HAWAII MEDICAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION CHOOSES ZYNCHROS.COM TO MANAGE DRUG FORMULARY DATABASES
Zynchros Helps HMSA Streamline Medicare Part D Submissions and Automate Drug Formulary Database Management
Honolulu, HI/Seattle/WA, December 18, 2006 – Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) and Zynchros, Inc. today announced that HMSA, the largest provider of health care services in the State of Hawaii, has begun implementation of Zynchros.com, the industry’s only on-demand formulary management solution delivered by Zynchros, Inc.
“Today, formulary management is still largely a manual process, aided only by spreadsheet tools -- yet pharmacy teams are facing increasingly complex demands,” explains Robert Pinkerton, President and COO, Zynchros, Inc. As HMSA has discovered, automating formulary processes can greatly reduce formulary administrative costs, enabling plans to utilize their pharmacy resources elsewhere.”
HMSA has managed its Medicare and other commercial formularies with Excel spreadsheets. As a result, the organization looked to emerging technology for an application to help streamline these processes and keep the health plan on top of its market. Ideally, HMSA hoped to find a tool that could rapidly create new formularies to enable it to enter new markets – and that’s what Zynchros.com delivered.
“HMSA has been seeking a powerful integrated technology solution to efficiently maintain and quickly design and develop drug formularies in response to market changes and customer requirements. Our participation in Medicare Part D in 2006 made it evident that Part D drug formularies in formats compatible with CMS expectations will avoid rework spin cycles and reduce staff time required for report submissions and translations. HMSA has chosen Zynchros.com because it fulfills both of these primary needs,” explains Ron Taniguchi, Pharm.D., MBA, Director, Pharmacy Management, HMSA, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii.
“Medicare Part D continues to be a challenge for Health Plans and their Members. Automating formulary processes can greatly reduce administrative costs, enabling health plans to utilize precious pharmacy resources elsewhere. Automating the formulary process can also help Medicare Part D plan sponsors implement and operationalize many CMS requirements -- including Member Formulary Marketing Reports and approved proxy drug lists,” states Paul G. Prine, RPh, Vice President, Pharmacy Services, Zynchros, Inc.
ABOUT HAWAII MEDICAL SERVICE ASSOCIATION (HMSA)
HMSA is a nonprofit, mutual benefit association founded in Hawaii in 1938. It is governed by a community board of directors that serves without compensation and includes representatives from health care, business, labor, government, education, clergy, and the community at large. It is a member of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. Nationally, HMSA and 37 other Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans provide worldwide coverage to more than 94 million members. For more information, visit www.HMSA.com.
ABOUT ZYNCHROS, INC. Founded in 2000, privately-held Zynchros, Inc. (formerly Script IQ, Inc.) delivers technology-based solutions that transform the economics of drug-based wellness, improving compliance and agility of health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. The Zynchros.com on-demand platform provides the workflow processes necessary to initiate pharmacy quality management, improving responsiveness, control and efficiency by synchronizing all of the participants in pharmacy benefits, from P&T to the point of care. To learn more about how Zynchros is interconnecting the world of pharmacy benefits visit www.zynchros.com or call 1-866-996-2476.
For more information contact:
ZYNCHROS, INC.
Terry Christiani
206.792.4106
terry.christiani@zynchros.com