Cut Rx Spending with mHealth

Prescription drug spending in the U.S. is reaching record highs and according to a Los Angeles Times report, $374 billion was spent in 2014. As more and more name-brand drugs hit the market, costs increase and pharmacy benefits managers are tasked with even more work to manage. While the driving cost of drugs can be attributed to a variety of factors, medication adherence – or a lack thereof – is a major reason.

PBMs and healthplan providers can ultimately provide better services to their users who are looking to spend less on prescriptions by adapting to modern, digital communication. Mobile Health, or mHealth, can not only reduce prescription spending, Medicare and Medicaid costs, but it can also improve customer relationships. Here are a few ways in which this is accomplished:

• Communicate generic availability: Pushing more generic drugs is one way the entire U.S. healthcare system can reduce spending, but if consumers are unaware of their availability, they’re liable to ignore these less expensive options. By implementing mHealth techniques such as mobile messaging, PBMs can communicate the availability through a heavily used medium – a smartphone. If the platform is powerful enough, messaging can be specially catered to a user through prescription history and drug utilization reporting.
• Give options based on price: When a consumer goes to purchase a drug, they might not look for options on their own, let alone even know varieties exist. By supplying them with tools such as web portals and mobile apps that provide medication options based on price, you can increase their satisfaction through personalized savings. This will also help you increase sponsor savings through pharmacy network promotions and reduce staff costs through an efficient messaging channel.
• Monitor drug utilization: As a PBM, you’ll have consumers with commercial, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, all of which will have varying types of prescriptions available. By monitoring the drug utilization reporting and breaking it down by line of business, group account and by member, you can provide the most cost effective medication options for each type of user.

In order to help reduce prescription spending in the U.S., pharmacy benefits managers need to examine their own methods to better supply cost effective options. While admittedly daunting, this can be accomplished with help from mHealth advancements. To find out more about drug spending portals and apps, contact RxEOB today.