Troy Medicare Aims to Launch Pharmacist-Centered Model in NC

by Judy Packer-Tursman

Troy Medicare, a small Medicare Advantage plan start-up, aims to shake up the North Carolina MA marketplace during the coming fall open enrollment by offering a pharmacist-centered delivery model that will pay local, independent pharmacists directly for enhanced care management services to seniors.

"We will go live on Jan. 1, 2020," in a five-county, "semi-rural" service area around Charlotte, N.C., Troy CEO Flaviu Simihaian tells AIS Health.

Under its model, Troy is working with Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN). According to Simihaian, the new MA Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plan will contract with CPESN to provide reimbursement of $30 to $50 per member per month (PMPM), relying on participating pharmacists to document their services to determine reimbursement amounts.

Brian Anderson, a principal with Milliman, Inc., tells AIS Health that reimbursement is a key issue.

"It is an innovative model," he says. "It's been in the conversation for about 15 years, but the challenge has always been the reimbursement aspect and verifying the [pharmacist] consultations are occurring, and the pharmacist is actually spending time with the patient."

"It hasn't worked through the current NCPDP [National Council for Prescription Drug Plans] transaction processes" for Part D plans, Anderson says. "But if they're just paying an administrative fee PMPM back to those pharmacists, that would be different than having the administrative fee paid through the claims payment system."

Then there is the question of whether the benefit of pharmacist consultation is offsetting the potentially deeper prescription-drug discounts and higher rebates that large pharmacy chains or mail order pharmacy are able to give, as compared to small independent pharmacies, he says.

From Health Plan Weekly