make it easier to do business with us by building upon what we have done: proactively addressing pharmacy access through partnering with rural pharmacies, updating technology for seamless transactions, making reimbursement transparent, and delivering a consistent experience at the counter.
• Change the trajectory of drug costs. Building on our history of standing with clients and consumers against pharmaceutical company price hikes, we will be the counterweight to stop price gouging. Through our formulary strategies to drive down costs, we continue to put medicine within reach—like breaking down the patent wall associated with high-priced Humira and providing insulin under $25 and broadly available to all Americans. We will do more."

[Read more: CVS Health report highlights need for expanded role of retail pharmacists]

"We all want affordable access to prescription drugs, and Caremark will continue to drive down costs, improve care, and accelerate transparency," Joyner said. "For our thousands of clients and millions of Americans, Caremark is the difference between affording medicine and going without. We take our commitments to heart and will deliver on our promise to everyone we serve."