Soma.com is first Internet pharmacy allied with Medicare
Soma.com at www.soma.com has become the first Internet pharmacy to sign an agreement with Medicare. Appropriately, announcement of the agreement was released on the Healthy Aging, Healthy Living day of World Health Day. Soma.com said it will begin processing Medicare claims within the next 30 days.
Soma.com founder and CEO Tom Pigott called the agreement important both for his company "and the 39 million senior Americans who are Medicare subscribers."
Soma.com provides 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week access to registered pharmacists and online resources, including information on dosing, side effects, contraindications and drug interactions. In addition, Soma.com also was designed to help patients stay on their pharmaceutical regimens by sending them e-mail refill reminders when their prescription supply should be about to run out. This is considered a key feature of the system since, according to a recent study by IMS America, 50% of all patients do not refill their prescriptions for various chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety, hormone replacement therapy and arthritis.
Currently more than 12% of Internet users are 50 or older, an increase of nearly 80% over last year, according to Narrowline (San Francisco), a company that monitors web usage. And a 1997 Harris Poll indicated that people 50 and older are most likely to buy health products online.
Once the pharmacy receives and verifies the prescription with the patient’s health care provider, Soma.com offers next-day delivery, often at discount prices. In addition to dispensing prescription medications, Soma.com sells OTC drugs, vitamins, healthcare products, health and beauty aids, and alternative remedies.
In addition to its partnership with Medicare, Soma.com has agreements with most major insurance plans and, when combined with Medicare, the plans cover approximately 139 million people.
The World Health Organization chose this year’s theme, "Healthy Aging, Healthy Living," to emphasize that by 2020, the world’s population will include more than 1 billion people over age 55, and many will face significant healthcare problems.
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