Pharmacy benefits

Initiatives like Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway’s Haven may be key to improving drug transparency, says one PBM CEO.

Initiatives like Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway’s Haven may be key to improving drug transparency, says one PBM CEO.

Executives are making career changes in the brokerage, pharmacy benefit and insurance industries.

A group called the Employer Health Innovation Roundtable, representing more than 8 million workers, is partnering with health startups to transform employee care — and change the industry in the process.

A group called the Employer Health Innovation Roundtable, representing more than 8 million workers, is partnering with health startups to transform employee care — and change the industry in the process.

Brokers can generate client savings by focusing on frequency and severity of claims.

Haven will work to “better outcomes and overall experience, as well as lower costs” for their 1.2 million employees.

Democrats’ new “Medicare for all” bill would replace almost all private plans.

In the wake of the CVS-Aetna merger, Cigna-Express Scripts partnership and other deals, a new future is emerging in the benefits world.

“I’m always looking at cutting down pharmacy costs,” says Rising Star Jessica McCool. “It’s becoming a bigger piece of the pie for benefit plans.”

In the wake of the CVS-Aetna merger, Cigna-Express Scripts partnership and other deals, a new future is emerging in the benefits world.

The White House and HHS want to eliminate a “shadowy system of kickbacks” in the drug industry pipeline.

The White House and HHS want to eliminate a “shadowy system of kickbacks” in the drug industry pipeline.

The administration’s proposal would be a boon for employers and employees — and bring actual drug costs into the light.

The administration’s proposal would be a boon for employers and employees — and bring actual drug costs into the light.

The Trump administration’s new prescription drug proposal is vital to correct an increasingly dysfunctional market for employer plan sponsors.

Under the proposal, safe-harbor protection would be allowed only for rebates on discounts offered directly to patients, and fixed-fee service arrangements between drugmakers and PBMs.

Walmart will leave CVS Health’s network that administers drug benefits for millions of Americans, in a dispute over costs that could roil the business of filling prescriptions.

Big pharma disruption and healthcare challenges and legislation are just a few of the big trends that will shape the benefits industry in 2019.

While it’s still early to tell what the acquisition will mean for healthcare, many experts are skeptical it will drive down costs for employers or employees.