On Tuesday, the Decatur County Board of Commissioners approved a change in its employee health insurance plan that could save the county anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 annually.
At its regular board meeting Tuesday, the board unanimously approved changing the county’s pharmacy benefit management services company from CareMark of Woonsocket, R.I., a subsidiary of CVS Pharmacy, to RX Preferred Benefits of McKinney, Texas.
County Finance Director Carl Rowland explained how a pharmacy-benefit-management service works.
“When an employee that’s under our health insurance program, does a prescription, the pharmacist has to submit that claim to someone,” he said. “That claim is submitted to what we call a PBM. Based on certain prices that have been negotiated with that pharmacist, or group of pharmacists, the claim is paid.”
Rowland said the county had done an analysis and determined that it could save about $55,000 annually with RX Preferred. If the county were to tweak its insurance plan slightly, that savings could be as much as $75,000 annually, he said.
Rowland said RX Preferred is composed of independent pharmacists rather than a chain, which may be one reason its prices are so much lower. He noted that Bainbridge Mayor Edward Reynolds, the owner of Bainbridge Pharmacy, is one of the many independent pharmacists that are part-owners of RX Preferred.
He said that County Staff Attorney Brown Moseley had already reviewed the contract as well.
“We’re ready to give it a try,” Rowland said. “I can’t see how it could hurt us financially in any way, but it’s certainly worth trying.”
Moseley noted that the county could opt out of the contract in 30 days, if it was not satisifed.
In other business:
• The county approved to lease the DeRose Building, located at 216 Industrial Blvd. in the industrial park, to the Development Authority of Bainbridge and Decatur County at the rent of “$1 and other valuable consideration.” The Authority will then seek industrial companies that may be interested in using the facility for business. The lease’s term is Oct. 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2014.
• The county called an executive session to discuss “land acquisition.”