Rx.com Offers Alternative to PBM Mail Order

Rx.com kicked off 2005 with itsshipment of the first retail pharmacy-based mail-order prescriptionsfrom its Fort Worth, Tex-based fulfillmentfacility. The Rx.com strategy isthe total opposite of mail-order plansoffered by pharmacy benefit managers(PBMs) that operate their own mailorderfacilities.

There is concern about mandatorymail order taking business away fromthe neighborhood drugstore. Ken Hill,Sr, Rx.com chief executive officer, said,"As employer health plans across thecountry continue to force millions ofconsumers to get their prescriptionsfrom mail-order pharmacies, many retailpharmacies are losing dramatic volumesof prescriptions to the ‘big 3'PBMs."

Hill further explained, "The Rx.comstrategy was designed specifically toprevent PBMs from further encroachingon retail pharmacy and at the sametime restore the community pharmacistrelationship patients count on."

The system works by using the company'stechnology that is integratedwith the PDX Pharmacy System andthe Rx.com Enterprise Pharmacy Systemin place at >10,000 US pharmacies.The prescriptions are entered, verified,and adjudicated at a local pharmacy.Then a request for fulfillment is sent tothe Rx.com facility, where the prescriptionis filled, verified for accuracy,labeled (with the local pharmacy's labeland logo), and either returned to thestore for patient pickup or sent directlyto the patient.