The Hill has an interesting blog post by National Community Pharmacists Association VP for Public Affairs Kevin Schweers that looks at problems with mail-order prescription services. Such problems include late and misdirected pharmacy shipments and exposure of sensitive pharmaceutical products to extreme heat or cold.

The problems were identified through a survey conducted of customers of community pharmacies.

The survey results were refuted by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefit managers, the largest operator of mail-order pharmacy services.

While the pharmacy benefit managers claim that mail-order prescription services offer substantial savings, the community pharmacists’ group says that no independent study backs up that claim.

The pharmacy benefit managers group claims greater accuracy in filling prescriptions, which is as important as getting medications on time.

This is an interesting fight between two interest groups.

But it also is policy-related. The pharmacy benefit managers are hoping to get Congress to remove some restrictions on mail-order prescriptions for Medicare.

The Boston Globe had a story about the battle back in February.  That story showed why the pharmacy benefit managers want expanded access to Medicare recipients:

Right now, Medicare recipients order only 10 percent of their chronic care drugs by mail - far less than retirees with drug benefits through their former employers, who get 40 percent of drugs that way, according to the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which lobbies for the PBMs.

This will be interesting to watch.