Drug Management Programs
Utilization management
For certain prescription drugs, we have additional requirements for coverage or
limits on our coverage. These requirements and limits ensure that our members use
these drugs in the most effective way and also help us control drug plan costs.
A team of doctors and pharmacists developed these requirements and limits for our
Plan to help us to provide quality coverage to our members. Examples of utilization
management tools are described below:
Prior Authorization: We require you to get prior authorization
for certain drugs. This means that your physician will need to get approval from
us before you fill your prescription. If they don't get approval, we may not cover
the drug.
Quantity Limits: For certain drugs, we limit the amount of the
drug that we will cover per prescription or for a defined period of time. For example,
we will provide up to 30 tables per prescription for LIPITOR.
Step Therapy: In some cases, we require you to first try one drug
to treat your medical condition before we will cover another drug for that condition,
we may require your doctor to prescribe Drug A first. If Drug A does not work for
you, then we will cover Drug B.
Generic Substitution: When there is a generic version of a brand-name
drug available, our network pharmacies will automatically give you the generic version,
unless your doctor has told us that you must take the brand-name drug.
You can find out if your drug is subject to these additional requirements or limits
by looking in the formulary. If
your drug does have these additional restrictions or limits, you can ask us to make
an exception to our coverage
rules.
Drug utilization review
We conduct drug utilization reviews for all of our members to make sure that they
are getting safe and appropriate care. These reviews are especially important for
members who have more than one doctor who prescribe their medications. We conduct
drug utilization reviews each time you fill a prescription and on a regular basis
by reviewing our records. During these reviews, we look for medication problems
such as:
Possible medication errors.
Duplicate drugs that are unnecessary because you are taking another drug to treat
the same medical condition.
Drugs that are inappropriate because of your age or gender.
Possible harmful interactions between drugs you are taking.
Drug allergies.
Drug dosage errors.
If we identify a medication problem during our drug utilization review, we will
work with your doctor to correct the problem.
Medication therapy management programs
We offer medication therapy management programs at no additional cost for members
who have multiple medical conditions, who are taking many prescription drugs, or
who have high drug costs. These programs were developed for us by a team of pharmacists
and doctors. We use these medication therapy management programs to help us provide
better coverage for our members. For example, these programs help us make sure that
our members are using appropriate drugs to treat their medical conditions and help
us identify possible medication errors.
We offer a medication therapy management program(s) for members that meet specific
criteria. We may contact members who qualify for these programs. If we contact you,
we hope you will join so we can help you manage your medications. Remember, you
do not need to pay anything extra to participate.
If you are selected to join a medication therapy management program we will send
you information about the specific program, including information about how to get
the program.