The National Community Pharmacists Association is urging the Department of Defense to take action to reinstate the nearly 15,000 community pharmacies dropped from Tricare's network, the group said in an Oct. 19 news release.
Tricare's pharmacy network is managed by pharmaceutical benefit manager Express Scripts, owned by Cigna. Beginning Oct. 24, 14,963 community pharmacies are set to be dropped from the network.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Community Pharmacists Association CEO B. Douglas Hoey wrote that the Defense Department should take steps to ensure pharmacies included in Tricare's network for 2022 can remain in-network in 2023.
"Without this action, access to needed medications for Tricare beneficiaries is in peril," Mr. Hoey said.
In the letter, Mr. Hoey called Express Scripts communications with some pharmacies "abysmal."
The association alleges that Express Scripts sent 2023 contracts by fax, and some pharmacies never received them, and said the benefit manager sent letters to beneficiaries with inaccurate information, saying some pharmacies that had not agreed to 2023 contracts were still in- network.
The association also said in its letter some pharmacies found out they were being terminated from the network on Oct. 24 through patients, who received letters from Express Scripts informing them their pharmacies were no longer in-network.
Express Scripts lowered reimbursement rates for 2023, leading many independent pharmacies "to make the difficult choice to reject the terms," Mr. Hoey said.
Express Scripts previously dropped Walmart pharmacies in December 2021 and added CVS pharmacies to the Tricare network.