Pharmacy benefits have been moving toward a transparency reckoning for years. Employers are tired of opacity. Members are tired of surprises. And the traditional PBM model continues to show just how far it is from delivering the experience people need. The cracks in the system are not new. What is new is how visible they have become.

In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission released an interim staff report¹ detailing how the largest PBMs shape drug prices and steer volume in ways that are not always aligned with lowering costs for members. Then in early 2025 the agency issued a follow up report² that put actual numbers behind that concern. According to the analysis, some specialty generic drugs were marked up by hundreds and even thousands of percent above estimated acquisition cost, generating more than $7.3 billion in excess revenue between 2017 and 2022. These findings confirmed what many employers have experienced for a long time. The structure of the legacy PBM model rewards complexity, not clarity, and the people who pay for that structure are the members at the pharmacy counter.

This reality has pushed many employers to reevaluate their PBM partnerships. Mid-market PBMs that promise greater transparency and better engagement are gaining attention and for good reason. The 2025 PBM Customer Satisfaction Report from PSG³ found that these PBMs outperformed the largest PBMs across transparency, responsiveness, innovation, and overall service quality.

Yet even with those gains the industry still delivered its lowest satisfaction score in fifteen years, dropping from 7.6 to 7.1. Pricing transparency tools averaged only 3.4 out of 5. Mobile and web usability averaged only 3.8 out of 5. The message is unmistakable. Employers and members want transparency that actually works. Not statements. Not portals. Not PDFs. Real clarity when it matters.

This is the gap holding the industry back. Members still face the same moment of uncertainty at the doctor’s office and the pharmacy counter. They still lack a single place where their choices are clear, immediate, and easy to act on. Transparency does not matter if it is buried, delayed, or impossible to use in real time.

This is the problem Levrx was built to solve. We believe transparency must show up in the actual experience, not just in the contract.

Our platform brings real time pricing, covered alternatives, affordability pathways, and formulary intelligence into a single experience that feels modern and effortless. Members see their options in seconds and understand exactly what each choice means for their cost and their care. There is no searching across different sites. No guesswork. No surprises. Just clarity.

Our partnerships make this transparency even stronger. Levrx integrates every affordability program, every plan strategy, and every formulary rule into one unified experience that members can trust. Whether an option comes from a transparency aligned partner like the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a client selected vendor, or the plan’s own benefit design, members see it all in one place with an interface that finally makes pharmacy benefits easy to understand. Employers gain visibility into real value delivered across their population and the unnecessary spending they can now avoid. The result is an experience that replaces friction with certainty and transforms a historically fragmented system into one designed entirely around the member.

The future of pharmacy benefits will not be defined by who talks the most about transparency. It will be defined by who delivers it in a way that members can see, understand, and use without hesitation. Employers are raising their expectations. Members are demanding more clarity. Regulators are calling for accountability. The PBMs and partners that succeed will be the ones that turn transparency into an experience that is simple, immediate, and genuinely supportive of the people it is meant to serve.

Levrx is delivering that future today. The industry is moving toward the standard members have always deserved. Clear choices. Real time visibility. Real value.

Sources:

1. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/07/ftc-releases-interim-staff-report-prescription-drug-middlemen
2. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-releases-second-interim-staff-report-prescription-drug-middlemen
3. https://www.psgconsults.com/industry-report/2025-pharmacy-benefit-manager-customer-satisfaction-report/