Walgreens and UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx partner on 90-day prescription service

DEERFIELD, Ill. – UnitedHealth Group and Walgreens on Thursday announced the integration of a new pharmacy solution that will enable eligible OptumRx members to fill 90-day prescriptions at home delivery copay levels at any of Walgreens nearly 8,200 pharmacies nationwide or through OptumRx home delivery. 

 

OptumRx is UnitedHealth Group’s free-standing pharmacy care services business, managing more than one billion prescriptions annually.  

 

“OptumRx’s differentiated pharmacy care services model creating smarter health care connections will be a strong fit with the more than 27,000 Walgreens pharmacists who interact with and support millions of patients on a daily basis,” commented Alex Gourlay, president of Walgreens. “Together, we will build upon our complementary capabilities and shared vision to offer this new pharmacy solution delivering true value to the customers that we serve.”

 

“By integrating Walgreens industry-leading in-store pharmacy capabilities and convenient retail locations with OptumRx’s advanced pharmacy care services, we expect to create significant value for our clients and members,” stated Larry Renfro, CEO Optum. “We are excited to be working with Walgreens to create a new pharmacy solution that provides convenience and cost savings, and goes beyond filling prescriptions to deliver a more valuable pharmacy and health management experience for consumers.”

 

Through a more convenient, accessible and connected pharmacy experience, the companies will collaborate to deliver clients and members enrolled in the program an integrated pharmacy care offering that produces higher treatment adherence rates and better patient outcomes by giving patients the choice of how to receive their medications along with 24/7 pharmacist availability and connects members to clinical guidance that addresses specific disease classes, such as diabetes, and increases drug adherence.

 

In addition, the integration enables OptumRx and Walgreens systems to better connect and communicate health data and analytics to ensure members receive the most effective prescription drugs at the right cost.

 

The joint pharmacy care offering is also designed to meet the goals of payers and health care sponsors seeking to better manage drug benefits and address the rising cost of care. By providing members with the choice of how to fill their 90-day maintenance medications, Walgreens and OptumRx can offer better access and prescription drug cost management to clients to help improve adherence rates for eligible members, resulting in better health outcomes and total health care cost savings.

 

OptumRx and Walgreens expect the new pharmacy solution to be available to commercial clients implementing new 90-day prescription benefit designs, beginning Jan. 1, 2017.