Pharmacists challenge BB&T Corp. not to shut out independent drug stores

A group of independent pharmacists issued a challenge to BB&T Corp. regarding its commitment to support small businesses.

The group, along with the National Community Pharmacists Association, asked the bank to go against the grain of cost-cutting health-care trends by not shutting the door on independent pharmacists with maintenance drug prescriptions.

Some companies, in trying to save money on their insurance plans, have eliminated that option in favor of agreements, if not exclusives, with mail-order pharmacies or national drugstore chains and department stores.

BB&T was prepared to join the trend, making it mandatory that participants in its insurance plans get their maintenance drugs through a mail-order pharmacy.

But after talking with the pharmacists and the lobbying group, BB&T kept the option of going to the independent pharmacies. The agreement covers about 31,300 BB&T employees and their family members, as well as retirees.

"BB&T decided to keep its current program in place for maintenance prescriptions to provide choice to employees and to show its support for local businesses," the bank said in a statement.

BB&T said 83 percent of participants in its 2010 health plan used retail pharmacy chains for their maintenance drugs, while 17 percent used independent pharmacies.

Dave Marley, the president and chief executive of Marley Drug in Winston-Salem, said he was as pleased with BB&T's willingness to discuss the issues as he was with the outcome.

"By choosing to support community pharmacies, many pharmacies will likely choose to support BB&T," Marley said.

Marley said that he will lobby, as a board member of the N.C. Mutual Wholesale Drug Co., for the group to move its financial accounts to BB&T.

The association said it discussed with BB&T the value of neighborhood pharmacies, detailed the "often-overlooked shortcomings" in mandatory mail-order plans and cost estimates, and proposed alternative cost-savings solutions, such as maximizing the appropriate use of generic drugs.

"There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction where patient health is concerned," said Kathleen Jaeger, the chief executive of the pharmacist association.

"Hopefully, other corporations will come to see the value of continuing their outreach to community pharmacists and supporting local businesses, particularly in today's economy."

The pharmacists' campaign is an example of the economic tug-of-war facing independent retailers. Urging consumers to buy local, or buy American, carries only so much weight when other resources may be less expensive.

John Norton, a spokesman for the association, said that corporate human-resources and benefits officers routinely make benefit- and plan-design decisions that are focused on controlling cost.

"They later discover some implication or unintended consequence that results in a reversal of those decisions," Norton said.

"However, it is highly unusual for a corporation to reverse a mandatory mail decision based in part or solely on the input of non-employee response to the program."

Allie Fitchett, the wife of a BB&T employee, said she had been fretting the mandatory mail-order policy because she needs three maintenance drugs that have to be specially formulated and compounded. For the past two years, she has been getting those drugs at Andrews Pharmacy.

"I don't have the option of a retail chain because it's not enough business for them to want to mess with, and I want to know the pharmacist who is compounding the drugs," Fitchett said.

"Our family of five takes eight to nine maintenance drugs, so ... the local pharmacy option is nice to have. We will continue to do the other maintenance drugs where it makes the most sense for the money."

Charles Duffey, whose wife, Jilda, is a retired BB&T employee, said he doesn't mind driving from Davidson County to Marley Drug for his maintenance drugs.

"I want to talk with someone who has dispensed my drugs to others to get a real feel for what I should expect," Duffey said. "That means more to me than money and time."

Marley said although he hopes other companies will take notice of BB&T's decision, he is realistic enough to not expect a groundswell of change.

Marley is leading a similar campaign with Caterpillar Inc. to allow employees to use local pharmacies.

The company has a preferred prescription-drug agreement with Walgreens and Walmart. The agreement, which runs through 2011, provides for lower or no co-pays for Caterpillar employees who fill their prescriptions with Walgreens and Walmart.

Marley said that the pharmacies are "willing to accept the exact same reimbursement terms given by Walgreens and Walmart."

"Our ultimate goal is to ask companies to look at their pharmacy plans thoughtfully, make sure they have the whole story, and recognize that mail-order programs are not all that they seem to be."

Media General Inc., the parent company of the Winston-Salem Journal, has a contract with Medco, a mail-order pharmacy that provides discounts for employees, but employees can fill prescriptions elsewhere as well.

rcraver@wsjournal.com

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