BeneCard PBF's Customer Service Award Highlights Industry Divide

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. – February 11, 2026 – BeneCard PBF, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), is celebrating a significant industry accolade today after securing the Silver Stevie® Award for Sales & Customer Service. This marks the company's third consecutive win in the prestigious international competition, a feat that distinguishes it within the often-criticized PBM sector.

The Stevie Awards are widely regarded as the “Oscars of the business world,” with this year’s competition drawing over 2,100 nominations from organizations across 41 nations. Winners are selected based on the average scores from 150 professional judges worldwide, lending significant weight to the recognition.

BeneCard PBF’s submission highlighted impressive and quantifiable improvements in its customer-facing operations. Dave Slonac, Assistant Vice President of the Contact Center, detailed the company's progress. "Our organization's 2025 performance reflects disciplined measurement and consistent year-over-year improvement across speed, quality, and responsiveness," Slonac stated. He noted that the company reduced its average call answer speed from 27 seconds in 2024 to 21 seconds in 2025, comfortably beating its internal goal of 30 seconds. Slonac also reported that call quality scores exceeded 99 percent, while written communication quality held at a perfect 100 percent.

Jeff Shea, President of BeneCard PBF and Benecard Central Fill, framed the award as a testament to the company's core mission. "This Stevie Award is a powerful validation of our team's dedication to excellence and our mission to put members at the center of everything we do," Shea commented. "This recognition reflects the passion, innovation, and accountability they bring to their work every day."

An Award Against the Grain

BeneCard PBF's consistent recognition comes at a time of deep dissatisfaction within the broader PBM industry. Recent industry-wide studies paint a grim picture, with overall customer satisfaction with PBMs hitting a 15-year low in 2025. The industry's Net Promoter Score (NPS), a key metric for customer loyalty, has plummeted from a positive score of 38 just a few years ago to a negative score of -12, indicating that customers are far more likely to be detractors than promoters of their PBM services.

Against this backdrop of declining service standards and increasing regulatory scrutiny, BeneCard PBF's achievement stands in stark contrast. The company’s focus on what it calls a “member-first service model” and “transparent operations” appears to be a key differentiator. While the industry's largest players, which control roughly 80% of the market, frequently face criticism for opaque pricing and poor service, BeneCard PBF has positioned itself as an alternative focused on measurable quality.

This strategy is further validated by a third-party audit cited by the company, which confirmed 100 percent accuracy across its call categorization, handling, and documentation. Such metrics are rare in any industry and particularly noteworthy in the complex and often frustrating world of healthcare benefits administration.

A Tale of Two Experiences

While the Stevie Award and internal metrics paint a picture of operational excellence, a more complex narrative emerges from public-facing platforms. The company boasts a 97% client retention rate and has earned top rankings in client satisfaction surveys for years, indicating that the employers and health plans who hire BeneCard PBF are largely satisfied with the partnership.

However, the experience of individual members—the end-users of the pharmacy benefits—appears more varied. Reviews on platforms like the Better Business Bureau and in mobile app stores tell a different story. Members have voiced significant frustration, with common complaints centering on the denial of medications, including essential maintenance drugs for chronic conditions. Some describe navigating a difficult and stressful process to get prescriptions approved.

It is important to note that many PBMs administer plans according to specifications set by the employer or health plan sponsor, meaning some denials may be a function of the plan design itself rather than the PBM's direct policy. Nonetheless, for the member experiencing the denial, the PBM is the face of that decision.

The company’s mobile app also appears to be a point of friction, with users citing a clunky interface and missing features. This apparent gap between high-level operational metrics and the ground-level member experience highlights a significant challenge for BeneCard PBF and the industry at large: translating backend efficiency into a seamless and positive front-end experience for every individual.

The Culture Conundrum

The press release attributes the company's success to a culture that “deeply values, supports, and celebrates the employees behind the performance.” This link between a positive internal culture and exceptional external service is a well-established business principle. An engaged, supported, and empowered workforce is often the driving force behind high-quality customer interactions.

However, a review of public employee feedback presents a mixed and sometimes contradictory view of this internal culture. While some current and former employees praise the company for its professional environment and supportive leadership, others describe a high-pressure atmosphere. Common themes in negative reviews include feelings of being micromanaged, concerns about a high rate of employee turnover, and a disconnect with management.

This disparity suggests that the employee-centric culture celebrated in the company's award submission may not be universally experienced across all departments or by all employees. As BeneCard PBF continues to build on its award-winning service model, reconciling these internal and external narratives will be a critical task. The company has proven it can achieve operational excellence on a macro scale, but sustaining that success may depend on its ability to ensure the positive culture it promotes is a consistent reality for the very people responsible for delivering its award-winning service.