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Addressing out-of-pocket costs for diabetes patients

January 29, 2020 | Diabetes

Rising costs are a burden for too many people living with diabetes today. Patients with a high-deductible health plan shoulder all of their medication costs while in the deductible phase of their insurance, which means they may be forced to make difficult decisions about whether they can afford their medications and fill their prescription.

Recent data reveal there is uncertainty on how to manage and predict the out-of-pocket costs associated with diabetes management. For example, nearly one-third of patients (32 percent) do not feel they have the resources needed to manage their own out-of-pocket costs. To address this challenge, CVS Health is working to eliminate member cost as a barrier to medication adherence.

Improving medication affordability and adherence

Improving diabetes outcomes while reducing costs is a priority for CVS Health. We recently launched RxZERO to enable employers and health plan sponsors to leverage formulary and plan design approaches to offer all categories of diabetes medications at zero dollar out of pocket for their members without raising costs for the plan sponsor or increasing premiums or deductibles for all plan members. The new plan design enables plan sponsors to eliminate member out of-pocket costs for the entire diabetes therapeutic area — including oral medications for Type 2 diabetes — and fully adhere to American Diabetes Association standards.

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“Traditionally, the focus of affordability for diabetes medications has been on insulin, which is the cornerstone of therapy for the five percent of people with diabetes who are living with type 1 diabetes. However, the new CVS Caremark solution expands affordable options to include the entire range of diabetes medications — improving affordability for the 95 percent of people with diabetes who are living with type 2 diabetes.”

— Troyen A. Brennan, M.D., M.P.H., is Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CVS Health

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CVS Caremark analysis shows that members taking branded diabetes medications spend on average, $467.24 out-of-pocket per year, with nearly 12 percent spending over $1,000 annually.

A comprehensive approach to diabetes management

A person living with diabetes is required to take many tasks to manage their therapy annually. To make disease management affordable, accessible and local, CVS Health offers numerous programs to help people with diabetes effectively manage their condition and stay on track with their prescribed treatment plan.

We provide supportive care at our HealthHUB locations to complement the care that patients receive from their primary care physicians. Our HealthHUB model provides a first-of-its-kind community-based store that offers a broader range of health services, new product categories, digital and on-demand health tools and trusted advice. In these locations, people living with diabetes are able to receive the coordinated care and services they need all within our own four walls.