ST. LOUIS & DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) and Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) (NASDAQ:WAG) today announced the launch of Smart90® Walgreens, a new option for Express Scripts clients interested in 90-day prescription drug programs that drive lower costs and improve health outcomes for people with chronic diseases who require long-term treatment.
Under the new option, plan sponsors that choose to include Walgreens as part of the Smart90 program for their pharmacy benefit will provide their members who have chronic conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, the choice to receive 90-day supplies of maintenance medications through home delivery from Express Scripts or directly at a Walgreens retail pharmacy for the same copayment. Pending adoption by benefit plan sponsors, plan members could access Smart90 Walgreens as early as January 2014.
“Working together with Express Scripts, Smart90 Walgreens will offer more pharmacy locations and better member access coverage than any single retail chain 90-day maintenance medication solution in the nation,” said Kermit Crawford, President of Walgreens Pharmacy, Health and Wellness. “Through Smart90 Walgreens, our more than 8,000 Walgreens retail pharmacies will provide plan sponsors with cost savings and will offer their members safe, easy and convenient access to important in-person pharmacist consultations and a wide-range of health and wellness services that can further improve medication adherence and lower overall healthcare costs.”
“Members will be able to continue to receive the safety, convenience, cost savings and care offered from Express Scripts home delivery pharmacies,” said Glen Stettin, M.D., senior vice president of research and new solutions at Express Scripts. “Our data are clear: 90-day prescriptions delivered to a member’s home improve medication adherence and health outcomes, lower the cost of care and add convenience when compared to 30-day prescriptions. Over the past few years, our Smart90 program has driven more 90-day prescriptions for participating clients, and we’re pleased to now offer this additional option.”
Express Scripts works with its clients -- employers, health plans, unions and government health programs that provide pharmacy benefits to American families -- to ensure plan members receive prescription drugs in the safest, most cost-effective way possible. For eligible plan sponsors who adopt a Smart90 solution, patients on maintenance medications can get a 90-day supply of prescription drugs from the Express Scripts home delivery pharmacy or exclusively through certain, participating retail pharmacies.
With Smart90 Walgreens, when members choose home delivery from Express Scripts or pickup at a Walgreens retail pharmacy, overall savings increase due to more aggressively discounted pricing on 90-day prescriptions. In addition, adherence increases because a patient’s opportunity to forget to refill a prescription -- identified by Express Scripts as a major factor in nonadherence -- is far fewer, just four times per year vs. 12.
About Express Scripts:
Express Scripts manages more than a billion prescriptions each year for tens of millions of patients. On behalf of our clients – employers, health plans, unions and government health programs – we make the use of prescription drugs safer and more affordable. Express Scripts uniquely combines three capabilities – behavioral sciences, clinical specialization and actionable data – to create Health Decision Science℠, our innovative approach to help individuals make the best drug choices, pharmacy choices and health choices. Better decisions mean healthier outcomes.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Express Scripts provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services, including network-pharmacy claims processing, home delivery, specialty benefit management, benefit-design consultation, drug-utilization review, formulary management, and medical and drug data analysis services. The company also distributes a full range of biopharmaceutical products and provides extensive cost-management and patient-care services
For more information, visit http://lab.express-scripts.com/ or follow @ExpressScripts on Twitter.
About Walgreens:
As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2012 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America’s first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 8,098 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.
