RFP Process Pitfalls: The Proof You’ve Been Missing

If you’ve ever been through a pharmacy benefits Request for Proposal (RFP), you know the drill: hundreds of questions, dozens of spreadsheets, and weeks of waiting. Yet, after all that, the final decision still feels like a guess. It can feel like using last year’s grocery receipts to budget for this year’s prices.

Bottom line? It’s an outdated process.

The Cost of a Complicated Process

Traditional RFPs were designed to standardize how organizations evaluate PBMs. On paper, that sounds fair. In practice, it often creates the opposite effect. Every PBM is asked to answer the same 200 questions, and the responses start to sound the same. The process measures how well someone can fill out a form, not how well they can deliver outcomes.

By the time those responses are analyzed, benchmarked, and presented, the data is already outdated. Employers aren’t asking for more paperwork. They’re asking for answers:

• What will this really cost?

• Will it work for our members?

• Can we trust what we see?

  
  

The RFP, as it stands today, doesn’t answer those questions.

Seeing Instead of Guessing

• Published pricing, not projections

• Real-time claims data, not static reports

• Predictable outcomes, backed by real-world data

That means no waiting weeks for a final scorecard, just instant clarity on pharmacy benefits performance and cost.

With this level of visibility, the traditional RFP is no longer relevant. You don’t need to predict results when you can measure them directly.

The Real Question

When organizations issue RFPs, they’re not just gathering facts. They’re seeking confidence. They want to know if the partner can deliver on what they promise, if they’re transparent about pricing, and whether this will make life easier for their members and team. Those are the right questions. However, the RFP process often hides them behind layers of legalese and formatting. At Rescription, we’re helping clients get back to what matters: proof over process.

The Future of Evaluation

RFPs won’t disappear overnight, and they shouldn’t. Due diligence matters. RFPs, instead, should evolve.

The next generation of PBM selection isn’t about collecting documents. It’s about proof. Proof that you can see in the data, pricing, and performance every single day.

That’s the future we’ve built at Rescription. When you can see everything clearly, you don’t need 200 questions to find the truth. You just need three:

• What can you do for me?

• Why is it beneficial?

• How much does it cost?

  
  

All of which, only we can answer.