The progress of MSU’s Generic Prescribing Program was discussed during Tuesday’s Faculty Council meeting.
As part of the program, enrollees in university health care policies pay additional costs for some brand-name medications. Budget cuts influenced the decision to create the program. The university spends about $110 million on health care in a year.
The program began March 1, 2010. Since then, it has saved the university about $3.4 million and saved faculty members about $1 million, said Deborah Moriarty, University Committee on Faculty Affairs chairwoman, during the meeting.
Members have the option to appeal paying the higher cost of name-brand medications.
Among faculty members, there were about 96 appeals, 83 of which were approved, Moriarty said. Appeals were denied if there was no clinical reason requiring them to take name-brand medications, she said.
If enrollees try generic medications and they are less effective than name brands, their appeals usually are approved, Moriarty said.
Although the program has saved the university and faculty members money, it has cost the MSU HealthTeam Pharmacy, said June Youatt, senior associate provost.
“While this has been a rousing success, when we look at the pharmacy team, they took a hit of about $1 million,” she said.
Enrollees should support the university by filling prescriptions through the MSU HealthTeam Pharmacy as it is cheaper than local pharmacies, Moriarty said.
The university health care policy also will extend the medications covered to drugs, including some for acne and high blood pressure, Moriarty said.
Faculty members also have raised concerns about coverage of faculty members and a proposal will come shortly, she said.
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