11.   Distributors like PCS, called pharmacy benefits managers, give priority status to certain drugs in return for lower prices from the manufacturers.

12.   Efforts by those companies and by the other pharmacy benefit managers to control costs have largely been stymied.

13.   Express Scripts, like other pharmacy benefit managers, reviews prescriptions before they are filled at retail drugstores across the country.

14.   If your HMO is being unresponsive, seek help from the benefits manager of your employer.

15.   In addition to the benefits of allying with a pharmacy benefit manager, Neupert said the deal would give consumers more choice.

16.   It could retain a uniform benefit at a fixed premium but have several private benefits managers in each region to administer the benefit and compete for customers.

17.   Larry Kocut, senior vice president for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, said pharmacy benefits managers are encouraged to pass the rebates to pharmacists and consumers.

18.   Lilly also feared rival drug companies were beating it in the race for the few pharmacy benefit managers that dominated the market.

19.   Melanie Pheatt, a benefits manager for Quaker Oats, says buyers predominate.

20.   Pharmaceutical benefit managers help control costs, typically by establishing lists of preferred drugs and discouraging the use of other medications.