Fresh off the news that medical device company ResMed would acquire Propeller Health for $295 million, the digital health startup has inked a new partnership with Walgreens to provide its users direct access to pharmacy services through their mobile app.
Madison, Wisconsin-based Propeller Health offers a mobile app and sensors which are attached to inhalers for people with respiratory diseases that can help patients and physicians track medication use and gain insights on disease triggers and treatment.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
Walgreens is the first addition to the company’s new My Pharmacy feature which is meant to give asthma and COPD the ability to manage their condition and medication on the Propeller platform.
The feature rolls out to iOS users this week and will be available to Android users next month. The company plans on adding more partners and pharmacies over the year.
Using My Pharmacy, Propeller Health users can refill prescriptions for pickup at Walgreens pharmacies, find nearby Walgreens locations, communicate with Walgreens pharmacists and check the balance of their Walgreens reward accounts.
“The ability to refill a prescription or talk to a pharmacist through an existing digital health tool is an important step in making care easier, faster and less stressful for patients,” Propeller Health CTO Greg Tracy said in a statement.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“We’re thrilled to work with Walgreens on this launch and hope our collaboration will serve as a blueprint for future pharmacy integrations within our platform.”
Traditional pharmacy players have been increasingly interfacing with new consumer-oriented solutions to help build better brand loyalty and better experiences as they face increasing threats from new entrants to the industry.
A few of Walgreens major partnerships in the past year include a deal with FedEx for nationwide next delivery of medications and a deal with Alphabet life sciences arm Verily to give the pharmacy chain first dibs on retail commercialization of its products.
Picture: Propeller Health
