The 2009 Pharmacy Benefit Manager Customer Satisfaction Report
features new
employer ratings on transparency, RFP processes, customer loyalty and specialty
pharmacy. A total of 358 U.S.
employers representing 17.2 million members provide actionable feedback on the
service performance of their pharmacy benefit management (PBM) vendors in 17
areas.
Methodology PBMI conducted its
survey of U.S.
drug benefit plan sponsors in the fall 2009. Respondents were asked to indicate
their satisfaction levels on service attributes of their own PBM, using
a10-point scale, where one is a low level and 10 is a high level of
satisfaction. Respondents also used the scale to rate satisfaction with a
breadth of attributes.
Key
Findings
Employers have given
PBMs a weighted average rating of 7.6 on Overall Service & Performance.
This is a measure of overall satisfaction for all of the services involved in
the design, administration and monitoring of a drug benefit program. PBMs
earned a weighted mean rating of 7.5 on Delivering Promised Savings and
Delivering Promised Services.
PBMI data document the
correlation of employers’ level of satisfaction with financial transparency to
their service ratings on PBM performance. The 26.6% of employers who are
Extremely Satisfied with the level of financial transparency gave their PBMs
significantly higher ratings on all service functions than those employers who
are less satisfied.
Nearly one-fourth
(23.7%) of employers indicated that they were involved in a competitive
procurement process during the past six months, qualifying them to rate their
satisfaction with Request for Proposal (RFP) process attributes. While
employers rated their satisfaction with Responsiveness to RFP Questions high at
8.3, they indicated a level of dissatisfaction with Clarity of Contract
Language by rating it comparatively lower at 7.4.
81% of employers
provided a rating for Specialty Pharmacy. These employers were asked to rate
PBM performance on four specialty pharmacy management activities. The ratings
range from 7.2 to 7.8.
77.9% of respondents
who describe the degree of transparency of their financial relationship with
their PBMs as Completely Transparent or Somewhat Transparent rate their PBMs
higher than those whose relationships are "Not Transparent”.
66.1% of employers
perceive their PBMs’ goals are aligned with theirs. This alignment leads to higher
ratings than the 15.4% who perceive goals are not aligned. Employers have given
their PBMs a Net Promoter Score of +13% based on an equation where 41%
Promoters – 28% Detractors =+13%.
Conclusion
While employers are
highly satisfied with their PBMs, the importance of transparency is evident. Goal
alignment and increased transparency in the employer-PBM relationship engender
high ratings on Overall Service & Performance, Delivering Promised Savings,
and Delivering Promised Services as well as on service functions. In addition
to goal alignment and improved financial transparency, there remains an
opportunity to improve important aspects of PBM product/service offerings from
the employer’s perspective.
Learn More
Order the
2009 Pharmacy Benefit Management Report in electronic or print formats. The newly
designed, four-color color report includes a detailed section of findings, profiles
of 14 PBMs. PBMI members receive a 10% on the $279 report.
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