CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Waltz Health, a digital health company developing smarter, technology-enabled ways to price, distribute and prescribe medications, today announced its entry into the Medicare market. The company will offer health plans that support Medicare beneficiaries customizable configurations of its proprietary Marketplace Search technology, which lowers prescription drug prices for members and improves their experience, while also providing health plans with critical insight into adherence trends.
Marketplace Search by Waltz Health is a white-labeled digital search engine that applies AI to a curated mix of discounted drug pricing sources to help healthcare organizations – including health plans, PBMs, pharmacies and self-insured employers – save their populations money when filling prescriptions.
For plans that support Medicare beneficiaries, the use cases for Marketplace Search can vary depending on their unique needs and member pain points. It gives health plans a powerful, convenient and seamless tool to assist members in finding savings on covered medications during a coverage gap, finding lower-cost, cash-pay solutions for medication not covered by their plan, and finding patient-assistance programs available to the Medicare population.
Millions of Medicare beneficiaries struggle with out-of-pocket drug costs each year, a problem that is worse for underserved populations. Even though there often are cash-pay options or patient assistance programs available to lower member out-of-pocket costs, these solutions often are not easily discoverable. Marketplace Search helps solve this problem, making it an appealing platform that adds significant value to a health plan’s members.
SCAN Health Plan, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage health plans, is the first payer to offer a tailored version of Marketplace Search for its members specifically for a Medicare use case.
Waltz’s custom-built tool is a dedicated, online resource where eligible Medicare Part D members entering a coverage gap can discover whether prescriptions are available at lower cash-pay prices or via patient assistance programs at their local pharmacies. This is the second unique deployment for Waltz Health’s technology since the company expanded to the payer, pharmacy benefit manager and self-insured employer markets last September. While Waltz Health’s first deployment of its Marketplace Search for Health Plan tool is primarily catered towards the commercially insured population, this second deployment allows Waltz Health to extend its technology to address the needs of the Medicare population.
“Our tailored versions of Marketplace Search empower the members of Medicare Advantage plans with more choice and information when they’re searching for better prices on their prescription drugs, delivering savings for them and helping the plan with member retention,” said Waltz Health CEO and Co-founder Mark Thierer. “We’re honored to be working with such prestigious Medicare-focused health plan partners and look forward to helping them solve more unique use cases like coverage gaps.”
In addition to its recent deployments in the health plan segment, the company also has other unique versions of Marketplace Search deployed in four national pharmacy chains with thousands of locations nationwide, generating savings on average of $5 to $10 more per script than other single prescription drug savings card solutions. Concurrently, the company is working on a specialty-drug solution for health plans, which will provide more transparency, reduce medication costs, enhance member experience and improve health outcomes for complex specialty conditions that are driving the fastest prescription spend growth in healthcare.
About Waltz Health
Waltz Health is a digital health company developing consumer tools that support better-informed decisions on prescription care. Designed for consumers, payers and pharmacies, the company offers AI-driven marketplaces to lower costs, giving consumers access to better pricing options and more information while helping payers take control of their pharmacy benefits. Founded in 2021 by Mark Thierer and Jonathon Thierer, Waltz Health is headquartered in Chicago and is backed by GV, Define Ventures, Echo Health Ventures, Blue Venture Fund, Byers Capital and Twine Ventures. For more information, visit www.waltzhealth.com.
