Express Scripts’ Mark Cuban-Inspired Pricing Model Stokes Skepticism, Intrigue
Depending on whom you ask, a new “cost-plus pharmacy pricing” option from The Cigna Group’s Express Scripts is either a half-hearted attempt to compete with true market innovation or an offering that simplicity-seeking PBM clients are likely to embrace. However, industry experts agree on one thing: The model was clearly inspired by Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.
“I’m not surprised to hear that Express Scripts is rolling this out. The Mark Cuban company set the pathway for this to happen; their business is growing pretty quickly,” says Marc Guieb, Pharm.D., a consulting pharmacist at Milliman. He notes that Blue Shield of California in August awarded a contract to Cost Plus Drugs to manage retail pharmacy pricing and payment for the insurer’s members, as part of an “unbundling” of Blue Shield’s current PBM contract with CVS Health Corp.