APC’s consulting department has a group of individuals who have the background and experience to provide a wide array of pharmacy benefits consulting services. Among the services offered by the consulting department are:

• Request for Proposals for comprehensive pharmacy benefit services.
• PBM contract review and negotiation assistance, either in conjunction with an RFP or as a separate service
• Evaluation of client in-sourcing traditional PBM services such as P&T committees, closed door pharmacies, group purchasing, custom pharmacy networks, and rebating.
• Request for Proposals for specific pharmacy services, such as specialty.
• White paper development on trends in the industry or best practices.
• PBM benchmarking
• Providing pharmacy benefit expertise to other consulting firms. Projects include studies for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and state government work on 340B pricing. APC has supported CMS on the development of the discount card program and criteria for the Part D program.
• Implementation support through the changeover to a new PBM.

APC has provided RFP services for pharmacy benefits since 1999. We have conducted RFPs for self-insured employers, union benefit funds, health maintenance organizations, Medicaid HMOs, retiree benefit plans and Blue Cross plans. The types of RFP processes have varied with the client. Most clients are interested in full PBM services, but some clients want to evaluate options such as taking the rebate function in-house, and APC designs RFPs to address the client’s particular needs.

Unlike many consulting firms, APC does not and has never taken fees from PBMs. Many consulting firms structure RFP awards so that they receive payment from the PBMs that they recommend. APC feels that this introduces bias toward certain pharmacy benefit firms and we do not subscribe to this practice.