September 17, 2019, the School Board of Sarasota County, FL agreed to “carve out” the pharmacy from the medical and enter into a contract with a pharmacy benefits manager, Express Scripts (ESI), to administer the pharmacy benefits for the district effective 1/1/2020 through December 31, 2022.

The original contract with ESI and the renewal are based on the Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company Request for Proposal (RFP) for the provision of prescription drug benefit services for the Sponsor provided under separate agreements to be executed between ESI and each Sponsor.  After a lengthy legal review by both parties, the district and ESI were able to agree to a (3) three-year contract effective January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2025.

The district will be responsible for paying weekly pharmacy claims, as well as monthly administrative fees as outlined in Exhibit A-2.  These administrative fees vary from month to month depending on utilization.

The contract allows for ESI to reimburse the district up to $8 per member for fair market value of expense items and services related to managing the pharmacy benefits such as ID cards, IT programming, formulary letters, member communication, benefit set-up quality assurance and up to $45,000 for the once annual audit.  The contract also provides significant rebates per Exhibit A-3 and performance guarantees as outlined in Exhibit E. 

The contract has Marsh & McLennan and ESI proprietary information, so only the redacted version of the contract will be published.

LYNN PETERSON   lynn.peterson@sarasotacountyschools.net

ALLISON FOSTER    allison.foster@sarasotacountyschools.net

CHRIS RENOUF   chris.renouf@sarasotacountyschools.net