Pharmacy benefits

Other countries and some innovative firms here consistently deliver equal or better quality care at dramatically lower cost, betraying the idea that conventional U.S. healthcare is superior or even appropriate.

Price comparison tools available to the public don’t make it easy enough for workers to make informed decisions.

They might, if they had better access to pricing information in the decision-making process, says Frenkel Benefits’ Craig Hasday.

Despite the continued escalation in specialty medication costs, many employers sponsoring self-funded health plans have not yet placed prescription drugs underneath the plan’s stop-loss insurance. Why is that?

Just four years after exiting the pharmacy benefit management business, Walgreens is getting back into it with the acquisition of pharmacy retail chain Rite-Aid.

Commentary: Pharma will feel the pain of regulation sooner than they expected, adviser Craig Hasday predicts.

Commentary: Many employers don't know what their PBMs are doing today to actually manage their specialty drug programs, says Lockton's Sarah Martin. It's up to advisers to shine a light on PBM practices.

The tire and wheel retailer implements a telehealth option for employees, providing online access to care for minor ailments.

Is the U.S. health care system overrated and overpriced?

Insurers are projecting significant jumps in pharmacy expenses this year, driven primarily by specialty drugs.

Satisfaction with supermarket and chain drug store pharmacies has increased slightly, while satisfaction with mail-order pharmacies has decreased.

With the cost of pharmaceuticals consuming an ever-increasing proportion of health benefit expenditures, many employers are responding by adding pricing tiers to their drug plan designs.

Commentary: Who would argue that spending $10,000 is worth the trade-off of cardiac surgery? Or $90,000 for drugs which might avoid a costly liver failure incident? A lot of employers, that’s who.

Commentary: Disruption is the word of the day in the evolving health insurance industry.

CVS Health Corp. will pay $1.9 billion to buy Target Corp.’s pharmacies and clinics, expanding its reach by adding stores bearing its name inside the U.S. retail chain.

The possibility of specialty drug pricing financially overwhelming business and union health plans is very real.

Is your PBM contract up for renewal? Here’s what you need to know.

CVS Health Corp., the biggest U.S. retailer of prescription drugs, agreed to acquire nursing-home pharmacy Omnicare Inc. for a total enterprise value of $12.7 billion.

A new FAQ from the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury offers quite prescriptive guidance on the types of contraceptives plans must offer and pay for, and to whom they must be offered.

Finding ways to deter painkiller abuse has been a high priority for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in recent years. And with opioid abuse costing U.S. businesses close to $26 billion a year, health plan sponsors should take note as well.