Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts awards management of all Pharmacy Services to Medco; New England's leading health services company will now offer health plan members greater value for premium dollar.BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 27, 1995--Blue Cross and Blue Shield Blue Shield A US not-for-profit health care insurer that is a reimbursement intermediary for physicians. Cf Blue Cross. of Massachusetts (BCBSMA BCBSMA Bluecross Blueshield of Massachusetts ) announced today that patients served by all its health plans will soon benefit from integrated retail and mail-service pharmacy services and programs provided by Medco Containment containment Strategic U.S. foreign policy of the late 1940s and early 1950s intended to check the expansionist designs of the Soviet Union through economic, military, diplomatic, and political means. It was conceived by George Kennan soon after World War II. Services, Inc. To provide its clients with integrated programs and improved services, BCBSMA said that beginning January 1, 1996, it will begin to transition the health plans it serves to Medco's retail-pharmacy programs. Currently, Medco manages all mail-service programs for BCBSMA, as well as retail pharmacy programs for BCBSMA's Bay State Health Care and Blue Choice health plans. BCBSMA selected Medco as its sole provider of pharmacy benefit programs based on Medco's demonstrated ability to develop and implement high-quality, affordable prescription drug prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, benefits programs through the more than 50,000 pharmacies participating in its national retail network and its 11 state-of-the-art mail service pharmacies across the country. Working with Medco, BCBSMA will also be able to provide disease management programs and comprehensive reporting analysis of health outcomes, services which are increasingly sought by the large employers, insurers, municipalities and other groups served by BCBSMA. "In all our contract negotiations we look to make agreements that bring added value Added value in financial analysis of shares is to be distinguished from value added. Used as a measure of shareholder value, calculated using the formula:
Members of BCBSMA plans will be able to fill their prescriptions through an extensive network of participating retail pharmacies in Massachusetts and will have the option of convenient mail service from a Medco pharmacy located in Wilmington, Massachusetts For other towns and places named Wilmington, see Wilmington. Wilmington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,363 at the 2000 census. . Whether members of BCBSMA plans have their prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies, through mail service, or both, they will benefit from Medco's programs designed to prevent harmful drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, duplicate DUPLICATE. The double of anything. 2. It is usually applied to agreements, letters, receipts, and the like, when two originals are made of either of them. Each copy has the same effect. therapies and under-or-over prescribing. As part of the service it provides to BCBSMA, Medco will regularly monitor and report on the performance of retail pharmacies participating in its network against BCBSMA's standards in order to ensure that patients served by BCBSMA plans receive the highest quality service and care. In addition, BCBSMA and Medco will be working together to develop and implement new technologies and data management capabilities, such as those that will link physician offices with pharmacies to coordinate members' benefit records, simplify administration of health-care benefits and improve access to important patient information for health care providers. Baron emphasized that there will be no disruption disruption /dis·rup·tion/ (dis-rup´shun) a morphologic defect resulting from the extrinsic breakdown of, or interference with, a developmental process. of service to BCBSMA accounts or individual members during the transition of pharmacy benefits management to Medco. Medco Containment Services, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. Medco is the leading pharmacy benefit manager in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , serving employers, unions, Blue Cross plans and insurance companies which provide pharmaceutical benefits for more than 45 million Americans. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts is New England's largest health services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract company, providing a full range of managed care and traditional benefits, products and services to businesses and individual customers, to health care providers and to federal, state, and local governments. CONTACT: Judith M. Tortolano Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts 617-832-4824 |
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