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Executive Summary Methodology Profile of Respondents Plan Design Features Cost Sharing Highlights Pharmacy Reimbursement Highlights Drug Cost Highlights Utilization Management Highlights
 
We’ve compiled for you here a glossary of many of the terms you will find in this report. Access a term by its first letter:

A – F                       GO                       PZ

A – F
Academic Detailing of Prescribers
Fact-based information about prescription drugs provided by credentialed clinicians to physicians and other prescribers. Traditional “detailing” refers to the process pharmaceutical manufacturer sales representatives use to promote their brand-name drugs.

Actual Rebate Amount Per Mail Script
Actual dollar amount of rebate for each mail-service prescription.

Actual Rebate Amount Per Retail Script
Actual dollar amount of rebate for each retail prescription.

Annual Deductible
Amount a plan member pays before reimbursement begins.

Annual Out-of-Pocket (OOP) Limit
The cap on the total amount a plan member pays.

Average Wholesale Price (AWP)
The published or suggested cost of pharmaceuticals charged to a pharmacy by a large group of pharmaceutical wholesalers. The AWP is the basis for most third-party prescription reimbursement. It is analogous to a sticker price on a new automobile. Pharmacies do not pay for their drugs using the AWP. A markup of wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) is the current method.

AWP Discount % – (AWP Minus X%)
The negotiated amount a drug plan pays to pharmacies for the ingredient cost of a prescription and commonly expressed as a percentage off of Average Wholesale Price.

Biotech Drugs (Specialty Drugs)
Drugs manufactured through biologic processes to treat chronic, complex or life-threatening conditions. Also called specialty drugs.

Brand Drug
Prescription drug covered by patent exclusivity.

Claritin®
OTC nonsedating antihistamine used to treat allergies. Claritin® was only available as a prescription drug before its OTC conversion in 2002.

Copayment Relief or Waivers
Reduced or zero-dollar copayments commonly used as incentives for plan members to use generic drugs and adhere to medication regimens.

Diabetic Supplies
Medical materials used for treatment of diabetes, specifically glucose meter strips, syringes, and needles.

Disease Management
A systematic approach to providing care to a population of patients with a specific disease. Patient and provider education, pharmaceutical care, continuous quality improvement, practice guidelines, patient monitoring, outcomes assessment, and case management all play key roles in disease management.

Dispensing Fee
Contracted amount in a traditional third-party prescription plan, usually in the $2.00 to $3.00 range, that is paid to the pharmacy in addition to the negotiated ingredient cost of the prescription.

Dollar Limit on Coverage
Price cap for amount of money plan will pay for prescription benefit.

Dose Optimization
Pharmacist-driven program to ensure patients are taking the best dosages and strengths of a given medication to manage costs of drug therapy.

Drug Utilization Review (DUR)
The process of evaluating physicians’ prescribing patterns, and/or patient drug utilization to determine the appropriateness of therapy. Three types are: prospective (before prescription dispensing), concurrent (at point of dispensing) and retrospective (after drug therapy is complete).

Experimental/Investigational Drugs
Prescription drugs being tested in clinical trials that may or may not be approved for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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