Triessent®* is the new specialty pharmacy program offered by Prime Therapeutics’, BCBSIL’s pharmacy benefit manager. Triessent is a partnership between Prime and Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy. To further develop our specialty pharmacy program services and help control the rising cost of providing coverage for specialty medications, we will begin transitioning members using specialty pharmacy services to Triessent on March 1, 2009.

The Triessent program offers the following advantages:

• Integration of specialty pharmacy with the overall pharmacy benefit
• Integration of pharmacy and medical data, helping facilitate utilization management and case management
• Experienced benefit consultation and coordination for specialty medications
• Patient care coordinators to support members; condition-focused care management programs
• Prescriber alerts notifying them of patient nonadherence; assistance with prior authorization requests
• A Triessent team available to visit specialty physicians to educate them about the program

In addition, Triessent offers members services designed to help in managing their therapy – at no additional
charge – including:

• Coordination of coverage between the member, physician and BCBSIL
• Convenient delivery of medication to the member or physician’s office
• Condition-specific educational materials and information about managing medication side effects
• Syringes and other supplies with every shipment of self-injectable medications
• 24/7/365 phone access to a Triessent pharmacist for urgent medication issues

Letters were mailed to affected members, notifying them of the change and providing instructions for ordering through Triessent. In addition, outreach calls are being made to these members to assist them during the transition.