UnitedHealth Groups $12.8 billion purchase of pharmacy benefit manager Catamaran Corp. continues a trend of PBM acquisitions, and theres more to come, industry consultants say. In the long term, that may mean lower costs and more data availability for employers.
In February, Rite Aid Corp. acquired EnvisionRx for $2 billion. Some of the biggest moves in recent years include CVSs purchase of Caremark in 2006 and ExpressScripts acquiring Medco Health Solutions in 2012. We are going to continue with consolidation, says Nicole Hengst, PBM research director at Health Strategies Group.
