Waltz Health, a digital search engine for prescription pricing and reimbursement, introduced its transfer into the Medicare market.
The Chicago-based firm will present well being plans supporting Medicare beneficiaries in accessing decrease prescription drug costs by way of its Market Search expertise, an AI-enabled search engine that well being organizations may give to their shoppers that makes use of information from totally different drug low cost packages to seek out lower-cost drugs.
Waltz may even provide well being plans with perception into treatment adherence developments.
The primary payer to make the most of Waltz’s tailor-made model of its Medicare-focused Market Search utility shall be SCAN Well being Plan, a not-for-profit Medicare Benefit well being plan provider.
“Medicare Benefit represents one of many fastest-growing market segments in all of healthcare, so increasing to assist Medicare well being plans that need to save members cash on their medicine was a pure growth for Waltz Well being,” Mark Thierer, CEO and cofounder of Waltz Well being, advised MobiHealthNews.
“These members typically have very tight budgets and might’t afford high-priced drugs, which is usually a big concern after they enter protection gaps just like the ‘donut gap.’ In the event that they attain their protection limits and are pressured to pay out of pocket for prescriptions – particularly on name-brand medicine that may price tons of of {dollars} – it could drive them to make laborious choices about whether or not to fill their prescriptions or not. Working with modern well being plans which are keen about discovering distinctive options, like our Market Search utility, and fixing particular member ache factors is a testomony to the belief our group is constructing out there.”
Thierer served as CEO of pharmacy profit supervisor OptumRx after UnitedHealth Group acquired fellow PBM Catamaran, the place he was chairman and CEO.
THE LARGER TREND
Waltz Well being launched in 2022 with $35.4 million in Series A funding. GV led its Collection A spherical with participation from Outline Ventures, Echo Well being Ventures, Blue Enterprise Fund, Byers Capital, Twine Ventures and particular person healthcare government traders.
Different corporations seeking to decrease prescription drug costs for shoppers embrace Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, drug price and telehealth firm GoodRx, Amazon and Transcarent, a healthcare platform for self-insured employers.
“Digital Twins in Healthcare: The Subsequent Stage in Medical Simulation” is scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, 4:15-5:15 p.m. ET, in W304A at HIMSS24 in Orlando. Learn more and register.
