eCube Case Study
Using an Executive Assessment and ARM to Extend Life and Improve ROI
of Pharmacy Benefits’ Legacy Investment
Service:
Executive Assessment
Technical Assessment, Redemidation, and
Modernization (ARM)
Tools:
NXTware Evolution Platform
Eclipse
MS Dev. Studio
Applications: 10 core business applications
Legacy Platform:
C Language, RPC, Entera 3.2
Target Platform: JAVA, IBM CTG
Client: Pharmacy Benefits Management Company
OVERVIEW
y A large Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) company provides billing, reimbursement, and mail
fulfillment of prescription drugs to patients. PBM serves health plans, pharmacies and consumers.
y eCube lowered PBM’s cost of operation by upgrading the hardware, operating systems and middleware
that were used to run the company’s essential business operations. In the process, eCube improved
PBM’s business performance and reduced information technology (IT) operations and outsourcing costs.
COMPANY BACKGROUND
PBM was established when the government issued a regulation prohibiting drug companies and HMOs from
owning Pharmacy Benefits Management companies. Much of the technical support remained with the
parent company, leaving PBM with little technical expertise to maintain its outdated but essential custom
technology and to build new business applications.
SITUATION
Individual pharmacies routinely access PBM’s mainframe to determine patients’ eligibility and co-pay for
prescribed drugs. With all the rule sets stored on the system, it calculates the patient’s cost based on the
individual’s HMO Plan, drugs chosen (generic/branded), co-pay policy, etc. The aging legacy system
typically processed over 1.5 million transactions per hour.
Because PBM’s mission critical solutions were running on old legacy systems – hardware, operating
systems, and databases that no longer were supported by their original manufactures – PBM was
concerned about the reliability of the systems, how they’d handle increased demand and meet es