CVS pharmacists will have new tools to help patients

CVS Health is rolling out a new tool to alert its 30,000 pharmacists to cheaper drug options when they fill patients’ prescriptions.

For years, pharmacists have substituted generic drugs for identical brandname versions. But CVS Pharmacy’s Rx Savings Finder program will enable pharmacists and consumers to question doctors’ prescription choices to save patients money.

If the software flags a less expensive therapeutic equivalent, the pharmacist will tell the patient and seek permission to ask their doctor to make the switch. It is also being made available directly to CVS Caremark consumers through an app.

Pharmacy benefit management, the business of negotiating drug prices on behalf of insurers and employers, has come under intense scrutiny for its role in drug pricing.

The Trump administration has highlighted consolidation in the pharmacy benefit management industry as a major concern. Two of the industry’s biggest players are on the cusp of major mergers that are undergoing federal antitrust scrutiny - including CVS, which is buying health insurer Aetna for $69 billion.

Providing information on out-of-pocket costs and cheaper alternatives to pharmacists, doctors and consumers will help save money, CVS says, and is necessary because each insurance plan may vary widely in how it covers drugs and shifts costs onto patients.

Kevin Hourican, executive vice president of retail pharmacy for CVS Pharmacy, cited the example of a patient who comes in to the pharmacy with a prescription for a generic cholesterol medication, atorvastatin. In that patient’s health plan, the atorvastatin might cost $50, and the pharmacist could be alerted to a different generic statin, simvastatin that might only be $5 under that patient’s plan. In another patient’s plan, however, the situation might be reversed - with the atorvastatin preferred and cheaper - all due to how the insurance plans have built their list of covered drugs.