PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The Regence Group announced today that it has signed contracts with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer Medicare Part D plans.
Medicare Part D is the prescription drug coverage that will be available to seniors and other Medicare-eligible consumers beginning Jan. 1, 2006. Regence will begin marketing the plans starting Oct. 1, 2005.
Regence will offer the stand-alone prescription drug plan (PDP) in two Medicare regions. The plan, named Medicare Script, will be offered through two Regence subsidiaries: Regence Life & Health in Idaho and Utah and Asuris Northwest Health in Oregon and Washington. Asuris Northwest Health is an unbranded, Washington-based subsidiary of Regence.
In addition to Medicare Script, Regence will also offer MA-PDs -- prescription drug plans that are specific to the Medicare Advantage program. The plans, called MedAdvantage + Rx and FirstChoice 65 + Rx, will be offered through Regence MedAdvantage, Asuris MedAdvantage and Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon's FirstChoice 65.
"Regence has an extensive history of helping patients with prescriptions, ensuring that they receive both quality and value," said David Clark, vice president of Pharmacy Services. "We were also involved early on with the Medicare drug benefit, including involvement with the work CMS did to coordinate with state pharmaceutical assistance programs. We expect that our expertise as a pharmacy benefit manager will enable us to make a smooth transition into offering the stand-alone drug plan."
For more information on RegenceRx, the company's in-house pharmacy benefit management program (PBM), visit www.regencerx.com.
About The Regence Group
Created in 1996, The Regence Group is the largest affiliation of health care plans in the Pacific Northwest/Mountain State region. It includes Regence BlueShield of Idaho, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah and Regence BlueShield (in Washington). Through these plans, Regence provides health, life, vision, dental and long-term care insurance to nearly three million members. The Regence Group and its affiliate plans are not-for-profit, independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. More than one in three Americans have coverage from the Blues. For more information, visit www.regence.com.
About Asuris Northwest Health
Asuris Northwest Health offers a local alternative in health-care coverage for Eastern Washington residents. Based in Spokane, Asuris Northwest Health provides its members with access to an extensive network of hospitals and doctors. Asuris Northwest Health is a not-for-profit health plan. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.asurisnorthwesthealth.com. Asuris Northwest Health is a subsidiary of Regence BlueShield, the leading health plan in Washington.
The Regence GroupCONTACT: Angela Hult of Regence Group, +1-503-412-7902, oraehult@regence.com
