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CVS seeks customers shut out of Walgreens

CVS Pharmacy is capitalizing on the Jan. 1 split between Walgreens and Tricare’s pharmacy benefits company Express Scripts, offering an online service to help customers transfer prescriptions to CVS.

Standing to benefit are CVS, the nation’s second-largest retail pharmacy chain, which could pick up a lion’s share of the 90 billion prescriptions that Walgreens previously filled under its contract with Express Scripts, and the USO, which will receive $3 for each Tricare beneficiary who uses the online service to switch during January, up to $50,000.

“CVS is committed to helping Tricare members on their path to better health, which is why we want to make it possible for members whose insurance may no longer be accepted at their current pharmacy to transfer their prescriptions to us,” CVS Vice President of Professional Pharmacy Services Papatya Tankut said Tuesday.

Walgreens and Express Scripts parted ways at the end of 2011 after contract negotiations reached an impasse. About 530,000 Tricare customers filled their recurring medications at Walgreens last year, and many relied on the convenience of their neighborhood Walgreens to fill one-time prescriptions.

The contract fallout between Walgreens and Express Scripts affected not only Tricare customers: Many Medicare plans, corporate insurers, and local and state government beneficiaries whose companies held contracts with Express Scripts also are affected.

During talks, Walgreens had offered to negotiate the Tricare portion of the massive contract separately; Express Scripts declined, saying that wasn’t in the best interest of all its clients.

Tricare is encouraging its members to fill prescriptions at military treatment facilities, which is the least expensive option for the government; use their mail order service, also managed by Express Scripts; or switch retail pharmacies.

Tricare beneficiaries receive medications that are in the Defense Department formulary for free at military pharmacies and can receive a 90-day supply of a generic medication free through mail order. They pay $9 for brand name for a 90-day supply through mail order and also can fill prescriptions at network pharmacies at rates of $5 for generic and $12 for brand named formulary drugs.

Drugs not listed in the Tricare formulary cost $25 for a 90-day mail order supply and $25 for a 30-day retail supply.

Beneficiaries still can fill their prescriptions at non-network pharmacies like Walgreens, but they must pay in full and submit claims for reimbursement. They will be reimbursed a portion of the costs only after all deductibles are met.