I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2319 

To establish a Mail-Order Pharmacy Pilot Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2007 

Mr. BILIRAKIS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To establish a Mail-Order Pharmacy Pilot Program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘TRICARE Mail-Order 

5 Pharmacy Pilot Program Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MAIL-ORDER PHARMACY PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

8 conduct a pilot program to educate and motivate bene9 ficiaries to voluntarily increase their use of the TRICARE 

10 mail-order pharmacy. 

11 (b) SCOPE OF PILOT PROGRAM.—The pilot program 

12 shall include at least 2,000 eligible beneficiaries in each 

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1 TRICARE region, of whom at least 1,000 in each 

2 TRICARE region shall be enrolled in Medicare Part B. 

3 Beneficiaries chosen to participate in the pilot program 

4 should be those who have filled prescriptions for one or 

5 more maintenance medications in the TRICARE retail 

6 pharmacy system and who have not previously used the 

7 TRICARE mail-order pharmacy. 

8 (c) DURATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.—The pilot pro9 gram shall begin no later than March 1, 2008, and shall 

10 continue for two years. 

11 (d) ADMINISTRATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.—The 

12 Secretary shall consult with representatives of beneficiary 

13 associations in designing, executing, and evaluating the re14 sults of the pilot program, which shall, at a minimum— 

15 (1) offer mail-order medications within the 

16 TRICARE formulary to pilot program participants 

17 at a beneficiary copayment of zero; 

18 (2) provide each beneficiary chosen for the pilot 

19 program an individual notification letter explaining 

20 the advantages to the beneficiary in terms of the 

21 convenience of home delivery and cost savings; 

22 (3) provide a personalized summary for each 

23 such beneficiary indicating the savings such bene24 ficiary personally would have realized had the bene25 ficiary used the mail-order system for the specific 

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1 medications such beneficiary was prescribed during 

2 a previous 12-month period; 

3 (4) provide simplified application and instruc4 tion guidelines and such other information as the 

5 Secretary deems useful to facilitate the beneficiary’s 

6 expedited use of the mail-order pharmacy; and 

7 (5) survey beneficiaries selected for the pilot 

8 program to determine members’ understanding of 

9 and satisfaction with the mail-order pharmacy pro10 gram, the factors that motivated them to use or not 

11 use the mail-order pharmacy program, the specific 

12 reasons for any dissatisfaction with the mail-order 

13 pharmacy program, the extent to which they found 

14 the Secretary’s instruction materials helpful, the ex15 tent to which they would recommend other bene16 ficiaries’ use of such program, and suggestions for 

17 ways to further increase beneficiaries’ use of the 

18 mail-order pharmacy. 

19 (e) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall provide reports 

20 to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and 

21 House of Representatives on October 1, 2008, April 1, 

22 2009, and October 1, 2009, to include— 

23 (1) the extent to which beneficiaries selected for 

24 the pilot program shifted their use between phar25 macy venues; 

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1 (2) the extent to which such behavior changes 

2 affected pharmacy costs for the Department of De3 fense and the beneficiaries, respectively; 

4 (3) summaries of beneficiary survey results, to 

5 the extent they are available on the date of each re6 port; 

7 (4) an assessment of the effect of reducing the 

8 mail-order copay to zero on pharmacy program costs 

9 and the advisability of expanding the pilot program 

10 initiative to include all eligible beneficiaries; and 

11 (5) any other analysis, observations, and rec12 ommendations the Secretary may deem appropriate. 

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