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Teamsters of Southern Nevada Defy National Trend,
August 14, 2003 - Las Vegas, Nevada - The Teamsters of Southern Nevada (TSN), working in partnership with RxAmerica, has implemented a ground-breaking program that is both producing great savings for the Trust and helping improve the health of its members. Nationally, prescription drug costs have been rising at a rate of 15 to 20 percent each year. However, in the four months since RxAmerica implemented its program with TSN, the Teamsters average per member per month prescription costs are down 5.2 percent from the same period in 2002. More impressively, costs in the five therapeutic categories targeted by the program have fallen by 37 percent, saving the Teamsters more than $198,000 dollars. Total savings to the group from the reduced trend rate tally more than $360,000. This innovative cost saving initiative focuses on promoting appropriate utilization guidelines for a few high cost therapeutic categories. The idea is to ensure that prescribers are educated and encouraged to use the most therapeutically effective, and cost efficient, medications first. Although relatively few members are affected, the overall savings to the plan can be enormous. The RxAmerica program is unique in that in addition to saving money for Union as a whole, it has provided significant therapeutic and financial benefits to the individual Teamsters as well. Since the program was implemented (in April 2003), Union members have saved more than $76,000 in member copays over the same period in 2002. The program's success is even more impressive when compared with the results of the first quarter of 2003. In the first three months of 2003, the average PMPM cost for the Teamsters was 14.2 percent higher than the average PMPM cost in first quarter 2002. However, in the four months since the program was implemented, the Trust's average PMPM cost is 5.2 percent lower than 2002, and down 15.2 percent over the first quarter figures. RxAmerica's step-therapy programs employ a four-step process. First, RxAmerica performs a clinical analysis of a plan's historical claims data to create baseline and projected pharmacy utilization trends by therapeutic class. Second, the company identifies and targets a select group of high cost medications within individual therapeutic classes that have a low likelihood of producing any significant therapeutic gains and represent a relatively poor value. Third, RxAmerica formulates a set of clinically based protocols to improve the efficacy of treatment and control costs for the plan. Finally, the company proactively educates participating physicians and pharmacies on the appropriate use of the first-line therapies and protocols. About RxAmerica - RxAmerica is a leading Pharmacy Benefits Manager that specializes in controlling costs, creating customized solutions and delivering best-in-class service for its clients. Nationally, RxAmerica provides prescription benefits for more than five million individuals through a retail network of more than 53,000 pharmacies and several state-of-the-art mail order pharmacies. RxAmerica delivers innovative, targeted programs that improve the health of members while lowering drug benefit costs for its clients. RxAmerica is a wholly owned subsidiary of Longs Drug Stores Corporation (NYSE - symbol LDG), one of the leading drug store chains in North America. Information on Longs Drugs is available at www.longs.com. For further information on RxAmerica, call 1-888-227-8315 or visit RxAmerica's website at www.rxamerica.com. |
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