Leading employers share strategies for managing promising, high-cost biotech medications.

Companies and organizations nationwide struggle to find the best way to address the complex, multifaceted challenges involved in providing their employees with access to necessary--and often expensive--medications. The introduction of new bio-derived medications has compounded these challenges. Biotech medications offer a high level of therapeutic value, but do so at a high monthly cost per patient. Employers are developing new and innovative approaches to benefit design in an effort to protect their organization's assets, yet develop a benefit design that provides therapeutic value to all employees. This article outlines strategies that some of the nation's leading employers have incorporated into their benefit programs.