Press Releases

DENVER, July 23, 2010 — Since launching its Reconciliation service in 2006 years, Cardinal Health has helped independent pharmacies recover nearly $20 million in pharmaceutical reimbursements. With new service features announced this week at the company’s annual Retail Business Conference in Denver, Reconciliation 2.0 is easier to use than ever before, and is now able to reconcile claims from all insurance companies.

Even when prescription claims are properly submitted to insurance companies and other payors, many can be underpaid – or worse – they can go completely unpaid. Unfortunately, the process of making sure that every individual claim is paid in full can be very time consuming, taking pharmacists’ time away from patients. Cardinal Health’s Reconciliation services analyzes dispensing data, and then contacts payors directly to resolve outstanding payment issues.   

The company introduced several new features to the tool’s newest version: Reconciliation 2.0, including:

• The ability to reconcile claims from all payors. The system was previously able to reconcile claims only from payors who submitted payments to pharmacies through electronic funds transfer. The enhanced system can now also reconcile claims from payors who submit payments via hard-copy check or other means.
• 15-week trending, available on-demand, online, by payor, by week – The system previously emailed users regular claim reconciliation reports. Now, users can go online and review claim statuses from the past 15 weeks, on-demand. They can sort claims by payor and by week, so users can see which reimbursements are still outstanding and which have been paid in full.
• A claim search tool that makes it easier to access and enter claim details
• A new, centralized collections process for outstanding payments
• An online, interactive ‘help’ function to answer questions and help troubleshoot

”The beauty of Cardinal Health’s Reconciliation program is how easy it is to use and that it’s entirely online,” said Jerry Callahan, owner of Medicine Shoppe of Troy, Miss., and Elsberry Pharmacy in Elsberry, Miss.. “Being able to reconcile 100 percent of our claims really helps me to know exactly what claims are not being paid.”

Cardinal Health also this week introduced enhanced Reimbursement Assistance services, which allow pharmacies to submit details of insufficient reimbursements online, for Cardinal Health’s managed care team to review and work directly with payors to negotiate full reimbursement. Pharmacies that have piloted this service experience an average reimbursement increase of more than 89 percent per claim.

The company also announced enhancements to its Audit Assistance services, which guide pharmacies through every step of the payor audit process, helping them to organize and appropriately present related paperwork and make the process as convenient as possible. Customers who have piloted the company’s enhanced Audit services have saved more than $3000 per audit.

Reconciliation 2.0, Reimbursement Assistance and Audit Assistance are key components of Cardinal Health’s broad suite of managed care services, which provide the industry’s most competitive array of tools to help pharmacies improve prescription reimbursements throughout the entire lifecycle of a third-party claim.

About the Cardinal Health Retail Business Conference (RBC)
The Cardinal Health Retail Business Conference (RBC), held July 22 to July 26 in Denver, provides independent pharmacies and pharmacy franchise owners with the opportunity to network with and learn from thousands of their peers from across the nation while gaining new insights to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their businesses. With a 2010 conference theme of “Elevate,” Cardinal Health used the scenic backdrop of picturesque Denver to underscore its continued commitment to helping retail independent pharmacies ‘elevate’ their businesses and operate at peak performance. The annual event provides more than 5,300 attendees – including independent pharmacy owners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmaceutical manufacturers and other pharmacy industry professionals across the United States – with buying opportunities, continuing education sessions and programs to help improve patient care, efficiency and profitability. For more information, visit www.CardinalHealthRBC.com.

About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $96 billion health care services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. As the business behind health care, Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and physician offices focus on patient care while reducing costs, improving efficiency and quality, and increasing profitability. Cardinal Health is an essential link in the health care supply chain, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 60,000 locations each day. The company is also a leading manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company supports the growing diagnostic industry by supplying medical products to clinical laboratories and operating the nation's largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ranked #17 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. More information about the company may be found at cardinalhealth.com.