For Managed Care Pharmacists, Experience and Education Pay: CognetX’s 2010 Managed Care Pharmacist Salary Survey

BENSALEM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Although managed care pharmacists play a key role in deciding how individual insurers cover and reimburse prescription drugs for millions of Americans, they’re not the pharmacists consumers interact with at their local drugstores.

Working in a variety of settings, managed care pharmacists seek to positively impact health outcomes at the crucial third-party payer level.

As a group, these influential professionals are highly educated, highly experienced and very well paid, according to CognetX, Inc.’s recently conducted 2010 Managed Care Pharmacist SalarySurvey. Participants were asked about their salaries, bonuses, benefits and work environment.

More than 165 pharmacists from across the U.S. participated in the online survey; all work exclusively in managed care settings. In 2010, the reported median salary range was $130,000-$139,000. When CognetX last surveyed managed care pharmacists in 2005, the reported average salary range was $100,000-$109,999.

Other 2010 survey highlights:

• Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed were age 40 or older; 15% were 60 or older
• More than 40% possess a Pharm.D. degree
• Nearly half hold two or more college degrees
• 43% have worked in managed care for 15 or more years, compared to 17% in CognetX’s 2005 survey
• Pharmacy Director was the most frequently mentioned job title (44%), followed by Clinical Pharmacist (17%) and President/Vice President (14%)
• 55% were employed by a managed care organization (MCO), 28% by a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM)
• The payers represented in the survey offered various combinations of commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health insurance lines; half offered all three

About CognetX

Since 2000, CognetX has provided managed care-related market research, analytics and consulting to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, as well as to the financial and healthcare communities. The company is based in Bucks County, Pa.

For more information about the 2010 Managed Care Pharmacist Salary Survey, or about CognetX products and services, please contact:Sharon Bender, Director, Analytics, 215-633-1630 x148
[email protected]

Source: CognetX, Inc.