News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Alven Weil
Premier Inc.
704.733.5797
Oregon public employees to have wider access to lower-priced prescription drugs through OPDP, Wellpartner affiliation with the Premier healthcare alliance
CHARLOTTE, N.C. and PORTLAND, Ore. (December 21, 2009) – Public employees in the state of Oregon will soon have access to a wider range of prescription medication at lower costs.
Oregon-based public employees receiving prescription drugs as part of their benefits program will have the opportunity to leverage the full portfolio of Premier Purchasing Partners pharmaceutical contracts, announced through the addition of a new Premier group affiliate, the Oregon Prescription Drug Program (OPDP).
Based in Portland, Ore., the OPDP and Wellpartner, a nationally recognized provider of pharmacy distribution solutions for health plans, Medicaid programs and safety-net organizations throughout the country, initiated discussions with several healthcare group purchasing organizations before selecting Premier Purchasing Partners, a division of the Premier healthcare alliance, a quality and cost improvement alliance.
"I was nothing short of delighted that Premier showed the same enthusiasm that we have over this new business opportunity that will save the state of Oregon money on its pharmacy programs," said Missy Dolan, OPDP administrator.
Said Premier Purchasing Partners President Mike Alkire, "The goal of this partnership is to make prescription drugs more available and affordable for teachers, public workers and other employees of the state of Oregon. Leveraging the buying power of the 2,200 hospitals and 63,000 non-acute care facilities in the Premier alliance allows the OPDP to do just that."
In 2003, the Oregon Legislature authorized the formation of the OPDP, a prescription drug purchasing pool, to help increase access to prescription drugs by the uninsured and lower costs for state and city governments to help them stay within budgeted goals. Earlier this year, the state of Oregon passed historic health reform legislation, creating the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). The OHA is responsible for streamlining and aligning state health purchasers and programs to maximize efficiency, and organize state health policy and health services. It is also responsible for implementing health reform policies and programs.
Oregon Education Benefit Board employees will roll into the model first, with other state agency employees following throughout 2010. In 2009, the Oregon state employee pharmaceutical spend totaled approximately $850 million.
About Wellpartner Purchasing
Wellpartner is a nationally recognized provider of pharmacy distribution
solutions for health plans, Medicaid programs and safety-net organizations
throughout the country. Dedicated to lowering the cost of medications,
Wellpartner offers innovative approaches that improve pharmacy care for
individuals through the use of home delivery pharmacy fulfillment and retail
contract pharmacy services. Wellpartner is the largest independent provider of
contract pharmacy program services in the nation, including those for the
federal 340B drug discount program, a prescription discount program available to
more than 6,000 institutions serving 17 million patients annually in the U.S.
Wellpartner has been recognized as one of the fastest growing private companies
in Oregon, and has been ranked in Inc. Magazine's list of the 500 fastest
growing companies in the U.S. Please visit
www.wellpartner.com for additional company information.
About the Oregon Prescription Drug Board
In 2003, the Oregon Legislature authorized the formation of the OPDP, a
prescription drug purchasing pool, to help increase access to prescription drugs
by the uninsured and lower costs for state and city governments to help them
stay within budgeted goals. The Oregon Prescription Drug Program meets these
goals by pooling prescription drug purchasing power, using evidence-based
research to develop a preferred drug list of lowest cost drugs, securing
competitive discounts with pharmacies and bringing transparent pharmacy benefit
management services to groups. They hope to unite Oregon's prescription drug
purchasers to leverage the best prices on the most effective medicines.
About the Premier healthcare alliance, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient
Premier is a performance improvement alliance of more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals
and 80,000-plus other healthcare sites using the power of collaboration to lead
the transformation to high quality, cost-effective care. Owned by hospitals,
health systems and other providers, Premier maintains the nation's most
comprehensive repository of clinical, financial and outcomes information and
operates a leading healthcare purchasing network. A world leader in helping
deliver measurable improvements in care, Premier has worked with the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United Kingdom's National
Health Service North West to improve hospital performance. Headquartered in
Charlotte, N.C., Premier also has an office in
Washington.
https://premierinc.com. Stay connected with Premier on
Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube.