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Lane County OKs switch to National Cooperative RX for employee pharmacy benefits
Summary
The Board of County Commissioners approved an agreement to move pharmacy benefit management from PacificSource to National Cooperative RX, citing projected savings and a January 1 implementation target; staff and commissioners discussed transition costs, potential pharmacy-network impacts and consumer-facing changes.
Lane County commissioners voted Aug. 26 to authorize a new contract with National Cooperative RX (NCRX) to manage the county's employee pharmacy benefits and delegated authority to the county administrator to execute the agreement.
The change, approved by a 5-0 vote under order 25082610, follows a human resources recommendation and an independent request-for-proposal process that produced three bids. James Trujillo, workforce wellness manager, told the board the county’s consultants estimate a 41.2%–47.9% reduction in pharmacy benefit spend based on prior-year claims data — “about $2,500,000 to $2,900,000 annually,” he said — but cautioned those figures are illustrative and not guaranteed.
The projected savings were a primary driver of the recommendation. Trujillo described NCRX as a member-owned cooperative with roughly 500,000 covered lives and said the cooperative model provides buying power that helps lower prices. He also said staff checked references and found other public entities saw the savings NCRX projected.
Commissioners and staff discussed practical impacts to employees. Trujillo said employees will receive new ID cards and a new customer-service number; most prior authorizations and refills are expected to “follow” individual members during the change because of a “follow me” mechanism the vendors can deploy. He warned that prepaid mail-order financial setups do not migrate and some employees who use such services will need to re-enter payment information.
Trujillo identified implementation costs and ongoing administrative fees: roughly $19,000 in transition fees, an ongoing administrative fee (noted in the presentation as approximately $13,005), and an anticipated carve-out payment to PacificSource of about $55,000 annually to separate pharmacy services. He said staff plan communications to employees and labor leaders and have notified union representatives; he reported no questions from unions so far.
Board members pressed on network access and formulary control. Commissioners were told NCRX partners with CVS and manages a national network of about 60,000 pharmacies; Trujillo said staff do not expect a disruption in most cases but could not guarantee every independent pharmacy would remain in network. The county will initially port the current formulary to NCRX with a goal of minimizing plan changes in year one; further plan changes could be considered later.
Trujillo said the county would finalize contracts and aim for a January 1 implementation date if the board approved the order. Vice chair moved the order; Commissioner Buck seconded. The motion passed 5-0.
The board and staff emphasized minimizing member disruption and improving administrator access to reporting tools and a county concierge service with NCRX. Staff will deliver detailed member communications, including direct mail postcards and workplace outreach, and monitor transition issues closely.
Actions at the meeting included approval of order 25082610 to authorize a new agreement with National Cooperative RX for benefit years ’26 through ’28 and delegation to the county administrator to execute the agreement.
