Walgreen Will No Longer Accept Four CVS Caremark Prescription Drug Plans

This affects the Midwest area of the US and a few employers, but will this type of action spread as queries are run by the various drug stores and profit levels are determined? The software is out there to do this today, and sometimes done very efficiently...like everything else today, run a query and get the numbers...just rely on good old CRM software to do the trick for you...and some will even report down the the individual client if needed. BD

Walgreen will no longer fill prescriptions for members of four prescription drug plans offered by CVS Caremark because of "unreasonably low and below-market" reimbursement rates, the Chicago Sun-Times reports (Guy, Chicago Sun-Times, 11/29). The move will affect members of plans managed for ArcelorMittal, Johnson Controls, Progressive Casualty Insurance and the Wisconsin Education Association Trust (Galante, Bloomberg/Providence Journal, 11/30). Most of the 100,000 affected plan members live in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Analysts predict that the "kind of showdown with Walgreens likely will become more frequent as pharmacy benefit managers look for ways to squeeze savings out of the spiraling cost of health care while pharmacies try to preserve profits," according to the Tribune (Chicago Tribune, 11/30)