CVS Exec Says Employers ‘Shape the Economics’ of PBMs
With the Federal Trade Commission investigating major PBMs’ business practices and reform measures gaining momentum in Congress, executives of the country’s three largest PBMs have been busy assuring investors and analysts that they can withstand the heat. The recent Bernstein Strategic Decision Conference proved no exception, as CVS Health Corp.’s chief financial officer made the case there that employers and health plans — rather than PBMs — are in the driver’s seat when it comes to deciding how contracts are written.
Industry experts tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that while it is true that some employers may prefer the status quo, that’s certainly not the case universally. And they say the argument that employers and health plans use “sophisticated consultants” ignores the fact that those same consultants can get paid hefty sums by PBMs when they win contracts.
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