CompPharma, a consortium of workers' compensation pharmacy benefit management firms, announced the formation today of CompPharma LLC, which it said will serve to share the cost of research and development solutions for industrywide issues.
"We've created this organization to help PBMs [pharmacy benefit managements] working to find and implement real solutions to rapidly growing problems," said Joseph Paduda, president of CompPharma.
According to CompPharma, research priorities are set by members of the organization.
The first phase of research–to be completed this fall–is focused on mandatory generics, the definition of a pharmacy, and the licensure of PBMs and third-party administrators, the company said. Workers' comp networks and pharmacies will also be addressed.
"Pharmacy represents more than 14 percent of the comp medical bill–roughly $5 billion," said Mr. Paduda.
CompPharma's first initiative will be to develop a 50-state database of laws and regulations affecting workers' comp PBMs, the company said. The database saves PBMs the time and cost of conducting the research, thus giving CompPharma members a head start on other legal initiatives, said Michael V. Coleman, a partner at Lord Bissel & Brook law firm.
The organization is working with Lord Bissell & Brook to create the database and monitor the legal landscape as well as regularly update the data.
CompPharma was established by Mr. Paduda and Helen Knight. The founding PBM members are Aetna Workers' Comp Access, Cypress Care, Medical Services Company (MSC) and Progressive Medical Inc.
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