Regence health plans and Prime Therapeutics LLC announced today that Prime will begin administering pharmacy benefits for Regence’s regional health plans effective Jan. 1, 2018. Regence operates health plans in four states – Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. The agreement will improve pharmacy benefits and provide significant savings to approximately one million commercial and individual market members, as well as more than 100,000 Medicare members.
“For over a decade, Regence has committed to transforming the health care experience for members and their families, offering quality care at an affordable price,” said Regence President Jared Short. “Prime has an impressive track record of providing quality pharmacy benefits and excellent customer service with innovative technology. Consumers have come to expect more from their health plan, and we look forward to partnering with Prime to help manage pharmacy costs, improve health outcomes and ultimately deliver the best possible experience to our members.”
Prime will provide Regence’s health plans with pharmacy benefit management services, including claims processing; pharmacy network contracting; formulary administration; specialty pharmacy services; as well as mail delivery of traditional and specialty medicines.
“We are thrilled Regence has placed its trust in Prime to deliver our industry leading pharmacy benefits solutions to its members,” said Jim DuCharme, Prime president and CEO. “Prime’s focus is always on what’s best for the plan and member. In this era of skyrocketing drug costs, we are absolutely committed to managing costs and making medicines more affordable – our industry leading low drug trend of 2.5 percent and $2 billion in customer savings last year is evidence of that. We look forward to working with the Regence team to introduce new capabilities that will drive lower costs and improve health outcomes for Regence’s regional health plan customers.”
About Regence
Regence serves more than two million members through Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield. Each health plan is a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Regence is part of a family of companies dedicated to transforming health care by delivering innovative products and services that change the way consumers nationwide experience health care. For more information, please visit regence.com
About Prime Therapeutics
Prime Therapeutics LLC helps people get the medicine they need to feel better and live well. Prime manages pharmacy benefits for health plans, employers, and government programs including Medicare and Medicaid. The company processes claims and delivers medicine to members, offering clinical services for people with complex medical conditions. Prime serves nearly 20 million people. It is collectively owned by 14 BlueCross and BlueShield Plans, subsidiaries or affiliates of those plans. For more information, visit www.primetherapeutics.com or follow @Prime_PBM on Twitter.
Date: March 13, 2017