GLENDALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ventegra, a Medical Benefit Manager (MBM) that delivers innovative, cost-efficient pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions to payors, providers, and eligible individuals, today announced the formal launch of Ventegra Foundation, a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation.
The Foundation is governed and controlled solely by its Board of Directors. The majority of the Board’s Directorships is comprised of independent members who have significant experience within a community to be served by the Foundation, including experience in employment or service to nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, or charitable services.
The Foundation’s officers are President/CEO Robert T. Taketomo, Pharm.D., MBA, and Chief Contracting Officer (CCO) Mariana Ritchie, MPH, CPhT. Ritchie will also serve as Treasurer and Secretary for Ventegra Foundation.
The formal launch of the Foundation jumpstarts a multi-year process to migrate the MBM business operations of Ventegra, Inc. to the Foundation. During this process, Ventegra, Inc. will offer services to support a smooth and orderly migration that minimizes any disruption to the MBM business’ stakeholders.
Robert T. Taketomo, Pharm.D., MBA, President/CEO, says, “The core purpose of this migration is to ensure the continuity and sustainability of Ventegra’s business model within a nonprofit vehicle to better serve our community of clients, employees, and other stakeholders that have underpinned Ventegra’s success over the past 20 years.”
Ventegra, Inc. is the only B-Lab Certified California Benefit Corporation administering both pharmacy and medical benefit programs, and it does so on a pass-through basis, and in a transparent manner.
Ventegra, Inc. also remains one of the few independent pharmacy benefit entities in the market that directly contracts with manufacturers and passes on such discounts directly to clients in a transparent manner.
Explains Dr. Taketomo, “With the formal launch of Ventegra Foundation and the appointment of Mariana Ritchie as an officer of the Foundation in the role of Chief Contracting Officer (CCO), we have taken a key step to ensure the continuity of the Ventegra business model well into the future. We are pleased to have initiated this process after many months of careful planning and preparation.”
He adds, “Going forward, the Foundation’s compensation policy for employees will be a keen differentiator for us in the marketplace.”
Dr. Taketomo explains that the Foundation has committed to strive for fair and equitable compensation for all employees through its comprehensive compensation policy, which includes:
- Limiting the annual salary of the highest-paid employee (which may or may not be the Executive Director/CEO), including any bonuses or other direct monetary incentives, to 25 times the annual salary equivalent, including bonuses or other direct monetary incentives, of the lowest-paid employee, consultant or contracted individual.
- Covered employees shall be offered the same retirement, life and disability, health insurance, vision and dental insurance benefits as all other full-time employees of the organization.
- Covered employees shall not receive a pay increase in any given year if less than 60 percent of employees are not receiving a pay increase that year.
Mariana Ritchie, MPH, CPhT, Chief Contracting Officer, says, “The compensation policy for Ventegra Foundation has been crafted in such a way as to help ensure a fair and equitable wage for all who work at Ventegra.”
Further clarifying this policy, Ritchie explains, “Inequality of wages is a serious challenge for our society today. With national executive salaries for many major corporations exceeding 400-600 times that of their workers, Ventegra Foundation is committed to implementing a compensation policy that provides an incentive to continuously increase the wages of all our employees.”
About Ventegra, Inc.
Ventegra, Inc., founded in 2004, has evolved its mission as the prototypical Medical Benefit Manager (MBM) that delivers innovative, cost-efficient pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions to payors, providers, and eligible individuals. A complex transition process has begun, and over time, Ventegra, Inc.’s mission will be fully assumed by the nonprofit Ventegra Foundation. www.ventegra.org
About Ventegra Foundation
Ventegra Foundation is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation. Its mission is to establish new channels for delivering better efficiencies and more cost-effective healthcare for the community that is served. www.ventegra.org
