There are 17,000 employees and retirees. SNET uses Medco Containment Services and its standard formulary. It will call the doctor, the pharmacist and the patient to get them onto different drugs. The universal incentive Pharmacists are well aware of the financial incentives they receive to dispense generics. According to IMS data, even though generics account for only 13 percent of total prescription dollars for pharmacies, they provide 29 percent to 36 percent of pharmacy dispensing revenues.
Some plans also provide higher dispensing fees for generics.
Medicaid managed care plans are definitely pushing generics. E. Paul Larrat, Ph.D., executive vice president of Pro-Mark in Peace Dale, R.I., says Medicaid managed care plans, where permitted by federal waivers, are heavily into generic substitution. But the traditional Medicaid program, he adds, has done little to promote generics. Therapeutic factors, for example, may sometimes make the branded drug less expensive for most patients, including managed care members. Generic, but not equivalent In addition, branded drugs sometimes require fewer doses for a course of treatment.