Physicians Plus to make alternative drug info available online

Madison, Wis. — Physicians Plus, an HMO in south-central Wisconsin with about 100,000 members, has purchased a web-based system from RxEOB, in Richmond, Virginia, to provide benefits information to consumers.

Physicians Plus members will be able to access their personal pharmacy claims histories via the Internet. For each prescribed medication, RxEOB's system can display all the therapeutic alternatives available in that class as well as the member's benefit-specific out-of-pocket copayment for each alternative. RxEOB says the system is now used by HMOs with a combined 4 million consumers.

The HMO anticipates that its members will use fewer costly maintenance drugs. Managers will also have access to reporting and benefit modeling tools.