SMART START

Specialty medications continue to grow as a percentage of overall drug cost. For many payers, specialty medications are approaching 50% of the annual budget. It is critical to make sure that these high priced therapies are closely monitored to avoid waste

Araya has determined that 28% of patients who start on specialty medications do not continue the therapy. Like all prescription medications, once they leave the pharmacy the medication can not be returned. This means thousands of dollars are wasted when a member stops therapy before using all the medication that has been dispensed.

Standard operating procedures for specialty pharmacies is to dispense 15 to 30 days supplies of medication. Araya’s Smart Start program limits the supply of specialty medications dispensed for new therapies to 7 days. Limiting the number of days of the initial fill of the drug will save half the cost of the medication associated with discontinuing therapy. The program also pro-rates the members’ copay so that their out-of-pocket costs are not increased.

Don’t delay, enroll in Smart Start today.