Mark Cuban, co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, and Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the employer GLP-1 platform eMed Population Health, were at SXSW drawing a contrast between their approach to GLP-1 drugs and that of other direct-to-consumer companies. They also announced a collaboration where Cost Plus Drugs will be one of eMed's distribution partners.
Mark Cuban warned that many employers are collecting drug rebate money funded by their sick employees — a practice that can violate fiduciary duties under ERISA. His company, Cost Plus Drugs, is partnering with organizations like Humana’s CenterWell to create direct-to-employer programs that bypass PBMs and deliver medications at lower net prices.
MedCity News was at the Vive conference and spoke with executives who shared their insights for the healthcare industry.
As always, this year's HLTH conference brought a slew of announcements — from product launches to funding rounds to new partnerships. This list features short summaries for seven of the conference’s most notable announcements.
In partnership with Cost Plus Drugs and Waltz Health, Serve You Rx has added Stelara biosimilars Otulfi and Yesintek to its formulary.
HealthJoy and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company have teamed up. Through the partnership, HealthJoy can now direct the employees of its clients to the drug company when it offers a cheaper option for generic drugs.
With its new partnerships, Wheel is able to connect its customers’ patients with mental health services through Talkspace, home delivery pharmacy services through Cost Plus Drugs and lab and diagnostic services through Health Gorilla.
Arbiter’s Anjali Jameson on hospital and payer alignment.
Blue Shield of California is cutting many of its ties with CVS Caremark (though not all) and adding four additional partners for its prescription drug benefits. These partners include Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Amazon Pharmacy. The changes are needed to disrupt the current broken system, said Salina Wong, senior director of clinical pharmacy programs at Blue Shield of California.
Through Scripta Insights’ app, members of its customers can input the medications they’re taking, and the company will provide a savings report that will show different options on how they can save on their prescriptions. Starting in 2024, Cost Plus Drugs may show up as an option in the savings report.
Mail order pharmacies like Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and Amazon's RxPass are gaining popularity. But they're missing in-depth consultations with pharmacists. Aspen RxHealth is trying to fill this gap and sees itself as a potential partner for mail order pharmacies.
Zócalo Health, a virtual primary care provider designed for Latino patients, recently forged a collaboration with Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs. Now all Zócalo patients have access to Cost Plus Drugs’ prescriptions, and the provider's community health workers have been trained to help walk patients through the process of obtaining medications through the pharmacy.
How to turn analytics into actual policy outcomes.
Through the partnership, the organizations are launching EmsanaRx Plus. The product supplements employers' current pharmacy benefit offerings and provides access to Cost Plus Drugs' discounted medications.
A customer of Cost Plus Drugs received an email from the company in October stating that “due to skyrocketing demand,” shipping times have been delayed. Marley Drug, a competitor, said its company has not experienced delays and presented itself as an alternative for Americans.
It is Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company's first collaboration with a health plan. The pharmacy company will not be replacing Capital Blue Cross' existing pharmacy benefits manger, but instead will be an additional option for members to choose.
The patient financial experience in the U.S. is poor — patients have a hard time understanding pricing data and they often face exorbitant prices for care and medications. This problem will only get better if the healthcare industry rids itself of price-gouging middlemen and closed-door price negotiations held by businesspeople, according to a recent healthcare innovation panel.
Specialty drugs reportedly reached 50 percent of all drug spending in 2020, a figure that has increased significantly over the last decade.