Medco Milestone - Celebrating a Decade at the Vanguard of Fully Automated Dispensing
16-Oct-2006: LAS VEGAS, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- It seemed like Star Wars technology when the nation's first fully automated pharmacy opened in 1996. Ten years later, surpassing the 260 millionth prescription dispensed, Medco Health Solutions, Inc.'s (NYSE:MHS) Las Vegas pharmacy remains at the cutting edge of excellence in pharmacy practice. Little more than three years after dispensing its first prescription, the pharmacy had dispensed 1 million prescriptions and has remained a national leader in quality, accuracy and safety, transforming the delivery of prescription healthcare.
"In an era of rising costs, pharmacist shortages and focus on the quality of dispensing, the success of this pharmacy represents how Medco plays an integral role in meeting the challenge of reliably delivering lifesaving medications while providing greater access to affordable prescription healthcare for millions of Americans," said David B. Snow, Jr., Medco chairman, and CEO.
"What seemed like the stuff of science fiction is a reality at the Las Vegas pharmacy. Medco's proprietary technology is a source of pride for all of us," said Barry Boudreaux, director of pharmacy practice, and one of 150 Medco people who have been at the pharmacy since day one. "Medco's use of technology that is guided by Six-Sigma-quality tools and standards eliminates archaic and time-consuming manual processes -- enabling our pharmacists to focus on the patient and deliver safer and more efficient pharmacy care."
The Las Vegas pharmacy, and its sister operation in Willingboro, N.J., work in concert with and are connected to Medco's processing pharmacies, call centers and Internet pharmacy to create the "Pharmacy for the Future," an integrated and proprietary service platform for managing prescriptions and providing around-the-clock patient care. The two automated pharmacies play an integral role in helping to lower customer costs and improve the safety and quality of prescription dispensing, while enhancing operational efficiency for Medco.
Together, Medco's automated pharmacies currently have the capacity to fill more than 2 million prescriptions per week, enabling Medco to achieve the highest mail-order dispensing volumes in the industry.
In December 2004, Medco became the first pharmacy benefit manager to receive the Ernest A. Codman award from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), for re-engineering pharmacy processes to dramatically reduce medication dispensing errors and improve patient safety. In 2003, Medco's network of mail-order pharmacies received a perfect accreditation survey score of 100 from JCAHO, a leading independent not-for- profit, standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare.
Medco's perfect accreditation survey score puts it among only 5 percent of organizations in this category to receive such a score. The recognition applies to all services offered by Medco to its clients and their health plan members through its entire network of home delivery pharmacies.
The WilsonRx Pharmacy Survey has also rated Medco highest in overall customer satisfaction with prescription drug benefits and services for an unprecedented five consecutive years (2001-2005). Medco also received the No. 1 rating for mail-order pharmacy services and Website services for four consecutive years, (2002-2005). Medco is the only PBM to receive WilsonRx Pharmacy awards in five consecutive years. In 2006, Medco received the highest overall service satisfaction rating since the inception of the survey and continues as the leader with its online presence medco.com.
The Growing Mail Service Market
Mail service provides an efficient and cost-effective delivery option for many consumers and health plan sponsors seeking to control drug spending and provide greater convenience, without compromising quality. A 2003 report from the United States Government Accountability Office concluded that, when compared to prices paid at retail pharmacies, the average price paid for a prescription through mail-order pharmacy was 27 percent less for branded drugs and 53 percent less for generic medicines.
The mail service option offers patients who are taking maintenance medications the opportunity to save time and money, while also providing access to clinical care 24 hours a day, seven days a week from registered pharmacists staffing Medco's call center pharmacies.
Mail service also provides improved dispensing accuracy. A recent study validated that Medco's mail-order pharmacies -- including its technologically superior automated pharmacies -- achieved dispensing accuracy rates that were significantly better than those reported in a benchmark study of pharmacies - including a dramatic reduction in many serious errors.
About Medco
Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MHS) is the nation's leading pharmacy benefit manager based on its 2005 total net revenues of nearly $38 billion. Medco's prescription drug benefit programs are designed to drive down the cost of pharmacy health care for private and public employers, health plans, labor unions and government agencies of all sizes, and for individuals served by the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program. Medco's technologically advanced mail-order pharmacies and award-winning Internet pharmacy have been recognized for setting new industry benchmarks for pharmacy dispensing quality. Medco serves the needs of patients with complex conditions requiring sophisticated treatment through its specialty pharmacy operation, which became the nation's largest with the 2005 acquisition of Accredo Health, Incorporated. Medco is the highest-ranked pharmacy benefit manager on the 2006 Fortune 500 list.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward- looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, particularly those mentioned in the Risk Factors section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Source: Drug Newswire
