PCMA: NCPA `Poll` Contradicts J.D. Power and Associates Survey on Mail-Service Pharmacy

`Both Can`t Be Right`
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) issued the following
statement on a consumer "poll" on mail-service pharmacies released today by the
National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA). The survey, which asserts
consumer dissatisfaction with mail-service pharmacies, comes on the heels of
yesterday`s report from J.D. Power and Associates that found widespread
satisfaction with mail-service pharmacies:

"One day after J.D. Power and Associates released its national survey, the
independent drug story lobby has attempted to undermine it with a release of its
own.

"Unfortunately for NCPA, this forces policymakers to choose which source is
accurate: America`s foremost consumer research firm or a lobbying organization
committed to higher pharmacy costs. Both can`t be right.

"In weighing the facts, policymakers may also want to consider other
independent, peer reviewed data showing that mail-service pharmacies dispense
prescriptions with more than 20 times the accuracy of traditional
brick-and-mortar pharmacies.1 Furthermore, government studies show that
mail-service pharmacies typically dispense prescriptions at lower prices than
traditional pharmacies.2,3

"This year, Congress has a historic opportunity to generate billions in
score-able savings by removing costly regulations that restrict home delivery in
Medicare. These regulations have resulted in seniors enrolled in Medicare
prescription drug plans using mail-service pharmacies 75 percent less than
retirees in employer-sponsored plans.

"Savings from broader use of mail-service pharmacies could be used to offset the
AMP payment increases being so aggressively pursued by NCPA and others."

PCMA represents the nation`s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which improve
affordability and quality of care through the use of electronic prescribing
(e-prescribing), generic alternatives, mail-service pharmacies, and other
innovative tools for 200-plus million Americans.

1 Teagarden, R., et. al., "Dispensing Error Rate in a Highly Automated
Mail-Service Pharmacy Practice," Pharmacotherapy, volume 25, November 11, 2005.

2 U.S. Federal Trade Commission, "Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Ownership of
Mail-Order Pharmacies," August 2005.

3 U.S. Government Accountability Office, "Federal Employee Health Benefits:
Effects of Using Pharmacy Benefit Managers on Health Plans, Enrollees, and
Pharmacies," January 2003.

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association
Charles Coté, 202-207-3605

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