BEST RX Ohio gets 2 contracts for drug discount program

The company handling the program got contracts worth $9.1 million.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Senior citizens and the poor in Ohio should be able to apply for the state's new prescription-drug discount program by late October, the state said.
The State Controlling Board unanimously approved two contracts worth more than $9.1 million Monday with a Northeastern Ohio company to administer the state's new Ohio's Best Rx program.
The contracts with Rx Options, doing business as Envision Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. of Aurora, are for start-up costs, said the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which is overseeing the program.
Jon Allen, an ODJFS spokesman, said that under terms of the pacts, the company has to have the program up and running within 90 days. That would likely make it late October before people an apply for the drug discount program, he said.
In addition, the pacts call for the company at 75 Barrington Town Square Drive in Aurora to conduct public awareness and outreach campaigns, Allen said.
Envision Pharmaceutical Services beat out three other companies for the unbid state contract that, pending successful performance, could run through June 30, 2009, according to the contract and state officials.
Who benefits?
The Ohio's Best Rx program could provide discounts to as many as 1.7 million Ohioans.
Those covered would include people 60 and older and those at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $22,450 for an individual, or $46,000 for a family of four, state officials said.
Once fully up and running, the drug-discount program is to be funded through rebates provided by participating pharmaceutical companies and the $1 fee that recipients pay for each prescription filled.
Envision will receive $1 per transaction for the first 1 million, 95 cents each for the next 4 million and 80 cents for each transaction beyond 5 million, ODJFS said.
"It's in [Envision Pharmaceutical's] interest to have more people enrolled in the program," Allen said. "They've got some incentive. & quot; Officials at Envision Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., couldn't be reached to comment.
Late last year, Republican Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill authorizing Ohio's Best Rx into law. The bill was sponsored by state Rep. John P. Hagan, a Stark County Republican.
State officials have said Ohio's Best Rx would complement a less-generous Golden Buckeye Card discount program and the Medicare drug benefit signed into law by President Bush.
Ohio's Best Rx emerged last September from negotiations between major drug makers and the Ohio Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs, which includes labor unions.
Made up of six state lawmakers and a representative of the governor's office, the controlling board has the final say over some of the state's larger spending requests.