PharmaSmart and Coborn’s Supermarkets ink major deal

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — PharmaSmart International, a prominent manufacturer of health screening kiosks and developer of Health IT and health management solutions, announced their partnership with Coborn’s on Monday.

PharmaSmart said it will deploy its clinically validated blood pressure kiosk and cloud-based Health IT platform across Coborn’s 36 grocery stores with pharmacies, which operate under the banners of: Coborn’s, Cash Wise Foods, and Market Place Foods across Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In addition, kiosks will also be placed in the company’s two clinic pharmacies and their Coborn’s support center in St. Cloud, Minn. All kiosks will be manufactured and distributed out of PharmaSmart’s Rochester, N.Y. manufacturing facility.

The Coborn’s partnership follows a string of important announcements for PharmaSmart. Most notably, PharmaSmart’s signature BPT Rx integration with McKesson’s new Clinical Programs Solutions (CPS), a product that synchronizes PharmaSmart patient data with McKesson’s EnterpriseRx pharmacy management system.

According to PharmaSmart, Coborn’s will leverage PharmaSmart’s clinical-grade program and McKesson’s CPS integration to drive Medicare Star Ratings objectives, specifically measures D-14 (medication adherence for hypertension), and C-19 (controlling blood pressure), both of which are triple-weighted measures of high interest to national and regional insurers.

“For us this is more than just deploying new kiosks,” said Jim Cox, Coborn’s pharmacy director. “With PharmaSmart, we now offer our guests a credible, evidence-based program for blood pressure management, including full integration into our Rx Software, and a branded patient health portal. PharmaSmart’s integrated solution allows us to easily intervene in cases where blood pressure control is not achieved, and we now have the data to demonstrate our impact on blood pressure control over a managed population.”

Cox further stated, “We now are in the process of negotiating remuneration with healthcare plans. PharmaSmart’s respected clinical brand and healthcare toolbox have helped bring insurance partners to the table. We evaluated deploying traditional, ‘recreational’ kiosks, but PharmaSmart’s program better supports Coborn’s reputation as a trusted healthcare brand, and bolsters our credibility with physician groups, health plans, and our own pharmacists, who want to know that their patient management tools are backed by evidence.”

PharmaSmart COO and head of sales, Ashton Maaraba states, “Coborn’s clinical commitment and investment into controlling blood pressure is further proof that pharmacists deserve ‘provider status’, in line with legislation currently before Congress. We are thrilled to be working with Coborn’s health and wellness specialists to target and treat uncontrolled hypertension.”