A total of 96.7% of employers offer access to mail-service pharmacy to dispense maintenance medications used to treat chronic conditions. Only 17.4% of employers require maintenance medications to be dispensed by a mail-service pharmacy, commonly referred to as “mandatory mail”. A total of 22.1% of self-insured employers have mandatory mail-service contrasted with 7.7% of fully-insured employers. This is a significant difference at the 95% level.

Nearly 84% of employers are using retail pharmacies to dispense 60 or more day’s supplies of medications. This is an increase of 52.3% since 2008. Data show 66.5% of employers using retail pharmacies to dispense maintenance supplies are not restricting dispensing to select pharmacies.

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