The 32BJ Health Fund Will Also Partner with Group Purchasing Organization CoreTrust
NEW YORK—The 32BJ Health Fund today announced that it has named OptumRx its new pharmacy benefits manager (PBM). The 32BJ Health Fund said it will partner with CoreTrust, a group purchasing organization (GPO), to help keep prices for prescription drugs affordable for plan participants and provide savings to the 32BJ Health Fund.
The 32BJ Health Fund is committed to providing high quality benefits at the lowest cost to the Fund and to plan participants and is not afraid to change vendors when it can reduce costs or provide innovation to the Fund.
“We are pleased to announce our partnership with CoreTrust to purchase prescription drugs through OptumRx and ensure 32BJ SEIU members and their families continue to have access to the drugs they need at prices they can afford,” said Sara Rothstein, Director of the 32BJ Health Fund. “This is extremely important now in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the future as many people with health insurance see their own out-of-pocket costs go up every year. Our responsibility is to actively manage all our benefits to ensure the doormen and doorwomen, porters, office cleaners, security officers, school cleaners and other members of 32BJ SEIU can continue to keep themselves and their families healthy.”
The 32BJ Health Fund, which currently contracts with CVS Caremark for pharmacy benefits, issued a Request for Proposals to identify the most appropriate vendor for the next contract period, starting in January 2021.
The 32BJ Health Fund ran a competitive Request for Proposals process that enabled it to compare multiple PBMs across several areas including:
- Contract terms, drug discounts and rebates.
- Formulary management and clinical programs for specialty and non-specialty drugs.
- A retail pharmacy network that offers both savings to the 32BJ Health Fund and geographic access to pharmacies for plan participants.
- Account support and a commitment to implement innovative programs that provide access to clinically necessary medication at the lowest cost to the Fund and its plan participants.
CoreTrust is the largest pharmacy GPO and aggregates pharmacy purchasers to negotiate prices on prescription drugs. It makes its purchases through OptumRx, UnitedHealth Group’s free-standing pharmacy care services business providing pharmacy benefits to more than 59 million people through partnerships with employers, managed care organizations, government markets, and labor groups.
“We are thrilled to be able to serve the 32BJ Health Fund as part of our program,” said Joey Dizenhouse, Senior Vice President of Pharmacy Services at CoreTrust. “Contracting for efficient and high-quality pharmacy benefits is a complex space and requires relentless focus to ensure costs remain under control. The CoreTrust staff is glad to be able to support the Fund’s hardworking team to help ensure pharmacy benefits remain affordable and plan participants have access to the drugs they need to stay healthy and well.”
“We are honored to have been selected by the 32BJ Health Fund to support the pharmacy benefit needs of its members and their families,” said John Prince, Chief Executive Officer of OptumRx. “We look forward to working together to better integrate pharmacy into 32BJ Health Fund’s benefits to help improve health outcomes and reduce prescription drug costs.”
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The 32BJ Health Fund, a unique collaboration between labor and management, provides innovative quality and affordable health benefits to more than 200,000 working-class people — doormen and women, office cleaners, security guards and other property service workers in New York and 11 other states on the East Coast — on behalf of more than 5,000 employers.