Express Scripts turning prescription discount business into nonprofit

Anticipating "more people will need access to discount prescriptions no matter what ultimately happens in Washington" with health reform, Express Scripts' Rx Outreach program will become a nonprofit, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. "Heading the new effort is Michael R. Holmes, executive vice president of Express Scripts. He says the change in status will help one of the largest pharmacy benefit management companies in North America extend its reach to the country's poor."

Holmes said "by increasing the percentage of drugs donated, we would be able to further lower the costs for low-income patients. We could start developing alliances with health care organizations and associations to raise awareness among the patients they serve. And we could customize programs for free clinics to enable them to serve patients better. We have not seen other major pharmacy benefit managers offer a similar service model or establish nonprofit organizations to address this need." Families and people who earn up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line will be eligible to receive more than 400 medications at a rate of $20 for a 180-day supply (Moore, 2/18).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.