County consultant: tighter drug rules could save Harrison County about $311,000

George Haron, the county’s health consultant, told the commission that Harrison County’s drug spend has risen about $200,000 over two years and that the county’s current drug rules are relatively lenient. He proposed advancing the plan to a more stringent package (described as "level two" or "Advantage Plus") and said the proposed savings to the county for the 2025 plan year are approximately $311,000.

Haron outlined three operational levers: prior authorization renewals (typically annual), step therapy (requiring lower-cost or biosimilar drugs first), and drug-quantity management (limiting initial fill quantities for certain post-surgical prescriptions). He said the change would cost roughly $0.50 per member per month to implement through the PBM/aggregator and estimated that about 144 scripts flagged today map to approximately 50–60 members who might see formulary changes or prior-authorization contacts.

Commissioners pressed whether necessary medications could be denied; Haron said that Keenan pharmacists would work directly with prescribing physicians, and he emphasized: "there's no drugs that are excluded on the list it's just a possible swap from one to another." The county voted to approve the overall renewal package that includes this drug-management change, and staff will begin a targeted notification campaign for impacted members.