A girl walks past a CVS Pharmacy in Washington, DC, on November 2, 2022.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Shares of CVS Health plunged 8% on Thursday after Blue Shield of California said it’s going to drop the corporate’s pharmacy profit management services and as an alternative partner with Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs company and Amazon Pharmacy to avoid wasting on drug costs for its nearly 5 million members.Â
The announcement hints on the potential for health insurers to desert the standard pharmacy profit manager, or PBM, system and sent shares of other corporations that provide PBM services lower.
Cigna and UnitedHealth Group dropped about 6% and a couple of%, respectively.Â
PBMs maintain lists of medication covered by medical insurance plans and negotiate drug discounts with manufacturers. But they’ve recently come under scrutiny from lawmakers for his or her role in inflating drug prices and causing health-care costs to skyrocket.Â
CVS Health’s Caremark has been Blue Shield’s PBM partner for greater than 15 years.Â
Blue Shield will now work with five different corporations to supply “convenient, transparent access to medications while lowering costs.”
Blue Shield CEO Paul Markovich said the plan, which is scheduled to totally launch in 2025, could save the corporate as much as $500 million annually.Â
Close-up of logo for medical insurance company Blue Shield of California on light picket surface, San Ramon, California, September 16, 2020.
Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images
Amazon Pharmacy will offer at-home drug delivery. Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company will provide access to low-cost medications through retail pharmacies. One other company, Abarca Health, will process drug claims.
Blue Shield will retain CVS Caremark for its specialty pharmacy services, which offer specialized therapies and counseling to patients affected by complex disorders.Â
“We look ahead to providing look after Blue Shield of California’s members who require complex, specialty medications — as we’ve got for nearly twenty years,” said Michael DeAngelis, a spokesman for CVS Health, in an announcement to CNBC.
Still, the lack of Blue Shield’s PBM partnership is one other blow to Caremark, which can also be set to lose a contract with Centene next yr.
