Frequently Asked Questions
Who can join the Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collectives?
What are the benefits of joining one of Buck’s Pharmacy Collectives?
Who are the vendors for the Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collectives?
Are there any disadvantages to joining a collective?
How can my company determine the savings potential?
Who should I contact with questions about the collectives?
Are there any fees to join a Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collective?
How will Buck support my company after implementation (once the plan is live)?
What is the contract commitment for the collectives?
Who can join the Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collectives?
If you are an employer with 1,000 to 25,000 covered lives (including active employees and retirees) and you self-insure or are willing to self-insure pharmacy benefits, then you are eligible to join.
What are the benefits of joining one of Buck’s Pharmacy Collectives?
Buck’s Pharmacy Collectives leverage the buying power of self-funded employers to achieve pricing terms and performance guarantees typically reserved for much larger organizations. This translates to immediate cost savings without a reduction in benefits. Other benefits to you as a member include:
- Highly competitive pricing and rigorous financial and service performance guarantees
- Complete flexibility to determine plan design and strategic and clinical management approach
- Choice of leading pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)
- Pre-negotiated financial improvements over time
- Enhanced service support from vendors
- Greater opportunity to improve vendor performance as part of a group
- Program and clinical oversight from Buck’s pharmacy experts for optimal plan management
- Opportunity to network and collaborate with other employers
- Long-term control of drug costs through benefit management activities
Who are the vendors for the Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collectives?
Buck has collectives with two leaders in the pharmacy benefit management industry: Express Scripts and Medco. Having two collectives with market-leading PBMs fuels competition between them for additional market share. Continued enrollment growth in the collectives will further increase Buck’s leverage with the PBMs and further enable Buck to negotiate pricing and other contractual improvements in the future.
Are there any disadvantages to joining a collective?
Not unless your company is philosophically opposed to collective purchasing or has unique servicing needs (e.g., on-site pharmacy for employees). You receive all the standard PBM services that you would as a direct client of the PBM (e.g., account management, customer service, reporting), plus the additional Buck-provided services offered through the collectives.
How can my company determine the savings potential?
You will be provided with an electronic data request to capture recent cost and utilization experience and pricing and plan design information. Upon receipt of your completed data request, Buck will prepare a savings analysis that compares projected costs under your current financial arrangement to projected costs under each collective. Savings tend to range from 3 percent to 10 percent of annual prescription drug costs. A Buck pharmacy specialist will meet with you to review the results.
Who should I contact with questions about the collectives?
Contact Robert Kalman (Robert.Kalman@buckconsultants.com or 202.776.1045) to request a savings opportunity analysis. You will be provided with an electronic data request to capture recent cost and utilization experience and pricing and plan design information. Upon receipt of your completed data request, Buck will prepare a savings analysis that compares projected costs under your current financial arrangement to projected costs under each collective. Savings tend to range from 3 percent to 10 percent of annual prescription drug costs. A Buck pharmacy specialist will meet with you to review the results.
Are there any fees to join a Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collective?
No, there are no entry fees to join a Buck Pharmacy Benefit Management Collective. There are ongoing consulting fees, which are included in the PBM pricing as administrative fees. Those fees are returned to Buck quarterly to offset consulting charges.
How will Buck support my company after implementation (once the plan is live)?
Buck’s pharmacy experts will provide the following services:
- Provide proactive oversight of the pharmacy vendor relationship, including monitoring of vendor performance and compliance with contractual commitments
- Escalate any issues within the PBM before they become major systemic problems
- Review new and enhanced clinical programs and recommend program modifications to each PBM as appropriate
- Meet periodically with individual clients and each collective
- Provide an enhanced annual reporting package to supplement the PBM’s standard reporting, identifying clinical and other plan improvement opportunities
- Provide periodic reporting for the collectives comparing key performance metrics by company
- Provide periodic communications to collective members on timely clinical topics and drug coverage issues
- Communicate industry trends and marketplace developments and their implications to collective members
What is the contract commitment for the collectives?
The contract commitment for each collective is three years.