November 25, 2011 
I was looking at some data from earlier this year (Q1 – 2011) from the AIS quarterly survey of PBMs. I thought this was a nice summary of mail order penetration by PBM. As you can see, it identifies some areas of opportunity:
- Will Express Scripts’ mail penetration go up with the potential acquisition of Medco? Or, will Medco’s go down?
- Will anyone be able to match the Medco mail penetration?
- Will Aetna’s mail penetration go up to the CVS Caremark penetration rate?
- How will Prime Therapeutics, SXC, and CatalystRx increase their mail penetration?
Overall, the mail penetration of the industry has dropped to 16.3% which is the lowest it’s been since 2004 when it was 12.9% (according to AIS). [Note: These are based on adjusted Rxs.]
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
What explains the difference in mail penetration? I think it has something to do with the type of client each PBM has. Why would a health plan have a lower mail penetration rate than an employer?
Thanks!