AEPC – CVS Caremark Market Check Yields Estimated Savings Exceeding $33.5 Million

PROJECTED SAVINGS – OVER $33.5 MILLION

AEPC is pleased to announce the completion of the market check negotiations with CVS Caremark, its preferred Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM). Under the terms of the 2021-2025 agreement, AEPC retains the right to annually renegotiate pricing terms and performance guarantees to benefit from favorable aggregate financial terms in the pharmacy benefit market. Remedy Analytics, Inc. (Remedy), AEPC’s prescription drug analytics advisor, conducted the market check.

The market check resulted in significant pricing improvements effective July 1, 2024. The one-year projected savings from the new terms exceed $14 million, reflecting an estimated 8.22% improvement compared to current pricing. Over a two-year period, the estimated savings surpass $33 million, or 9.70%. Additionally, AEPC member organizations will receive an invoice credit of $5.00 per member by July 31, 2024, and again next year by July 31, 2025

Highlights of the market check include:

• Improved specialty (exclusive) drug discounts
• Improved mail, retail, and specialty drug rebates
• Rebalanced the mail and retail discounts by reinvesting value from the brand discounts into the generic discounts.

AEPC member organizations can achieve greater savings by leveraging the various programs offered by CVS Caremark. For instance, CVS Caremark provides an extensive range of clinical program options and modeling tools to guide the coverage of GLP-1 medications for diabetes and weight loss. One effective strategy, the CVS smart logic prior authorization, saved AEPC groups over $6.1 million in 12 months by ensuring the appropriate use of GLP-1 drugs. Each participating AEPC group can choose the CVS Health program(s) that best meet their needs.

This market check showcases (or highlights) AEPC’s capability to leverage its purchasing power to secure cost-effective, value-driven contracts with enhanced pricing while allowing member organizations to determine their plan design. AEPC adds further value by covering the costs of competitively bidding contracts every three years and conducting annual audits of 100% of prescription drug claims to ensure compliance with pricing and contract criteria.

Remedy Analytics

Remedy Analytics is a medication-centric data analytics company that harnesses raw claims data to empower employers and employees to make informed decisions that reduce costs, create efficiencies and improve outcomes. Remedy’s clients include sophisticated payers of PBM services in technology, financial services, telecommunications, utilities, media, insurance, retail, unions and government sectors. Remedy is the only company in the prescription benefits space
whose technology, methodologies, and actuarial savings outcomes are certified by the Intel-GE Validation Institute.

AEPC

AEPC is a labor-management coalition that was established in 1993 by organized labor. AEPC‘s mission is to enhance the quality of medical care and control the cost of health benefits provided to workers and their families under collective bargaining agreements. The AEPC coalition develops group purchasing programs, such as for prescription drugs, that controls cost and improves quality. Today, over 150,000 lives are covered are in the prescription drug program.