November 5, 2007

Several Counties Issue Prescription Discount Cards

A few Arkansas counties have begun to distribute a county-wide consumer prescription discount card to ANY citizen of the county who wants it. The card is not patient specific and is processed by Caremark.  The National Association of Counties (NACo), in a joint effort with the local county judge and/or quorum court, endorses the card.  The card boasts savings on average of 20 percent with a 100 percent patient copay.  We are not sure yet how Caremark profits from this card but the savings, if any, come totally from the pharmacy that fills the prescription.

We are informing you of this issue so that you can be proactive in discussing this with your county judge and other county leaders before they endorse this ill-advised plan.  If we can help in any way, please call the APA and talk to Mark or Scott.  This is just another in a long line of “programs” purported to save the consumer money, and the burden is put solely on the pharmacists back while PBMs, the drug middle-men, are advantaged.

An Important Message From Diamond D Group - Your Community CCRx Advisor

Enrollment Begins November 15th

We are quickly approaching the 2008 Medicare enrollment season.  If you wish to schedule a Diamond D Group advisor to be in your store to assist your patients with enrollment, please call 1-866-253-8693 to set up a time.  If you have already scheduled a time with Diamond D Group they will be calling you in the coming days to devise a strategy that will fit your pharmacy.

The 2008 Community CCRx plan designs and 2008 formulary are now available and may be found on www.ccrx.net.  In addition, Community CCRx once again has a co-op advertising program available to assist your pharmacy in advertising the Community CCRx plans.  Please refer to www.ccrx.net to find out how to participate in this program. 

Please call Rob Driesel at 1-866-253-8693 to schedule an advisor or to ask any questions you may have.

As a reminder, “Community CCRx” will continue to offer its traditional, stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) in 2008.  In addition, they will also begin offering Medicare Advantage plans with Part D (MAPD), which will be called “Today’s Options Powered by CCRx.”