By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
NAPLES, Italy — Most prescription drugs dispensed at military pharmacies for paying patients now cost less than they did last year.
As of Jan. 3, 65,375 of the 119,004 products with National Drug codes on the Tricare rate table — about 55 percent — went down in price. Seventeen percent, or 20,334 products, increased in price, while 13.5 percent, or 16,098, remained unchanged, said Jeff Roberts, manager of the Uniform Business Office for the Europe Regional Medical Command. The remainder are medications added to the rate table and therefore have no price comparisons.
As part of the changes, Tricare has added a $2 dispensing fee.
The changes affect patients who are not Tricare-eligible beneficiaries, but use the military health facilities on a space-available basis, such as Department of Defense Dependents Schools teachers, federal civilian employees and authorized contractors. Roberts was unable to say how many people were affected by the price changes.
Patients only now are beginning to see the result of the changes because of the billing cycle, Roberts said.
This year, Tricare changed the way it sets pharmaceutical prices, basing them on what the health care management agency reimburses for medications, instead of on the retail cost.
The changes apply only to medications dispensed through military pharmacies, and do not affect home delivery prices through Tricare’s mail-order program, said agency spokesman Austin Camacho.
To help patients determine their medication costs, the Europe Regional Medical Command Uniform Business Office offers a Pharmacy Pricing Estimator Tool on its Web site. Patients can see the cost for medications, and then do some comparison shopping on their own, since pharmaceuticals dispensed at military facilities aren’t always the cheapest, Roberts said.
The Defense Department charges the same rate for pharmaceuticals, regardless of whether they are brand name or generic, Roberts said.
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