Sarah Marche is responsible for Highmark’s Pharmacy Benefit Management Business, including Clinical and Specialty Pharmacy, Pharmacy Product, Marketing and Sales, Operations, and Manufacturer and Vendor Contracting.
She joined Highmark Inc. as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in 2005 with a focus on Formulary and Utilization Management for the Commercial and Medicare Part D lines of business as well as Drug Pipeline Management.
Dr. Marche was subsequently promoted to Manager of Manufacturer Relations where she served as the main point of contact for pharmaceutical manufacturers and built the rebate contracting strategy for the Pharmacy Services organization at Highmark. She expanded her role to drive the strategy for all vendor partnerships including the PBM and Specialty Pharmacy partners.
Dr. Marche received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Duquesne University and then completed a Pharmacy Practice residency with University of Pittsburgh. She began her pharmacy career as a Clinical Pharmacist with UPMC - Shadyside Hospital as a Critical Care Pharmacist and also spent time at UPMC — Palermo, working as a pharmacist.
Current Board of Director affiliations include:
AMCP
Leadership Pittsburgh
Executive Sponsor of Highmark’s Women’s BRG
High Cost Drugs and Pharmacy Issues
Helping employers deal with high cost drugs
Pharmacy cost and management issues that employers may face
Specialty pharmacy strategies across pharmacy and medical benefits.
Outcomes based contracting
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)
How PMBs play a role in managing pharmacy spend
How health plans can work differently with their PBM to maintain strategic direction while leveraging PBM scale and size
How to oversee your PBMs operations as a health plan
Interviews/Articles:
Highmark group customers lower costs, improve health outcomes with integrated medical and pharmacy benefits, HealthScape study finds With integrated medical and pharmacy benefits, members with complex health needs receive the kind of coordinated care required to manage and improve their health. Members have access to the most clinically and cost-effective medications, benefit designs that can lower out-of-pocket costs, and the support of Highmark pharmacists, case managers and health coaches who leverage medical and pharmacy data to provide customized care. Integrated benefits are a win for employers and individual members alike.
A Prescription for Rising Drug Costs We live in an era of unprecedented innovation. There are prescription drugs in the market, and in development, that can vastly improve quality of life for chronic health conditions. Some even offer the promise of being curative, eliminating the need to adhere to a lifelong medication regimen. They are truly life-changing. But those medical breakthroughs only matter if they are affordable and accessible to the people who need them the most.
