Sandra Clarke
At Blue Protect of California, we proceed to drive worth for our members with our bold plan to rework a dysfunctional healthcare system into one which’s worthy of our household and pals. As Chief Working Officer, I do know that we will not drive vital methods change and innovation on our personal. That is why we’re investing in key, strategic partnerships that concentrate on decreasing prices and help our members’ experiences, in addition to drive change throughout the system.
Our pharmacy crew, and the Pharmacy Care Reimagined work inside it, focus on daily basis on how you can reimagine the prescription drug expertise. We consider each affected person ought to have secure, inexpensive, acceptable entry to medication. Which means continually assessing and difficult the established order to make sure all elements of the system ship true worth.
Investing in partnerships to drive innovation
Blue Protect of California is engaged on a number of market-based partnerships. We’re investing in corporations that intention to assist make prescribed drugs extra inexpensive by boosting value transparency and measuring their effectiveness.
At any time when we consider an funding or a partnership, it’s vital that we contemplate the profit to members and one of the best makes use of for Blue Protect of California sources. We all the time count on truthful monetary returns for these ventures along with a tangible affect on the associated fee and high quality of well being care. Three of Blue Protect’s key investments embody:
CivicaScript. Blue Protect of California led an initiative to launch CivicaScript, a nonprofit drug firm devoted to decreasing the worth of outpatient medicines. Blue Protect joined with greater than a dozen different Blue plans in 2020 to take a position a complete of $55 million in CivicaScript. The intention is to hitch with manufacturing companions to deliver extra inexpensive generic medication to uncompetitive markets.
Our CivicaScript funding is vital as a result of it helps tackle excessive abandonment charges, which is when sufferers cease utilizing their prescribed medicines as a result of they have been too costly, or as a result of they have been bored with asking their pharmacist to name their doctor for less-costly alternate medication.
In August, CivicaScript launched its first drug—abiraterone acetate—a generic drug used to deal with prostate most cancers that has unfold to different elements of the physique. The really useful most value for pharmacies of $171 a bottle is about $3,000 monthly lower than the present drug price.
Blue Protect additionally joined with Civica to announce funding to develop and distribute insulins at a considerably decrease price than present medicines. Civica plans to set a really useful clear value to the buyer of not more than $30 per vial. That is one other instance of how Blue Protect is working to disrupt the drug market to learn our members and your complete healthcare system.
Evio Pharmacy Options. Blue Protect of California invested final yr in Evio Pharmacy Options, a startup that makes use of a data-based method geared toward controlling drug prices. The corporate goals to assist its investor well being plans by enhancing treatment affordability, affected person expertise, and medical outcomes. Evio is utilizing proof and knowledge from actual affected person experiences to indicate how particular person medication carry out for sufferers in their very own context, throughout the drug’s indications, completely different affected person varieties, and mixtures of different comorbidities. 4 different Blue Cross, Blue Protect well being plans are additionally funding Evio.
Our funding in Evio has an actual alternative to alter the trajectory of pharmacy prices, enhance medical outcomes, and make it simpler for sufferers to entry the medicines and coverings they want.
Gemini Well being. In 2019, Blue Protect of California funded Gemini Well being, a San Francisco Bay Space firm that gives real-time patient-specific profit, formulary, and price info on prescribed drugs to prescribers at a number of factors of care, together with patient-doctor visits. The objective is to provide prescribers useable details about medicines and potential decrease price choices, to allow them to focus on clinically acceptable alternate options with their sufferers. The funding yielded greater than $20 million in drug price financial savings within the initiative’s first two years.
