More than 10 health systems are participating in a $50 million investment round for pharmacy benefit manager and pharmacy benefit administrator Capital Rx.
Atlantic Health System, Banner Health, Hawai'i Pacific Health, Inova Health System, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Memorial Hermann Health System, Nebraska Medicine, Novant Health, Ochsner Health, and WellSpan Health, among others, as well as Transformation Capital, are involved in the funding round.
The company's cloud-native enterprise health platform, JUDI, connects every aspect of the pharmacy ecosystem, servicing over 2.4 million members for Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans. The funds raised in this round will support R&D related to JUDI's modules and capabilities, the growth of Capital Rx's member and client service teams, as well as hiring in other key areas of the company.
Capital Rx said the executives of the health systems involved in this funding round understand the power of knowledge exchange, collaboration, and co-investment among strong health systems. "They also recognize the need for change in the PBM industry, with a focus on aligning toward a more transparent, next-generation enterprise health platform like Capital Rx's JUDI. The clear pricing, operational efficiencies, control over pharmacy spend, and ability to refocus resources on patient care to drive better outcomes are aligned with every health system's core mandate," said Health Management Academy senior vice president of strategy Matt Gunther, in a statement. The Strategic Partnership Alliance, an arm of the Health Management Academy, explores new venture and partnership opportunities on behalf of a group of its member health systems.
"Inova makes strategic investments in healthcare companies that have the potential to drive meaningful transformation," said Alice Pope, chief financial officer at Inova, in a statement. "Capital Rx's ability to leverage technology to bring clarity and consistency to drug prices for its clients and to broaden access to medication for members while providing exceptional service represents a paradigm shift in the PBM industry."
"We are humbled and appreciative of the confidence our investors and partners have in our technology," said Capital Rx Co-Founder and CEO AJ Loiacono, in a statement. "Legacy infrastructure lacks operational efficiency to reduce costs or enable the delivery of a best-in-class experience for members. I'm thankful for the hundreds of colleagues who have contributed to JUDI and continue to develop new solutions to deliver superior savings and a better healthcare experience for plan sponsors, payers, and patients across the country. I'm also grateful to the team at the Health Management Academy for recognizing the opportunity to connect the leaders of so many health systems to ignite a collaboration that will continue to accelerate the pace of innovation to reduce pharmacy costs, improve patient access, and deliver better outcomes for millions of Americans."
