When Express Scripts Inc. completed its $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco Health Solutions Inc. on April 2, Express Scripts became both the largest national employer in the St. Louis region and the largest pharmacy benefits manager nationwide – by far – with more than $100 billion in annual revenue.
Last year, Medco (the largest pharmacy benefits manager, or PBM) had $70 billion in revenue and Express Scripts (the third-largest PBM) had $46 billion in revenue.
The Federal Trade voted 3 to 1 in favor of the deal, which has raised anti-trust concerns.
Express Scripts is headquarted at North Park in North County, adjacent to the campus of the University of Missouri – St. Louis
. The location alone raises hopes for a positive economic impact on the black community.
“In the African-American community, we have to ask the advantage question – where am I in this?” said Mike Jones. “St. Louis is going to be bigger and stronger in one of the most prominent industries in the country. The question is, how do we take that and begin to figure out what our participation can or should be?”
U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay represents Missouri’s majority-black 1st Congressional District, where Express Scripts is located.
“We hope the hierarchy of the company will reflect the makeup of this community and that their corporate giving also will reflect the needs of the entire St. Louis community,” Clay said. “I look forward to growing that partnership with Express Scripts.”
According to an Express Scripts spokesperson, minorities comprise 37 percent of the company’s total workforce. African Americans make up 26.3 percent of its workforce in St. Louis. More than 10 percent of managers (those who have direct reports) and executives (director level and above) are minorities.
“We consider varied points of view to be a positive force that stimulates creative thinking and fosters an environment built on mutual respect,” George Paz, CEO of Express Scripts, said in a statement to The American. “Being actively committed both to building a diversified workforce and to working with diversely owned businesses makes us a stronger, more competitive company.”
The company is becoming more diverse through its merger with Medco, said Susan Stith, who is senior director, Human Resources and responsible for diversity and inclusion initiatives. “We are still in the early days, but we have already benefited from the cultural, geographic and professional diversity of our new colleagues,” Stith said.
Stith said the company has an active Corporate Diversity Council with five sub-committees including supplier diversity.
Jones pointed out that it is easier to grow minority inclusion when a company is growing, which has not been the typical case in St. Louis, for the most part, for decades.
“It’s easier to have conversation – where am I in all of this? – when you are on the winning side,” Jones said. “That’s been our problem in the last 50 years: we’ve been losing businesses, not acquiring them.”
Michael Holmes, a former senior Express Scripts executive, said there is room for African Americans in the company’s pending growth.
“African Americans will be able to compete effectively for these jobs,” Holmes said. “Like with any large employer, you’ve got to be good to work there or you’re not going to make it. But if you are good, you can have a great career there.”
Express Scripts has a very large pharmacy on-site, so Holmes foresees more positions for pharmacy technicians and “sundry jobs that you expect in corporate America.” He anticipates a positive economic spillover effect to North County.
“They chose specifically to be on that campus, and they will help to revitalize that area,” Holmes said. “We will see new restaurants and other support organizations.”
This win for North County and the St. Louis region could face a challenge in the courts. An alliance of drugstores and community pharmacists filed a federal lawsuit to block the deal, saying it would create a giant pharmacy benefits manager with too much leverage and market share. The plaintiffs have sought to prohibit the merger until the litigation has been resolved, but many community pharmacists concede that they are not likely to succeed in blocking the deal in the courts.
The deal creates a pharmacy benefits manager able to handle the prescriptions of about 135 million people, more than one-third of all Americans.
