Why do most of North American Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) like you depend on First DataBank to help improve care and lower the cost of prescription drugs?
The answer lies in your absolute reliance on high-quality drug information. Consider how a comprehensive, logically organized
drug database—containing the most trusted and up-to-date pricing and clinical information—contributes to three operations at the heart of your daily workflow.
Claims Processing and Adjudication: Rapid access to a powerful drug database is essential to your continued ability to efficiently process and adjudicate claims.
Drug Formulary Management: You may be managing thousands of customized member formularies. The same powerful drug database and tools used for claims processing provide you with:
- Clear business and clinical indicators that support informed decisions about brand versus generic drug status
- A process for grouping products that allows you to determine exclusions or preferred products
- The ability to create options for product selection—tiered co-pays, preferred product lists, step therapy—that encourage more cost-conscious behavior in both providers and patients
Pharmacy Dispensing: You may be assuming a larger role in dispensing prescription drugs, largely through mail-order pharmacies. Proven reliable drug information enables you to help patients avoid adverse drug events, improve clinical outcomes, and reduce costs.
Of course, drug information is also essential to disease- and rebate-management programs; to data-mining functions that provide insights into prescriber and customer behavior; to web portals; and to other aspects of how PBMs function.
Moreover, the importance of drug data will continue to grow. Advances like e-prescribing already demand that information flow back and forth at extraordinary speeds and with pinpoint accuracy among clinicians, PBMs, and retail pharmacies.