Free Market Well being, a expertise firm centered on specialty medication, has acquired Beeline Rx, one other firm within the specialty drug area, it introduced on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Free Market Well being provides payers, together with Highmark, entry to a market of specialty pharmacies of all sizes. The payers are ready to decide on which specialty pharmacies on this market they need to have of their community. Then when members are prescribed a specialty drug, Free Market Well being is ready to join that member to the best-fit pharmacy inside their well being plan’s community.
This compares to the standard manner payers handle specialty medication, which is thru unique relationships with one single specialty pharmacy.
Now with the acquisition of Beeline Rx, Free Market Well being is hoping to additional streamline the specialty pharmacy area, notably round prior authorization. As a result of specialty medication are so costly, payer approval is usually required for the sufferers to entry the medicines. Nevertheless, prior authorization typically results in delays for sufferers.
Beeline Rx, in the meantime, provides a platform to make this prior authorization course of extra environment friendly. It integrates with digital well being data and offers entry to 320 million affected person medical charts. It additionally helps coordinate between prescribers and specialty pharmacies and offers entry to medical coverage and protection pointers. Free Market Well being shall be integrating this expertise into its personal platform.
“What [Beeline Rx] constructed is throughout the facilitation of prior auth and modernizing the strategy, leveraging knowledge interoperability and actually sensible use instances of AI. … Incorporating their expertise into our care-driven market platform is all about delivering on the improved member expertise. On this occasion, it’s sort of supercharging a few of the consumption capabilities that Free Market Well being already has,” stated Joe Cardosi, founder and CEO of Free Market Well being, in an interview.
The phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Beeline Rx’s co-founder and CEO, Steve Fleck, shall be becoming a member of Free Market Well being as chief technique officer, whereas co-founder and president Josh Cordle shall be chief product officer, and co-founder and COO David Palmer shall be senior vp of operations.
“Beeline Rx is dedicated to placing the affected person first—a dedication we proudly share with the [Free Market Health] workforce,” Fleck stated in a press release. “We couldn’t be extra excited to hitch forces, constructing modern expertise collectively to make sure the specialty pharmacy ecosystem is accountable to the sufferers who rely upon it.”
The acquisition comes as the price of specialty medication is skyrocketing — they at present account for greater than half of the overall drug spend. Whereas Cardosi doesn’t count on the specialty drug area to get simpler, he thinks tech options like Free Market Well being and Beeline Rx will be capable to assist assist the area.
“I feel a contemporary expertise firm that’s aligning stakeholders, bringing the stakeholders nearer collectively, finally serving the affected person goes to be a essential piece of harnessing a few of that, managing a few of that complexity and fragmentation,” he stated.
One other firm within the specialty drug area is Waltz Well being, which provides a platform that connects well being plan members to the specialty pharmacy that most closely fits their wants.
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