Managed Health Services, (MHS) through a team of doctors and pharmacists created tools to help us provide quality coverage to our members. The tools include‚ but are not limited to: prior authorization criteria‚ clinical edits‚ quantity limits and step therapy. Some examples include:

• Age Limits: Some drugs require a prior authorization if your age does not meet the manufacturer, FDA, or clinical recommendations.
• Quantity Limits: For certain drugs, MHS limits the amount of the drug we will cover per prescription or for a defined period of time.
• Prior Authorization: We require you to get prior authorization for certain drugs. (You may need prior authorization for drugs that are on the formulary or drugs that are not on the formulary and were approved for coverage through our exceptions process.) This means that you will need to get approval before you fill your prescriptions. If you don’t get approval, MHS may not cover the drug.
• Step Therapy: In some cases, we require you to first try certain drugs to treat your medical condition before we will cover another drug for that condition. For example, if Drug A and Drug B both treat your medical condition, we may not cover drug B unless you try Drug A first. If Drug A does not work for you, we will then cover Drug B.
• Generic Substitution:When there is a generic version of a brand-name drug available, our network pharmacies will automatically give you the generic version, unless your doctor has told us that you must take the brand-name drug. If the brand-name drug is approved, you may be responsible for a higher co-pay and/or the difference in cost between the brand and generic medications.
• Prior Authorization Listing 2012 (PDF)