Humana Upgrades Pharmacy Calculator Making It Even Easier For Medicare Beneficiaries to Select 2019 Medicare Plans

Business Wire

New CMS Blue Button feature aims to help members and non-members quickly determine annual drug and premium costs

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Improvements to Humana’s Rx Calculator will make it even easier for those eligible for Medicare to ensure the medication they take is covered by their Medicare Advantage or Part D plan.

Launched last year, Rx Calculator is available to current and prospective Humana members online via Humana.com/Medicare and to licensed sales agents through Humana’s agent portal.

The tool is now integrated with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Blue Button 2.0 helping to simplify the Rx Calculator process. Once a member approves to share their information, Blue Button data reveals a variety of insights about a Medicare beneficiary’s health, including drug prescriptions.

Previously, users would need to enter in each medication individually, including the dosage, quantity and frequency into the Rx Calculator tool. Users authorizing Rx Calculator to integrate with the Blue Button (through MyMedicare.gov), will be able to feed up four years of Medicare Part D prescription data directly into the tool.

Humana is the first payer to integrate the CMS Blue Button thanks to the work of the company’s Digital Experience Center, an interdisciplinary, human-centered healthcare innovation accelerator.

“At Humana, we aim to be a human-centered company which means we are always looking at ways to simplify and improve people’s experience with our products,” said Antonio Melo, Director for Humana’s Digital Experience Center. “When CMS announced they would allow people access to their Medicare data through Blue Button 2.0, we were excited to work with them to integrate the capability directly into Rx Calculator to optimize the pricing experience for people.”

Also new this year, those using Rx Calculator will be able to print a comparison of up to three Humana Medicare Advantage or Part D plans and save their drug list for future use in the tool. These two upgrades were based on user feedback of the tool.

People with Medicare typically have three questions when it comes to their medication:

1) Is the drug covered?

2) How much is the drug going to cost me for the whole year?

3) Can I save money by filling my prescriptions at certain pharmacies?

Rx Calculator answers all three questions for members and potential members, taking some of the guesswork out of drug pricing.

“Since launching Rx Calculator last year, we’ve heard positive feedback from members and agents. In fact, during last year’s Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP), we had more than 30,000 uses of the tool, both through the agent portal and on the website by Medicare beneficiaries,” said Labeed Diab, President, Humana Pharmacy Solutions. “This AEP, we’ve made the tool even easier to use thanks to the addition of the CMS Blue Button, as well as incorporating user feedback to make the tool even more customer friendly. Drug cost can be the most complicated part of selecting a plan and we’ve made it even simpler for Humana members and prospective members to compare and choose plans that meet their health care needs.”

The tool gives licensed sales agents the ability to guide prospective members through the Medicare enrollment process and to determine what Humana plans best meet their health care needs. The public can also use the tool on Humana.com/Medicare by selecting “Prescription Drug Plans” then inputting the appropriate ZIP code on the next screen. Selecting “Estimate your drug cost” on the following screen will open up the calculator.

The tool shows three important fields for each Medicare Advantage and Part D plan available in the area:

Plan’s Annual Premium (what you pay for the plan you selected over the course of the year),
Member Drug Pay (the estimated cost of the drug over the course of the year on that particular plan) and
Estimated Annual Total, which is the total of both the Annual Premium and the Member Drug Pay.

Individuals will also be able to see the cost to fill a prescription at various Humana network pharmacies, including Humana’s mail-delivery pharmacy.

The updates to the tool are available in time for the 2019 Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan Annual Election Period, or AEP, which runs through Dec. 7, 2018.

For those who have Medicare (or are caring for someone who does), AEP is an important time to explore what’s available for 2019. Individuals may use this time to choose a Medicare Advantage and/or Medicare Part D option for the first time or explore a new plan that may better meet their health care needs. Those selecting a plan during AEP will be able to start using the plan’s benefits Jan. 1, 2019.

For more information about Medicare and plans offered in your area, visit the government’s Medicare website, Medicare.gov, or Humana.com/Medicare.

About Humana

Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is committed to helping our millions of medical and specialty members achieve their best health. Our successful history in care delivery and health plan administration is helping us create a new kind of integrated care with the power to improve health and well-being and lower costs. Our efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large.

To accomplish that, we support physicians and other health care professionals as they work to deliver the right care in the right place for their patients, our members. Our range of clinical capabilities, resources and tools – such as in-home care, behavioral health, pharmacy services, data analytics and wellness solutions – combine to produce a simplified experience that makes health care easier to navigate and more effective.

More information regarding Humana is available to investors via the Investor Relations page of the company’s web site at www.humana.com, including copies of:

Annual reports to stockholders
Securities and Exchange Commission filings
Most recent investor conference presentations
Quarterly earnings news releases and conference calls
Calendar of events
Corporate Governance information

Additional Information:

Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO, PPO, and PFFS organization and a stand-alone prescription drug plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal. For accommodation of persons with special needs at sales meetings, please call 855-703-7381 (TTY: 711) from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.

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