Brian B. Bullock, president and CEO of The BurchfieldGroup, a pharmacy benefit consulting and auditing firm,believes that Express Scripts, Inc.'s purchase of Medco Health Solutions willbe a 'sea change' for the pharmacy benefit management (PBM)industry.

Bullock leads a team of experts offering recommendations,actionable information, and new market opportunities created bythis change for Fortune 500 corporations, large and smallemployers, Taft-Hartley trust funds, third party administrators,health plans, insurers, benefits/HR executives, and integrateddelivery networks.

“We are helping clients assess how best to take advantage ofthis change, which will work itself out over time,” Bullock said ina statement. “There are very few cases where plan sponsors need tomake immediate decisions that have long term consequences, but newopportunities will present themselves, and there are reasons to seethis as a positive development for plan sponsor pricing.”

Burchfield anticipates a long-term decrease in pricing andbelieves that on the whole, the pros of this deal outweigh thecons. In the overall value chain, the retailer is the mostvulnerable and will be squeezed to generate savings.

“For plan sponsors, now is a great time to conduct an RFP forPBM services, since the uncertainty of this climate may work totheir advantage and vendors will potentially provide aggressivepricing to either gain or preserve market share,” Bullock said.“Those not currently conducting an RFP or renewal negotiationshould take time to assess their needs and the marketplace – andengage an independent pharmacy expert to assist in theassessment.”

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