Released by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), a recent study showed that mail-service and specialty pharmacies will save New York consumers and employers $23 billion in the next ten years.
"Home delivery of prescription refills offers employers one of the easiest ways to reduce health costs and improve patient satisfaction," PCMA President and CEO Mark Merritt said. "Policymakers should resist drugstore-lobby mandates that restrict employers' ability to choose home delivery."
High-tech specialty pharmacies play an important role in patient safety, largely due to the fact that many traditional drugstores are not equipped to dispense multifaceted specialty prescriptions. A national survey found that five percent of physicians believe that all drugstores have both the knowledge and capability to provide different types of specialty medications.
Furthermore, patients appreciate the convenience of specialty and mail-service pharmacies. According to the PCMA, mail-service pharmacies have a 90-percent satisfaction rate, a number that demonstrates patients' desires to have web-based delivery options for their health care.
The research also found that, between 2015 and 2024, specialty pharmacies will save approximately $18.6 billion for their consumers, employers and other purchasers, while mail-service pharmacies will save an average of $4.4 billion for their users.
Additional benefits offered by specialty and mail-service pharmacies result from their encouraging generic drug use, minimizing waste, providing more support, improving patient adherence and adding measures of safety.
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