July 2023 Alumni Spotlight: Alice Cheng

Associate Clinical Account Executive, Alice Cheng, began her journey with Express Scripts last year after completing her PGY-1 Managed Care Pharmacy Residency Program at Elevance Health. Alice is a former member of AMCP’s Student Pharmacist Committee and the 2020 Best Poster by a Student Pharmacist recipient.

Tell me about your current position.

My position gives me exposure to almost every single functional area of managed care pharmacy. I am mainly involved in formulary strategy, which consists of examining the pharmacy benefit coding, answering and triaging client questions, drug trend reporting, and rebate optimization. The drug trend reporting process includes reviewing claims and utilization experiences to compare how spending aligns with utilization. Once we see how costs are affected, our goal is to contain these costs. This is known as cost of care management, which can be accomplished using various data tools and software.

What do you like the most about your current job?

Express Scripts is such a huge company! We have several different analyst teams. My role can be busy on a day-to-day basis, so it is good to know that I can delegate some non-clinical tasks to team members. We also have an annual conference for sales and account management teams to network and attend training sessions. Also, some employees have been working here for decades! Some have even spent their entire careers here! Everyone is so kind and resourceful. If I ever have a question or an issue I can always ask for help. I feel very blessed!

Can you tell me about your residency program?

I completed a PGY-1 Managed Care Pharmacy Residency at IngenioRX, which is now CarelonRx. CarelonRx is the PBM of Elevance Health, which was formerly Anthem. This one-year fully remote residency program has dual accreditation with both AMCP and ASHP, and is based out of Norfolk, Virginia. After orientation, my rotations included Medicare Part D STAR pharmacy strategy, several weeks of analytics, traditional and specialty cost of care, Medicaid and commercial account management, PBM product development and strategy, and Medicaid HEDIS quality measures. The program also granted residents P&T committee exposure, drug information, utilization management, and research. My final project was in pharmacy quality solutions regarding a plan’s quality report verses a pharmacy quality report. We had generational residents working at CarelonRx as my preceptors, so we could work together comfortably. Not only did they help me with technical issues, but they helped me evolve professionally. I built rapport with my colleagues, and most importantly I felt like I had genuine support in my residency program. They pushed and challenged me in all of my projects.

Can you describe your residency application and interview process?

I took full advantage of AMCP’s Residency and Fellowship Directory. Their list was a helpful resource! I created my own Excel spreadsheet of programs that interested me, and then reached out to current and past residents to learn about the programs from a direct source during my P4 year. People were super happy to help! When you reach out to these residents and alumni, consider it as an interview. Look presentable, polished, prepared, and be professional. Be organized about how you conduct this meeting because they are also taking this opportunity to collect information about you and the experience that they had with you. So, take these sessions seriously! By November, I ensured that my selected professors and preceptors were willing to write me strong letters of recommendation so I could submit my applications by the end of December. I began to receive residency interview invitations and initial phone interviews by mid-January. Formal interviews began in February. I tried to space my interviews out to avoid fatigue and ensure I was still tending to my P4 rotations. Your rank list is submitted by the end of February. Match results are sent in both March and April.

What advice can you give to residency applicants who do not match?

Rejection is redirection! Managed care is filled with opportunity and residency training straight out of pharmacy school is not the only route to success in this industry. I have a friend that started her career as a community pharmacist and later decided to pursue a managed care residency that had an ambulatory care component. She now works at Express Scripts as a Clinical Account Executive. Her experience as a community pharmacist enhanced her efficiency and gives her greater perspective on how our decisions effect direct patient care. Although we have the same role now, we bring different qualities to the table due to our different backgrounds.

What compelled you to consider a career in managed care pharmacy?

In my early pharmacy school years, I knew traditional clinical pharmacy practice did not interest me. However, I was drawn to AMCP along with multiple other students interested in non-traditional careers. I applied to a managed care pharmacy internship at my local hospital with its own self-insured plan and patient assistance program, which taught me more about PBMs. In addition to completing a healthcare policy elective, I had two managed care electives during my P4 year. One was with Blue Cross North Carolina conducting prior authorizations and clinical review. The other was at Express Scripts with the sales and account management team where I helped my preceptor operationalize her clinical program. I enjoyed exploring the healthcare system to see how everyone’s role contributed to the main goal of patient care.

What are you most surprised about now that you are working in the industry?

Although my role is very clinical and involves an understanding of managed care strategy, there are multiple analysts and finance professionals that I often rely on. There are multiple layers to managed care pharmacy that I am constantly discovering!

Where do you see yourself in the future?

I do not have an ultimate goal since managed care pharmacy is constantly evolving, but I would like to continue my development as a Clinical Account Executive with Express Scripts. I try to focus on my short-term goals so I can be flexible in setting my long-term goals. I want to learn more about different technical areas of pharmacy benefit so I can be more efficient and helpful to my clients.

What advice would you give to fourth-year pharmacy students who are interested in managed care residencies?

It is really important to ensure that you vibe with your residency program – make sure that your personalities align. You will need to make solid connections with mentors in your residency program to guide you professionally and personally!