Healthy Boiler

CVS Caremark, Rx Savings Solutions continue to fill pharmacy needs despite COVID-19

Many Americans take daily prescriptions and / or over-the-counter medications, and ensuring access to those needed medications during the COVID-19 pandemic is essential.

“On a normal day, challenges that individuals can face related to their prescriptions are access and cost, and the impacts of COVID-19 only increased the worry about whether or not they would be able to get the medications they needed,” said Candace Shaffer, senior director of benefits in Human Resources. “We wanted to be sure our employees would be taken care of by our partners in pharmacy – CVS Caremark and Rx Savings Solutions as part of Purdue’s prescription drug coverage throughout the pandemic and beyond.”

Both vendors have released special information regarding their business practices throughout.

CVS Caremark

CVS Caremark implemented enhancements to help prevent interruption of medication availability. CVS is waiving fees of home delivery and waiving early refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications through June 15. Additionally, to maintain member access and help prevent potential gaps in therapy, CVS Caremark is extending many clinical prior authorization records – set to expire between March 23 and June 30 – for 90 days. For instance, if a prior authorization was set to expire on May 29, the expiration date would be extended to August 29. Some restrictions will apply. For more details, see “CVS Health announces additional COVID-19 resources focused on patient access.”  

CVS also provides an online COVID-19 resource center with up-to-date information for consumers.

  • CVS Pharmacy – offers its CarePass membership program ($5 monthly fee) that offers online and in-store perks with home delivery of medications (as well as over-the-counter (OTC) medications that do not require a new prescription from your provider.

Rx Savings Solutions

Rx Savings Solutions provides transparency into prescription costs and options and is available to benefits-eligible employees covered on a Purdue health plan and dependents covered on a Purdue health plan. In support of the university’s smarter approach to healthcare, the savings opportunities Rx Savings Solutions finds for members are intended to help them make more informed decisions about their healthcare. The partnership and implementation of Rx Savings Solutions supports multiple pillars of the Healthy Boiler Program. Depending on usage reasons, the partnership benefits behavioral health, financial wellness and/or physical health. View Rx Savings Solutions’ COVID-19 approach here.

Numbers as of May 19, 2020, show a positive response regarding utilization of Rx Savings Solutions. Overall Purdue member registrations are currently at 2,406 with 2,195 (or 18.91 percent) of those by primary members – Purdue employees. Rx Savings Solutions sets out to help members save money on their prescriptions by helping them find medications at a lower cost. Some savings suggestions may require a new prescription, which Rx Savings Solutions can assist with via their “Contact Prescriber” service. There have been 5,597 savings notification s sent and 45 completed Contact Prescriber requests.

Rx Savings Solutions success stories

While Rx Savings Solutions assists Purdue members every day, the following success stories are two that stand out.

  1. A spouse of a Purdue employee was taking over a dozen maintenance medications for various conditions. The out-of-pocket expense had been historically manageable, with the exception of a brand name combined drug eye drop. That one drug alone was making up over a third of the member’s monthly prescription cost. 

    Rx Savings Solutions generated a Savings Alert recommending a switch from the high-cost brand medication to a combination split of the two active ingredients into two separate generic eye drops. After receiving the email notification, the member called into our pharmacy support team, spoke with one of our team members to walk through the savings options and elected to have their provider contacted as part of the Rx Savings Contact Prescriber service.

    The provider approved the medication switch, which resulted in saving the member $710 and Purdue $1,900 annually.
  1. An employee was taking a medication that was costing $251 a month.

    The prescription was last filled on January 12, and then was not filled for February.

    The member received an email from Rx Savings Solutions’ launch campaign on February 18 and logged into their account to see a savings alert for a therapeutic alternative to the high-cost medication. The member initiated a Contact Prescriber request that same day.

    After back-and-forth communication between Rx Savings Solutions and the provider, the change in prescription was approved, and the member filled the medication on March 2.

    The member now pays only $14 per month, which equals an annual savings of $2,844 for the member.

Activate your account

All benefits-eligible employees and dependents covered on a Purdue health plan are already Rx Savings Solutions’ members; all you need to do is activate your account and your dependents’ accounts, if you have not already done so. Rx Savings Solutions does the rest of the work. Activate your free account at https://myrxss.com or search for Rx Savings Solutions on Google Play™ or the App Store.®

Note: Dependents must have their Social Security Number (SSN) saved in Benefitfocus prior to activating their Rx Savings Solutions account. See the “How to Upload Documents in Benefitfocus Detailed Instructions” pdf for assistance.  

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