"Transparent" PBMs Still Have Secrets. Here's How We Know.

Transparency is one of the most overused words in the PBM industry.

When everyone claims it, it stops meaning much of anything.

A PBM can tell you they don't own a pharmacy and be telling the absolute truth.

What they won't mention is that someone's spouse owns one in the adjacent suite, and somehow, every high-cost specialty script finds its way there.

Contractually clean. Ethically messy.

Those kinds of arrangements are what prompted the founding of DisclosedRx.

We Saw the Loopholes and Closed Them

When the founders of DisclosedRx looked at how even the so-called transparent PBMs operated, they found a playbook full of workarounds, informal relationships, and revenue streams that were never mentioned to clients.

So they started making a list.

• No spread pricing

• No rebate manipulation

• No pharmacy ownership, direct or indirect

• No financial relationships with family members who happen to own pharmacies

• No informal arrangements of any kind

  
  

DisclosedRx prohibits employees and their immediate family members from holding any ownership interest in a pharmacy.

It should not be necessary to write that down.

The fact that it is says a lot about the industry.

What a Fiduciary Commitment Means

DisclosedRx cannot serve as a fiduciary for a plan under ERISA.

It’s a technical distinction, and it applies to PBMs across the board.

What DisclosedRx does instead is contractually obligate itself to a fiduciary standard.

Every formulary decision, every pricing negotiation, every rebate process is contractually bound to serve the best interests of the plan, not DisclosedRx.

Plan sponsors are increasingly being held accountable for the PBM relationships they choose.

Johnson & Johnson, Chase, and Wells Fargo have all faced lawsuits filed by their own employees alleging breach of fiduciary duty.

Many of those cases involve the same PBM. Several involve the same broker. In some, internal communications show brokers actively discouraged clients from asking about rebates, because those rebates were being used to fund executive bonuses.

Full Disclosure Is the Standard, Not a Feature

At DisclosedRx, Full Disclosure is not a selling point layered on top of a traditional PBM model.

It is the model.

The name itself reflects the commitment: everything is disclosed.

Rebates, fees, relationships, decisions, all of it.

There are no revenue streams clients do not know about.

DisclosedRx earns a single admin fee and retains 25% of specialty drug savings while passing 75% directly to the plan. Full stop.

The bar in this industry is remarkably low. DisclosedRx exists to set a different one, where Full Disclosure and fiduciary accountability are not talking points, they are contractual obligations.

Plans deserve to know exactly what is happening with their drug spend. Members deserve a benefit designed around their care.

That is what The Fiduciary and Fully Disclosed PBM® looks like in practice.

Visit our website to learn more: https://www.disclosedrx.com/