Price transparency: It’s a crucial part of any industry, and healthcare is no exception. From a patient perspective, knowing the price tag on medications is particularly significant.
With that in mind, Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare has launched PreCheck MyScript, an online solution that simplifies the prescribing process.
The tool gives physicians who are prescribing a medication exact cost information based on the patient’s benefit plan. PreCheck MyScript provides prescribers with a patient’s insurance coverage details and pharmacy information. On top of that, it automates prior authorizations and offers cheaper medications that might not require prior authorization before they’re sent to the pharmacy.
“[PreCheck MyScript] takes the guesswork out of determining whether a prescription is covered by the patient’s benefit plan and if prior authorization is needed,” UnitedHealthcare CMO Sam Ho noted in a statement. “PreCheck MyScript also improves the patient experience due to the more precise cost information that is shared before the patient leaves the doctor’s office.”
UnitedHealthcare worked with OptumRx to create PreCheck MyScript, which is available to all providers in the UHC network. OptumRx will offer it to more clients beginning early next year.
The solution can be embedded directly into an EHR system. In this regard, UnitedHealthcare has already teamed up with DrFirst and Allscripts.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Rockville, Maryland-based DrFirst, a vendor focused on e-prescribing, assisted with the development process and has since integrated the tool into its system.
“United started talking to us sometime late last year, and we decided to work with them on this program to actually integrate it into the workflow,” Richard Cohan, DrFirst’s president of patient innovations, said in a recent phone interview.
The benefits to be gained from a solution like this are aplenty. For one, it gives providers more time to spend with the patient. Because it offers a better glimpse at the price tags of medications, it reduces the chances of a patient not picking up their prescriptions due to cost.
By promoting medication adherence, PreCheck MyScript also serves as an indirect way to reduce avoidable patient ER admissions and poor health outcomes.
“This is really a win-win-win-win — for the payer, the prescriber, the patient and the physician,” Cohan said.
And although physicians don’t always have a lot of love for EHRs and other healthcare technology, Cohan said they view PreCheck MyScript in a favorable light.
“We get overwhelmingly positive responses from our doctors,” he said. “I think United will have great success with rolling this out, and certainly we’re doing everything we can to roll it out successfully to our users.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Cohan’s name.
Photo: Martin Barraud, Getty Images
