What Is the Potential Impact on the Department of Defense (DOD) Military Treatment Facility (MTF) Pharmacies due to the Increased Copays and the Disenrollment of a Retail Pharmacy from the TRICARE Network.

摘要

The Department of Defense (DoD) has implemented an increase in Triple Option Benefit Plan Available for Military Families (TRICARE) copayments, which DoD military personnel and their dependents will pay if they use the TRICARE Retail Network Pharmacies and the TRICARE Pharmacy Home Delivery system. Another change is that the Walgreens retail pharmacy is no longer in the TRICARE Retail Pharmacy Network, so DoD military personnel and their dependents will no longer be able to use their TRICARE benefits at Walgreens. This study provides insight into the impact of these changes on DoD Military Treatment Facility (MTF) pharmacies. The researcher performed both quantitative and qualitative analyses to determine the impact of these changes on DoD MTF pharmacies, and to answer several secondary questions. Some of the secondary questions were as follows: Will TRICARE copayments continue to increase; Where do beneficiaries obtain their prescriptions; Has the prescription workload shifted; and Will other retail pharmacies opt out of the TRICARE Retail Pharmacy Network. The research revealed that the only impact of the changes, as of Fiscal Year 2012, was a slight increase in prescription workload at the DoD MTF pharmacies. Since TRICARE copayments are likely to continue to increase, other impacts on DoD MTF pharmacies could include increased workload, increased waiting times, increased prescription transfers, and changes to the local DoD MTF formularies.