Recently Statewide HR had the opportunity to review how the modifications to the pharmacy plan and the new pricing for medications implicated on July 1, 2008 had changed UA’s costs when compared to the prior years.

The review with Caremark was very positive, the new pricing and plan design had a large impact on fiscal year 2009 pharmacy costs.

• UA’s net costs for fiscal year 2009 are down 11.6%, a decrease of over $900,000.
• For fiscal year 2008 our costs increased 7.8%.
• For fiscal year 2009 other universities saw a 3.3% increase
• The average number of people we had on the plan increased by 0.5%
• The total number of prescriptions decreased by 3.3%
• The amount of generics dispensed increased by 7.4% but we are still almost 5% behind the dispensing rate for other universities and each percent increase in generic use can save the plan $75,000

While this is all great news, the $900,000 decrease in pharmacy costs is a one time savings unless we become more assertive with the management of our pharmacy program. For FY 2011 our health plan can expect a 6% to 10% increase in pharmacy costs without further plan modifications.

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