The cost of health care in the United States is high compared to care in some other countries. The United States has the reputation of spending more on health care than other wealthy nations in the same category. Employers complain about the costs of pharmaceuticals for their employees being a major factor in the amount of money they spend on health care. This article will address three ways to keep pharmacy costs to a minimum, something that employers will be interested to try.
Understanding About Pharmacy Costs and the Reduction Through Compounding
One of the ways to reduce the costs associated with pharmacies is through understanding the nature of compounding. IV Compounding uses an integrated system to accurately prepare IV syringes and bags in the pharmacies in hospitals. Compounding takes care of any issues of safety for the pharmacy technician and the patient needing the IV and drugs. It also is more precise when it comes to dispensing the needed medicines, reducing errors that would normally be made by human effort. The use of robotics has proven to be more cost-effective in the long run for the patient and the team involved in the care.
Ways to Keep Pharmacy Costs to a Minimum
To keep the pharmacy costs down for employers, one of the things that can be done to promote this is to look at the plan design. The plans should be tailored with the specific grouping of the employees who are using the pharmacy services, particularly when IV compounding is done. The employer can make use of plan design by using analytics to measure applicable data where claims are being processed for pharmacy use. In the plan design, the drugs used by the employees are broken down into preferred brand medicines, non-preferred brand medicines, generic medications, and specialty medicines. Data like this can help employers put together a plan that will be more economical.
More Ways to Keep Pharmacy Costs to a Minimum
Another way that pharmacy costs can be kept to a minimum is when employers have their employees using tiered cost-sharing plans. Several tiers can be utilized by employers for the benefit of both the employer and the employee—sometimes as many as five tiers. Another thing employers can do is to provide the education employees need to make informed decisions about their health care and choice of pharmacy. Some may be surprised to learn that some generic medicines are just as effective as their branded relatives. The more the employees are educated, the better decisions they will make and the more likely money will be saved by both the employee and the employer.
Final Thoughts about Keeping Pharmacy Costs to a Minimum
Proper management is a final tool that employers can use to help control pharmacy costs. They may use analyzing tools to track how employees are using the healthcare benefits they have and if they are taking advantage of preventative healthcare tools offered to them. Providing incentives to employees who take part in proactive measures for their health will help the employer control the costs associated with health care and the use of pharmacies. As a final consideration, many employers are offering to mail-order prescription services to reduce the costs of prescriptions that would otherwise be ordered through a local pharmacy.
