Assisting members during Winter Storm Uri

It was all hands-on deck when Winter Storm Uri swept through parts of the United States in mid-February.

Distribution centers of some of the largest shipping companies in the country, such as FedEx and UPS, were either shut down or had drastically reduced their operations. With cold temperatures and delivery interruptions, this made for a serious situation for members who needed their medicines.

At one point, deliveries were halted to about 15,000 zip codes, which affected both home delivery and specialty medications. In addition, members who had specialty medication (some of which are life-sustaining), may not have been able to get their medication at a brick-and-mortar pharmacy because not all pharmacies carry certain specialty medications.

To help solve the problem, Prime worked with its contracted pharmacies to act quickly and assist members.

• Clinical teams made outreach to the most seriously affected members who were on critical or life-sustaining drug. They contacted the member, prescriber or health plan to make sure the member could receive their medication.
• A special team of senior contact center agents serviced members to help check to see which pharmacies had specialty medications in stock. If the pharmacy did not have the medication, they transferred the prescription to another pharmacy.
• Prime and its pharmacy partners identified members with critical disease states and created individual plans for those with risk of therapy interruption. Customer service teams prepared to assist non-specialty home delivery members who called about their medication and delivery status.

“Winter Storm Uri came as an unexpected and difficult weather event for everyone,” said Mark Renze, Prime’s vice president, strategic partnerships. “But thanks to our preparedness plans and hard work and collaboration with our partners, we were able to get members the medicine they need quickly and safely.”