Independent pharmacy benefit manager Serve You Rx has tapped Waltz Health to roll out its technology platform to manage specialty drug costs.
Through the partnership, the PBM will integrate the Waltz Connect platform into its systems, linking members and clients to the company's network of pharmacies that compete on quality, price and outcomes. Waltz Connect deploys artificial intelligence to analyze key factors such as clinical efficacy and patient eligibility to surface appropriate pharmacy interventions for each individual.
Serve You Rx will roll the platform out to its clients May 1, according to an announcement.
Justin Jasniewski, CEO of Serve You Rx, told Fierce Healthcare that the company was founded by independent pharmacies. And, while it has historically deployed traditional PBM models like spread pricing, over the past several years, the team has invested heavily in transforming into a transparent, pass-through focused organization.
The PBM took in the conversation among regulators and within the industry about the need for reform and took steps like divesting its pharmacy as part of this shift.
Working with Waltz allows it to leverage the strength of multiple specialty pharmacies to better serve its clients.
"Ultimately, when we looked at it, no single pharmacy can deliver the best care at the best price to everybody," Jasniewski said. "There's hundreds of specialty pharmacies out there, so why not leverage the best specialty pharmacies in their given disease states and how they service patients?"
"We can get the best of all worlds by leveraging a platform like this, and it has the added bonus that we can remove conflicts of interest and offer a disruptive solution to offer increased quality without compromising on cost, which is really what we're after," he added.
Waltz Connect is designed to ensure that patients quickly receive their needed medications from the pharmacy that best fits their unique situation. This makes medications more affordable and improves outcomes, according to Waltz Health.
Waltz CEO Mark Thierer told Fierce Healthcare that Jasniewski and the Serve You Rx team approached Waltz about rethinking the way they approach specialty pharmacy and have been working together closely over the past several months to roll out the platform.
Given that foundation, he said Waltz opened up its three- to five-year plan with the team at Serve You Rx and that they see significant opportunity to collaborate in the future.
"There is a mountain of stuff that we can be doing together as we try to basically rewire the supply chain and bring savings to the member and to the plan sponsors who Justin's team services," he said.