Example Of Health Management Case Study

- Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) provide services such as review of prescriptions, processing prescription drug claims for pharmaceutical manufacturers and helping in the design of pharmacy benefit plans. The PBMs operations are based on the reasoning that leveraging financial and medical information could help in cost management of drug benefit, by bolstering correct use of prescription drugs and the overall healthcare quality for beneficiaries.
- Medco fits well with Merck’s strategy of embracing health management to eliminate information gaps in the drug delivery systems, enhance appropriate use of prescriptions and bolster coordinated pharmaceutical care in general. Medco pharmacy benefits plans output and cost management would help Merck better leverage financial and healthcare information to enhance efficiency, improve the number of covered patients and reduce management costs while optimizing profitability.
- Medco, a PBM, is a depository of healthcare and financial information that is essential for research, development and outcome analysis, which Merck would benefit from. Merck would benefit from this information and Medco’s mail service and card businesses. The advantages include Merck’s ability to leverage the information to conduct precise outcome analysis, which is critical to developing appropriate drug r treatment approaches for different pharmacy benefit plans, and increased client base due to the growth resulting from the acquisition. This is bound to reduce research costs and improve profits. Probable demerits include the possibility of retail druggists substituting Merck’s drugs and the loss of the firm’s individual organizational culture and strengths.
- Similarly, Medco would benefit by discounting its client’s on Merck’s products, which would increase its sales and profits. Medco would also leverage Merck’s competitive advantages besides its own strengths to enhance growth and profitability.
- The Medco-Merck case underscores the fact that health management is the way to go. It is imperative that healthcare benefits providers and pharmaceutical manufacturers embrace health management practices to gather and leverage information to bolster their production, service delivery and operations, which will cut costs and enhance growth and profitability.