Often, when we’re discussing our solution with people for the first time, they’ll say something like “Oh, we have this already.”
Indeed, some PBMs and other sources do provide different variations of price-shopping or decision-support tools for members, pharmacists or providers. While we applaud any effort that encourages consumerism in pharmacy, we still believe the only way to drive meaningful and ongoing change is by putting all available information in the hands of those that ultimately benefit—consumers.
As you might expect, we’ve done a fair amount of recon on the tools available to various member groups and, lately, in the retail pharmacy space. As a pharmacist, I can summarize their shortcomings: They lack depth in terms of the number of clinical suggestions provided, the recommendations seem to be skewed toward preferred medications, or the tools aren’t being used at all.
It makes one wonder what is driving the suggestion criteria and whether such tools are truly in the best interest of the consumer.
We believe the best decisions are the most informed decisions, especially when it comes to someone’s health and finances. Shouldn’t consumers have all the information available, not just some of it?
We’re still betting that a free market solution free of bias will ultimately be what benefits an empowered consumer. Give them a tool that works for them, and they’ll use it.
