Local pharmacies join mail-order network: Good news for Pine Plains Pharmacy and McCarthy’s

Pine Plains — The communities of Pine Plains and Stanfordville are breathing a sigh of relief, after their two hometown pharmacies brokered a deal with Express Scripts Incorporated (ESI) to join its mail-order network. The move will allow members of the Dutchess Educational Health Insurance Consortium (DEHIC) to obtain their maintenance medications from both the Pine Plains Pharmacy and McCarthy’s Pharmacy.

DEHIC represents employees and retirees from all school districts in Dutchess County and some from Sullivan and Ulster Counties. Its March mandate that all of its members get their maintenance meds through the mail raised concerns that the two local independent pharmacies would be run out of business. Both depend on a large percentage of their business from area school districts. The move was expected to save DEHIC $2.2 million annually.

“Employees of the school district are very, very happy,” said Pine Plains Pharmacy owner Nasir Mahmood about the recent news. “They have been very upset about this option. This is  very, very good.”

“I think it’s great,” said Pine Plains Superintendent of Schools Martin Handler. “Obviously I’m happy that the business is going to stay local, and the plan will still get the savings because the terms have to be the same as what the mail order would have been. 

“Though it’s a little unfortunate,” the superintendent added. “I’m sure both pharmacies will make something less on prescriptions than they would have as a retail thing. But on the other hand, they get to keep their retail business and our people get to use them, plus not go through mail order.”

“Everything goes by how much we get reimbursed for the prescriptions we dispense,” acknowledged McCarthy’s Pharmacy owner Ravi Nandigama. “Mail order reimbursement is typically lower than what we would be reimbursed for other regular scripts. It could be a potential loss for us, though it’s hard to say how much. We haven’t started yet, but it’s more than likely it could be a lot.”

The deal for the customer, which was the dangling carrot for many, is that there are only two copays due for every three prescriptions filled. That means that 90 days worth of medication can be had for the cost of 60 days worth of meds.

“This is not a great arrangement in terms of finances, but for retaining our customers and providing them with the services they need, it is,” said Nandigama. “To keep afloat we had to keep the customer base. Without them, I would not be able to survive, I would have to shut down, it could be a disaster.”

But, according to Susan Savas, vice president of employee benefits management with Rose and Kiernan, the health benefits consulting firm for DEHIC, that’s all been avoided. 

“I think DEHIC is very pleased that all of that went through,” she said, noting that “all pharmacies always have the opportunity to become a mail-order look alike.”

But not all are happy with the deal.

“It’s a great loss of revenue for them to tie into the mail-order system,” worried town Supervisor Darrah Cloud, who has been a vocal advocate of reversing the mail order mandate. “The question is, where is the money going to be made up? I still don’t like the money trail as to who is profiting from the Express Scripts deal. What is Rose and Kiernan’s stake in this?”

Savas insists Rose and Kiernan isn’t profiting from the deal.

“We don’t make money off this,” she said. “It’s part of our consulting fee and administrative services, we don’t make any money on this deal. Our position is we are benefit advisors and we help them by making recommendations on benefits plans, but it’s up to the [DEHIC] board to make the final decision.

“We are happy that our advocacy efforts on their behalf worked out,” added Savas.

“It’s a good feeling that we can still serve the community,” Mahmood said. “That was the prime objective. I’ve been here 30 years and didn’t want to leave them hanging.”

Mahmood noted customers won’t have to take any extra steps to get their prescriptions through either his pharmacy or McCarthy’s.

“They don’t have to go anywhere, they can just do as usual: call us and we get their refill or new script from their doctor, just like regular,” he said, adding using the local pharmacies will circumvent the potential downfalls of using a mail-order pharmacy. “It’s convenient, quality medication with the best possible service without exposing the medication to transit in the mail or extreme temperatures, or being filled by people they don’t know. And it keeps jobs in the local economy.”

Customers who want to use either Pine Plains Pharmacy or McCarthy’s Pharmacy merely have to cancel their registration with Express Scripts. To do so, they should call 888-613-6091.

In the meantime, contracts from ESI are expected by both pharmacy owners. There’s no word yet on the length of those contracts. Both Mahmood and Nandigama have pledged to appeal to DEHIC at contract’s end to repeal the mail-order pharmacy mandate.

“It may not be good in the long run,” said Mahmood.