STOUGHTON, Mass. & BILLINGS, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shields Health Solutions (Shields), the premier specialty pharmacy accelerator in the country, announced today that Billings Clinic has expanded its partnership with Shields. The partnership will build on a strong relationship with the largest independent health system in Montana which began in 2017 with Excelera, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shields, and will focus on providing patients suffering from complex, chronic conditions access to specialized pharmacy services that will continue to keep care local and provide high-quality care to as many patients as possible.
The collaborative partnership between Billings Clinic and Shields will offer new support services to meet the unique needs of patients with complex chronic conditions. By leveraging Shields’ novel support services, Billings Clinic can continue to meet the unique needs of patients across 250,000 square miles in Montana, Wyoming and the western Dakotas. Shields’ expansive access to payer networks will give patients more choice in their specialty pharmacy partner and allow them to receive all their services through Billings Clinic.
These augmented patient support services, combined with access to recently approved and newly available drugs, will give Billings Clinic’s patients greater availability for onsite treatment options. Shields currently partners with nearly 80 health systems around the country and has helped their patients reduce co-pays, promptly receive medication delivery, often within two days, and improved medication adherence greater than 90 percent on average.
Billings Clinic is a non-profit health system based in Billings, Montana, and has the only accredited specialty pharmacy in Montana. It has 4,700 employees, including nearly 600 physicians and non-physician providers and advanced practitioners offering more than 80 specialties and subspecialties. Billings Clinic is affiliated with 17 hospitals in the area, with primary and specialty clinics in Montana and Wyoming, and has accreditation from both the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) and Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC).
“Billings Clinic has been an esteemed partner for the past five years and we are thrilled to widen our partnership with an organization with a continuous commitment to providing outstanding care for patients with distinctive needs,” said Heidi Motz, Senior Vice President of Health System Experience at Shields. “By securing access to 90 percent of the limited distribution drugs that complex patients need and opening the door to restricted payer networks, our partnership will elevate access to affordable care, while improving therapy management and care coordination for Billings Clinic’s patients.”
“As we strive to deliver optimal health outcomes for all of our patients, our partnership with Shields will help us continue to achieve routinely positive results with patient populations that require the highest level of expertise and care,” said Tracey Murrish, PharmD, Manager of Specialty Pharmacy and Ambulatory Pharmacy Services at Billings Clinic. “We are delighted to augment our existing partnership with Shields and its network of the foremost experts in the health system specialty pharmacy industry.”
About Shields Health Solutions
Shields Health Solutions (Shields) is the premier specialty pharmacy accelerator in the country. The Shields Performance Platform, an integrated set of solutions, services and technology, is intentionally designed to elevate payer and drug access for specialty pharmacies, elevate health outcomes for complex patients, and elevate growth throughout the entire health system. As the foremost experts in the health system specialty pharmacy industry, Shields has a proven track record of success including access to over 80 percent of all limited distribution drugs (LDDs) and most (health insurance) payers in the nation; and a clinical model proven to lower total cost of care by 13%. In partnership with more than 70 health systems across the country through national-scale collaboration, Shields has a vested interest in delivering measurable clinical and financial results for health systems. For more, visit our blog and follow us on social media, @ShieldsRX, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
About Billings Clinic
Billings Clinic is Montana’s largest independent health care system serving Montana, Wyoming, and the western Dakotas. A not-for-profit organization led by a physician CEO, Billings Clinic is governed by a board of community members and physicians. Billings Clinic is an integrated multi-specialty group practice with a 304-bed hospital and Level II trauma center. Billings Clinic's vision is to be a national leader in providing the best clinical quality, patient safety, service and value. Billings Clinic has 17 regional partnerships, including management agreements with 15 Critical Access Hospitals and one outpatient clinic. In addition, it conducts approximately 145 specialty care clinics per month at 23 different regional locations for residents of rural Montana, Wyoming, and the western Dakotas. For more, visit our blog and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
