Managed-Care Pharmacy Services

Managed-care has grown dramatically. Kaiser Permanente, was an early managed-care or health maintenance organization (HMO). An HMO provides health insurance for medical and pharmacy services using a managed-care model. The HMO philosophy is based on the idea that keeping patients of all ages healthy, decreases hospitalization and ER visits, lowering the costs to the healthcare system. Most HMO’s are centralized primary-care clinics serving adult, pediatric and OB/GYN patients, offering pharmacy, X-ray, and laboratory services on-site. HMO’s, like hospitals, have an approved formulary (drug list). HMO pharmacies and responsibilities of the technician are similar to community pharmacies. Effective use of technicians allows pharmacists to provide more time counseling patients, resulting in lower costs and fewer medication errors.