SilverScript Insurance Company, a subsidiary of CVS Caremark (CVS), entered collaboration with seven Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) across the U.S. This alliance is aimed at upgrading pharmacy care for patients who come under the coverage of Medicare Part D.
Following the news, CVS Caremark's share price nudged up 0.2% to eventually close at $75.72 on Friday.
The beneficiaries of this alliance included those who are being served by the participating ACOs and are registered in a SilverScript Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (PDP).
A Brief Note About the ACOs
An ACO is a group of doctors and other health care providers who join forces voluntarily with Medicare — the U.S. government's health care program for people aged 65 years or more — to provide more coordinated service and care to patients. They also provide chronic disease management at low health care cost.
The participating ACOs in the aforementioned alliance include Monarch Healthcare ACO and National ACO in California; American Health Alliance, Orange Accountable Care, Orange Accountable Care of South Florida, and West Florida ACO in Florida; and VirtuaCare ACO in New Jersey.
These seven ACOs united with an existing group of ACOs across the U.S., which SilverScript has already been associated with, in order to boost pharmacy care for the Medicare Part D recipients they serve.
The existing group includes PriMed in Connecticut, Franciscan Alliance ACO in Indiana, Jordan Community ACO in Massachusetts, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health in New Hampshire, and Atlantic ACO in New Jersey.
What is Medicare Part D?
Medicare Part D is a portion of Medicare health insurance that helps patients cover their cost of prescription drugs. Medicare works with insurance companies to extend this benefit to patients.
As a Medicare Part D PDP sponsor, SilverScript administers a Medication Therapy Management (MTM) program that includes Comprehensive Medication Reviews and other adherence and gaps in care programs. In this program, Medicare beneficiaries are counseled individually by physicians from SilverScript, to make sure that an individual's medications are working properly and to check if they pose any risk.
Benefits of the Alliance
Per management CVS Caremark's access to patient prescription data will help its ACO partners to detect those Medicare part D patients, who will benefit from this alliance drafted to promote medication adherence, reduce gaps in care, and help to reduce overall healthcare cost.
This partnership will make it easier for clinicians at the participating ACOs to trace prescription activity and usage for the SilverScript beneficiaries they treat, including the use of generic versus brand prescriptions, and the identification of any medication adherence issues or gaps in care.
Zacks Rank
Currently, CVS Caremark holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked medical stocks that warrant a look are Alphatec Holdings, Inc. (ATEC), Luminex Corp. (LMNX), and Herbalife Ltd. (HLF). Alphatec and Luminex hold a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Herbalife carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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