Pharmacy benefit consortiums, also known as coalitions, collectives, or collaboratives, offer self-insured plan sponsors an opportunity to gather competitive bids from leading pharmacy benefits partners. The primary goal of a pharmacy benefit partner? Often called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), it’s to construct prescription drug benefit offerings in a way that reduces wasteful spending.
However, like any partnership, there can be pros and cons. We’ll take a look at some of these below to help in better understanding pharmacy benefit consortiums, as well as other alternatives.
Role of a consortium
Consortiums consolidate coverage for multiple employers or plan sponsors and actively shop for PBMs that offer attractive opportunities to save money. In other words, when small or mid-sized employer groups come together under this type of arrangement, they can purchase or pool benefits and experience clinical programming as a larger group would.
What are the pros of this setup?
Some advantages may include:
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- Better overall pricing.
- Assistance, recommendations and data support for considering plan changes.
- Chances to explore solutions and programs that would otherwise only be available to larger employer groups.
What are the cons?
However, consortiums can come with negatives, too. A few of these include:
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- Risk of losing personalized, more targeted account management.
- Potential for reduced control in customizing benefits solutions, plan preferences and limiting risks.
- Lack of proactive coordination between medical and care management programs.
- Frequent disruption to member services, without an intermediary involved.
- Likelihood for pharmacy and medical renewal periods to be out of alignment.
While participating in a consortium may be the right fit for some, weighing pros and cons is very important to understanding if it’s right for you. As an alternative, finding a partner with built-in versatility can be a better choice. Even more beneficial is connecting to a partner who will work closely with you to thoughtfully combine your medical and pharmacy benefits into your plan design.
Choosing a versatile partner
Meritain Health Pharmacy Solutions (MPS) is creating pharmacy benefit plans designs many plan sponsors thought were out of reach.
Here’s some of what MPS can offer:
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- Industry-leading PBM pricing and contracts
- Programs for high-cost drug spending
- Integrated medical and pharmacy benefits
- Personalized support
- CARE Program for reducing member and plan sponsor costs
- Cost management for groups of every size and demographic
- Ability to thoughtfully bundle pharmacy with medical plan administration
- Focus on well-rounded total cost of care
- And more!
Contact Meritain Health® to learn more about our market-leading pharmacy benefits.
This article is for informational purposes only, and is not meant as medical advice.
