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Burchfield Group launches industry-first podcast to demystify pharmacy benefits business

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Oct. 27, 2005 – The Burchfield Group, a pharmacy benefit consulting firm that helps businesses control the costs of providing prescription drugs for their employees, has launched the pharmacy benefit management industry’s first podcast series. The podcasts are designed to educate listeners on approaches for reducing corporate spending on pharmacy benefits and to raise awareness of the trends in the pharmacy benefit management industry.

The Burchfield Group’s Pharmacy Benefits Podcast delivers practical, insightful information geared toward employee benefit executives and others interested in demystifying the pharmacy benefit management business. Helping the audience achieve significant cost savings is the goal of the podcasts, according to Brian Bullock, CEO of The Burchfield Group. “By educating benefits executives on the inner-workings of the industry, they are in a much stronger position during the vendor evaluation and contract negotiation processes.”

Each episode of the podcast, available for free as individual downloads or as a free online subscription at www.burchfieldgroup.com, highlights specific topics related to pharmacy benefit management in a convenient, portable format.

“We wanted to be the first in the industry to provide this information to the marketplace in this format,” Bullock said. “The convenience of the podcast format lets people listen to what they want, when they want, how they want.”

The Burchfield Group’s podcast draws on the experience of its entire pharmacy benefit management staff, a team of professionals who have worked in pharmacy benefits for the majority of their careers. Team members have extensive backgrounds in all aspects of the industry, including operations, finance, sales and marketing, and clinical fields.

“We have white papers on these topics that provide an immense amount of depth and detail, but we find that the audio format gives our audience fast access to specific topics that they can listen to during their commute or at other times when reading isn’t convenient,” said Rob Shelley, vice president of The Burchfield Group. “We see podcasting as unique means of getting our message out and helping clients get more value out of their pharmacy benefit spending.”

About The Burchfield Group
The Burchfield Group is a pharmacy benefit management consultancy based in St. Paul, Minn. Collectively, The Burchfield Group has more than 165 years of expertise in the pharmacy and pharmacy benefit businesses. The Burchfield Group brings innovative perspectives to managing pharmacy benefits, helping plan sponsors evaluate and select pharmacy benefit administration vendors, designing pharmacy benefit plans, monitoring plan and PBM performance, and auditing results. Their staff of experts has a vast knowledge of the PBM industry, including insight into drug manufacturers’ influences, mail service profits and retail network margins.