Why 9 Out of 10 Patients Like Home Delivery

Home delivery from Express Scripts Pharmacy offers lower cost, patient safety and the clinical expertise of condition-specific pharmacists.
Why Home Delivery

Most Americans rely on the convenience of mail order for a variety of products, including perishables and fragile goods. More and more, people also are entrusting their medications to the delivery process – and with good reason. Having maintenance medications delivered straight to your home offers many advantages, including greater adherence, time savings, lower cost, and access to specialist pharmacists.

Improved Adherence Rates

Studies have shown that patients with chronic conditions are more likely to take their medications regularly when they are delivered to their home.

The chart below shows significant increases in adherence among patients in three categories of medications taken for long-term conditions.

With our autofill programs and consistency in pharmacy processes, Express Scripts can deliver maintenance medications before a prescription has run out, usually in four days or less from the time an order is placed. We also reach out to prescribers before a last refill runs out to ensure our members always have their medication on hand.

These results reinforced findings from an earlier Express Scripts study that found that Medicare Part D patients taking medications for the comorbid conditions of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol who used a home delivery pharmacy had a 59% greater likelihood of being adherent across each therapy class for medications in home delivery compared to retail.

To make home delivery as simple as possible for patients, Express Scripts offers easy-to-use tools, including a mobile app and automatic refill options so members don’t miss a dose.

Cutting-Edge Technology Improves Patient Safety

The latest in pharmacy technology allows Express Scripts to serve our 100 million members with an overall dispensing accuracy rate that is greater than 99.9995%. Our dispensing facilities use 

leading-edge systems, and we carefully monitor each prescription from the time it is received until the medication is shipped.

We also are focused on ensuring the integrity of the medication we ship. At Express Scripts, we’ve developed the highest level of standards for packaging and shipping temperature-sensitive drugs to keep medications safe and within appropriate temperature range.

We offer flexibility in delivery locations (i.e. work, school, home) as well as in shipping times. To keep costs as low as possible, standard shipping is included at no cost to patients, but expedited shipping also is available.

Access to Specialist Pharmacists

Each prescription dispensed through home delivery is backed by the clinical expertise of our pharmacists. Within the Express Scripts Therapeutic Resource Centers (TRCs), specialist pharmacists develop superior clinical expertise by focusing their knowledge and training on a single disease.

Our members have access to these specialist pharmacists, who can help lead members to healthier outcomes.

The Lowest-Cost Option … for All

While helping patients and caregivers save time and money by avoiding multiple trips to the pharmacy, Express Scripts home delivery also allows for lower copayments, the flexibility to spread payments out over three months, and it helps members transfer – easily -- from brand name to generic drugs, compared to retail.

The cost savings gained from home delivery benefits individual patients, but also the healthcare industry. We know the United States wastes hundreds of billions of dollars annually from treating medical complications that could have been avoided if patients had taken their medications as prescribed.

Emergency room visits, hospitalizations and extra tests do more than add zeros to healthcare bills. They often result in poorer health outcomes for patients.

Express Scripts estimates that a total of $96.3 billion of this waste could be reduced by using a home delivery option.

We’re committed to the best in home delivery services because we know it’s the best for healthcare.


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