Impact of a Uniform Formulary on Military Health System Prescribers
Abstract
The Military Health System (MRS) has approximately 8.7 million eligible beneficiaries. These beneficiaries include active duty military personnel and their family members, retired military personnel and their family members, and surviving family members of deceased military personnel. In 2001, the Department of Defense (DoD) spent just over $2 billion on pharmacy benefits. Much like the private health care sector, the MRS has experienced a rapid growth in pharmaceutical expenditures, which have increased an average of 17 percent a year over the past six years. Both the DoD and the U.S. Congress have identified the MRS pharmacy benefit as an area for reform. To this end, Section 701 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 requires the Secretary of Defense to establish an effective, efficient, and integrated pharmacy benefits program. According to the legislation, titled the Pharmacy Benefits Redesign Program, "The pharmacy benefits program shall include a uniform formulary of pharmaceutical agents which shall assure the availability of pharmaceutical agents in the complete range of therapeutic classes. The Act further specifies that "The uniform formulary will be applicable to all prescribers within the facilities of the uniformed services (i.e., military treatment facilities MTFs) and the TRICARE program. The pharmaceutical agents on the formulary will be available through the MTFs and retail pharmacies designated or eligible under the TRICARE program, as well as the National Mail Order Pharmacy program."
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA413929
Entities
People
- Ana Suarez
- Katherine Harris
- Melissa Bradley
- Renee Labor
- Terri Tanielian
Organizations
- RAND Corporation