"Ripping Up the Playbook on Drug Pricing": Blue Shield of California Launches First-of-its-Kind Pharmacy Care Reimagined Initiative

What is Pharmacy Care Reimagined?

Today’s pharmacy system is broken. Costs are skyrocketing and the entire ecosystem is unnecessarily complex and opaque. These systemic issues result in disjointed and time-consuming member experiences with complicated hand-offs between different supply chain stakeholders. Pharmacy Care Reimagined is Blue Shield of California’s bold initiative to ensure every person has safe, equitable access to sustainably affordable prescription drugs. To achieve this, we are focusing on three pillars:

Transforming the end-to-end prescription drug ecosystem
Investing in personal, high-quality experiences
Building powerful solutions with technology and data

Why is Blue Shield of California tackling this?

We are taking on this task because there is a patient, a family member or a friend behind every prescription. True to our company’s vision and north star, our goal is to create a pharmacy care experience that is worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable. Pharmacy Care Reimagined brings a more human and transparent approach to care and value to our members. It’s what we stand for.

Fast Facts: Pharmacy Drug Affordability

Most American adults take at least one prescription drug annually, with more than a third of adults taking at least three medications per year.
In 2021, the American healthcare system spent more than $600 billion on prescription drugs – about $1,500 per person, per year.
Once Blue Shield’s multi-year strategy is fully implemented, the health plan expects to save up to $500 million in annual drug costs.
Blue Shield of California is building a first-of-its-kind pharmacy care model that is simple, accessible and sustainably affordable for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Pharmacy Care Reimagined:
- How is Blue Shield of California uniquely positioned to help fix the problems in today’s broken pharmacy system?
- Has Blue Shield succeeded in other pharmacy transformations? Are there any previous projects this builds upon?
- What companies are helping us build the pharmacy supply chain model and what will they do?
- How will this new model save money?

News Coverage

Three Ways Drug Pricing Should Work in a Functioning Market, But Isn’t (8/19/24)

2 Alternatives to Ineffective Prescription Drug Rebates (7/25/24)

The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs (6/21/24)

Readout of White House Roundtable on Lowering Healthcare Costs and Bringing Transparency to Prescription Drug Middlemen (3/5/24)

Why transparency matters: helping brokers understand drug pricing (2/22/24)

Patients Should Be at the Center of Pharmacy Care. Why Aren’t They? (12/1/23)

Fighting Through A Forest Of Opacity: Overhauling The Prescription Drug Industry (11/20/23)

A Big Insurer Finally Gets Fed Up With Drug Costs (8/25/23)

Blue Shield of California taps Amazon, Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs for its pharmacy network (8/17/23)

A Big Health Insurer Is Ripping Up the Playbook on Drug Pricing (8/17/23)

Additional Resources

Pharmacy Care Reimagined Collaborators

Video Assets

Blue Shield of California taps Amazon, Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs for its pharmacy network (CNBC Television)
Blue Shield of California teams up with Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company (CBS Texas)
Pharmacy Care Reimagined – Fully Explained (Blue Shield of California)
Blue Shield of California Health Reimagined - Maria’s Story (Blue Shield of California)
Blue Shield's online tool helps find lower prescription costs (Blue Shield of California)
Prescription Drug Benefits 101 (Blue Shield of California)

Contact

Media Inquiries

media@blueshieldca.com

(510) 607-2359