CenterWell Pharmacy Expands Access to Obesity Medications Through Employer Program: Aleata Postell

CenterWell Pharmacy, a Humana-owned specialty and home delivery pharmacy, announced a strategic expansion to dispense Eli Lilly’s FDA-approved obesity management medications as part of a new employer-focused program administered through third-party benefit administrators. By integrating these therapies into employer plan–sponsored obesity management carve-outs, CenterWell aims to enhance access, affordability, and prescription fulfillment for eligible employees while strengthening employer partnerships in managing chronic conditions, says Aleata Postell, senior vice president of pharmacy business development, CenterWell Pharmacy.

This transcript was lightly edited; captions were auto-generated.

Transcript

What was the primary motivation behind CenterWell’s decision to partner with employers to dispense obesity management medications?

Knowing that employers have been facing unsustainable pharmacy growth, this is something that we've talked about in the past; in fact, over the last year, in the fall, I had an opportunity to speak at a conference, Becker’s, where we were talking through with several attendees about really the rising costs that employers are seeing, especially when it comes to prescription drugs. We know that prescription drugs continue to be the fastest-growing component of the health benefit, and so there is definitely a need for predictability. How do they manage the cost, and what are ways to go about it? For us, the motivation was to provide an alternative model for the employers to be able to benefit from. And then we knew with GLP-1s [glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists], there was so much that was going on in the market related to GLP-1 affordability, with 79% of employers reporting that they saw increased usage, and then also the affordability of the medication for those that may not have coverage that we're going to cash options. How we could bring the direct-to-consumer model to the employers was the first thing that we were looking at when we started our conversations with Lilly.

Can you describe how the program will work in practice for employees?

With the model there are approved entities that an employer can go to [for their employees]. Some of them are a subscription model; others are primary care telehealth practices where the patient can get their medication prescribed. Once they have met with a prescriber, that entity will then forward that medication or that prescription to us, and then we'll get in contact with the patient, and everything we do today, with the pharmacy, engaging with them to let them know when the drug is ready, we have pharmacists that will actually offer clinical support. We also have care navigators to help the patient in navigating their health journey as well. Everything that you would expect from a pharmacy, they will continue to get that from us. The way that they will start will be through the approved entities that Lilly has identified to be able to offer the service.