What Restaurant Groups Need to Know about Managing Prescription Drug Expenditures

This edition of MRM's "Ask the Expert” features advice from Trion Group. Please send questions to Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine Executive Editor Barbara Castiglia at bcastiglia@modernrestaurantmanagement.com.When it comes to managing medical plan costs for restaurant employers, aggressive management of prescription drug expenditures can yield significant savings. The purpose of this article is to elaborate on the strategies for effective cost management for these programs and explain why it’s important for restaurant groups to manage their prescription drug expenditure.

First, it is important to identify several emerging prescription drug trends. Express Scripts, one of the largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM), in their 2020 Drug Trend Report, noted that specialty drugs were more than 50 percent of the drug spend. Of even greater concern, specialty drug spending is increasing 10 to 15 percent annually. This compares to Brand drug pricing that has…