Aaron Finch

Competitors' protests of large pharmacy benefits contracts are ,,very common," said Aaron Finch, HealthExtras' director of industrial relations.His company also overcame a similar challenge from a competitor in Louisiana.

,,This one in Maryland just took longer," Finch said, who added that the company anticipates hiring more employees to handle the Maryland contract.

Catalyst, whose revenues last year totaled ,1.3 billion, has similar contracts with Ohio, Nevada, Mississippi and Iowa.Ohio issued its contract to Catalyst on March 20, but it has also been challenged by a competitor, Finch said.

Finch does not expect further protests from Caremark or Advance because that company may be preoccupied with its merger with CVS Corp.

Only 6% of its prescriptions are mail order, says HealthExtras spokesman Aaron Finch.Most are filled by local drugstores.

HealthExtras makes pricing deals with local and regional pharmacies so clients can have the comfort of dealing with a real person.

"Because HealthExtras does not have its own mail-order pharmacy facilities, it does not have the 'channel conflict' that PBMs who own their mail-order facilities do," Finch said.

Meanwhile, the company lures clients by promising cost savings.