New CVS Tool to Lower Prescription Costs

 Cheaper drug options...

CVS Health announced yesterday that it is rolling out a new tool to alert its 30,000 pharmacists to cheaper drug options when they fill patients' prescriptions, ajpb.com reports.

The tool, called CVS Pharmacy's Rx Savings Finder program, will enable pharmacists and consumers to question doctors' prescription choices to save patients money, the news service wrote.

Other ways to save on prescriptions

When you fill a prescription at your local drugstore, you probably assume that using your insurance is the best -- and maybe even the only -- way to pay, Lisa Gill reports on consumerreports.org.

So you might be surprised to learn that you can sometimes pay less if you don't use your insurance, Gill wrote.

And there's a good reason that counterintutive cost-saving strategy isn't widely known, Gill added.

Pharmacists are often bound by "gag clauses" in contracts with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) -- companies that act as go-betweens for drugmakers, insurers and drugstores -- from sharing that information, according to Gill.

For more on the new CVS tool: www.ajpb.com/news/trending-news-today-cvs-offers-pharmacists-consumers-tool-to-find-cheaper-drug-alternatives

For more tips to avoid gag clauses and other ways to lower prescription costs: https://www.consumerreports.org/drug-prices/gag-clauses-stop-you-from-getting-lowest-prescription-drug-prices/

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