OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Prescription Solutions, a pharmacy benefit management company with extensive experience in managing prescription medications for seniors, today announced the grand opening of its 196,000 square-foot Overland Park Mail Service Pharmacy. Located just south of Kansas City, the facility's geographically central location in the United States will enable the company to better serve its clients nationwide, including its large concentration of seniors. Prescription Solutions currently manages pharmacy benefits for more than 6 million members throughout the United States. In 2007, as the preferred mail service pharmacy for Ovations, the senior health care business unit of UnitedHealth Group, an additional 4 million members will be eligible to be served by the company. Many of these members will be served through the new facility. Capable of distributing 6,000 prescription medications per hour, the new mail service facility was opened in anticipation of increased consumer demand resulting from the new Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The facility more than doubles Prescription Solutions' current capacity; at full capacity it is capable of filling nearly 30 million prescriptions per year. The prescription needs of all Prescription Solutions members who use mail services could be fulfilled through the new facility. On hand for the ceremony were Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius; along with City of Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlack; and Edward M. Feaver, President of Prescription Solutions, among other business and community leaders. "Prescription Solutions has had a positive impact on Johnson County, Overland Park, and the State of Kansas, and I'm pleased their efforts will continue," said Governor Kathleen Sebelius. "The Prescription Solutions mail service facility promises to be a great producer of job opportunities and will add to the economic vitality of the Overland Park area." The Prescription Solutions Overland Park mail service pharmacy will have the capacity to accommodate more than 1,900 employees. "Prescription Solutions made this investment in Overland Park because the community and surrounding region have many of the attributes we value," said Edward M. Feaver, President of Prescription Solutions. "Not only is there a friendly business climate, an educated and available work force, and high quality of life, but the strategic, central location offers the additional benefit of enabling us to provide quick mail delivery to our markets in the East and Midwest, as well as the West coast." Designed From the Ground Up to Service Customers Nationwide Safely and Accurately An anchor tenant in the Overland Park International Trade Center, the new Prescription Solutions mail service pharmacy raises the standard for prescription drug mail service in the United States. The facility features an optimized design for volume and incorporates the newest available technologies in efficiency and safety systems. Eighty-five percent of the facility is fully automated, helping to ensure the company maintains better than a 99.9 percent accuracy rate, and a turnaround time for prescription fulfillment of 1.75 days. Features of the new facility include: * An automated shipping sorter that increases efficiency and accuracy. Mail packages can be automatically sorted by ZIP code vs. U.S. carrier, increasing efficiency and accuracy as well as saving on the shipping time for prescriptions. * Five hundred automated pill dispensers that free pharmacists from having to count out pills for prescriptions, and enable them to focus on other important tasks, including answering customer questions. * Thirty-seven manual packing stations that increase efficiency in mailing prescriptions to members. Mail Service Growth is Accelerating As the impact of the Medicare Part D program continues to grow and more of the 42 million seniors eligible for Medicare are covered for prescription drugs, mail service will continue to grow as an important and cost-effective solution for prescription dispensing. The cost savings achieved by mail service are important in order to be able to meet and afford this growing demand. A study by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) found that mail service could save the nation's insurance program for the elderly and disabled up to $86 billion over 10 years. Mail service also addresses the critical shortage of trained pharmacists in the United States. Today, more than 8,000 vacancies exist in retail pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and other industry sectors, and the problem is only expected to worsen over time. The Prescription Solutions Overland Park, Kansas facility is the company's third mail service location; two others are located in Southern California. About Prescription Solutions Prescription Solutions is an innovative pharmacy benefit management company managing the prescription drug benefit of commercial, Medicare and governmental health plans, as well as those of employers and unions. As a member of Ovations, the UnitedHealth Group business dedicated to the health and well-being of individuals over age 50, Prescription Solutions serves members through state-of-the-art mail service pharmacies in Carlsbad, California, and Overland Park, Kansas, as well as through a national network of 60,000 community pharmacies. Online information can be found at http://www.rxsolutions.com/. Contact: Kimberly Kunody Prescription Solutions (714) 825-6863 DATASOURCE: Prescription Solutions CONTACT: Kimberly Kunody of Prescription Solutions, +1-714-825-6863, Web site: http://www.rxsolutions.com/

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