BERWYN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AscellaHealth, a specialty pharmacy benefit manager (SPBM), serving commercial, Medicare and Medicaid segments, is teaming up with Audaire Health to offer an all-encompassing hemophilia management program. With AscellaHealth’s customized, trusted and transparent network of specialty pharmacy partners and Audaire Health’s HIPAA compliant, patent-pending technology, this innovative program provides pharmacy network design, appropriate utilization management and clinical interventions based on active patient management.
“Together with Audaire Health, AscellaHealth is transforming hemophilia management, offering a groundbreaking approach that allows payers to contain the costs of expensive drugs to treat hemophilia – as much as $50,000 a dose – with some patients treated prophylactically for the duration of therapy at a cost of $300,000 to millions per year,” says Dea Belazi, president and CEO, AscellaHealth. “This program could not have been introduced at a better time in light of the recent approval of novel agents such Hemlibra for non-inhibitors, essentially doubling the price of therapy. Now more than ever, payers need to be prepared with the type of effective formulary strategies and utilization management/clinical programs that are exemplified with our new solution.”
Belazi explains that over the past decade, factor utilization has increased substantially among hemophilia A and B patients, with payers assuming most of the additional costs. In fact, hemophilia was the number one stop-loss claim item in the last three years. He projects that payers will continue to struggle with the challenges of managing the cost of novel drugs with a high price tag and a short history of clinical use.
“Our new program answers these challenges, as evidenced by typical client cost savings which are quite compelling,” says Belazi, pointing to savings of $1.5M on the specialty spend for a third-party administrator in the first year and a reduced drug spend of $1M for 20 patients as reported by a broker. One hospital reduced its specialty spend by 30% in the first year.
Andrew Berg, CEO of Audaire Health, emphasizes the companies’ shared commitment to delivering customized clinical management, transparency and accountability.
“We are offering patients a simple way of logging infusions and bleeds,” he explains. “Our technology combines patient reported utilization data, physician performance data with pharmacy dispensation data that spans assay, lot and expiration into a single platform. This provides care teams with real-time access to infusion logs and bleed alerts, allowing for quick interventions if necessary.”
To learn more about this innovative program, contact Michael Baldzicki, executive vice president, growth and strategy, AscellaHealth, via email at michael.baldzicki@ascellahealth.com.
About AscellaHealth
AscellaHealth, a national PBM serving commercial, Medicare and Medicaid segments, offers high quality prescription drug management services along with other customizable services, such as carved-out specialty pharmacy services and cost-savings discount programs through its unique and proprietary service that extends discounts on prescription medications to customers more than any other PBM in the industry. To learn more about AscellaHealth, please visit www.ascellahealth.com.
About Audaire Health
Audaire Health Inc (Audaire) is a healthcare technology company that focuses on facilitating transparency and accountability between payer, provider, pharmacy and patient. On the front end, Audaire's patent pending platform allows patients to seamlessly log medication adherence and exacerbations in real time. On the back end, all stakeholders (payers, providers, pharmacies) have real time insight into patient behavior, physician behavior and pharmacy dispensations. The end result is more informed providers, better performing pharmacies, and better patient outcomes.
