CalPERS Awards Three-Year Contract to Pharmacy Benefit Manager CareMark
The California Public Employees' Retirement System on Monday awarded pharmacy benefit manager CareMark Inc. a three-year contract to administer about $250 million in annual prescription drug benefits for the health system's self-insured plans, the Sacramento Bee reports. CareMark, one of five companies that bid for the contract, will administer prescription drug benefits for about 283,000 CalPERS members enrolled in PERSCare and PERSChoice (Rapaport, Sacramento Bee, 8/6). The CalPERS board selected CareMark for the contract in May, but PBM Merck-Medco, which has managed prescription drug benefits for CalPERS since 1989, filed a complaint over alleged "irregularities" in the contract bid process (California Healthline, 5/16). State Administrative Law Judge Stephen Smith on Monday dismissed the complaint, allowing CalPERS to officially award the contract to CareMark. The contract will take effect on Jan. 1 (Sacramento Bee, 8/6).
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