An End-of-Year Note from CEO Heyward Donigan
It has been a busy and very productive year at Elixir, as we continue our RxEvolution that began in 2020. With this transformative process, we completed our rebrand to Elixir, integrating the best of our individual brands into one organization that is more closely aligned with our parent company, Rite Aid, offering best-in-class solutions to our clients and members.
We also announced our new mission to be the trusted everyday care connector that drives lower healthcare costs through better coordination, stronger engagement, and personalized services that help you—our clients and the members we serve—achieve whole health for life. Every day, we strive to deliver on this purpose.
Elixir has evolved in 2021 and the process will continue so we can be the pharmacy benefits partner of choice. Elixir is not just a PBM, but an integrated healthcare connector, driving member engagement, leading to better adherence and healthier outcomes. As such, here are a few key points about Elixir that reflects our progress:
Your business matters. We know that one size does not fit for all clients. So in 2021, we reorganized our account management teams to align by business segment. These specialists are dedicated to serving your particular market segment, understanding your business and your challenges and delivering pharmacy solutions that make sense for you. As a company that delivers full pharmacy benefit management capabilities, we consider each plan sponsor’s unique pharmacy management needs.
Proactively adding value. Finding value for our clients is always top of mind. In 2021, Elixir drove improvements in the supply chain, including rebates and network rates, which in turn allows us to improve service and savings for our clients. We also made formulary decisions to enable lowest net cost for our clients and their members.
Taking the initiative to be innovative. Elixir recognizes that client-driven innovation reflects client demand, and with fully integrated PBM tools, Elixir can support unique pharmacy management solutions. For example, in 2021, we started a pilot program with a 13,500-member health system client to expand our Managed Copay program to include the top non-specialty medications that drive spend, tracking manufacturer copay assistance for these drugs and the members’ true out-of-pocket costs. This pilot program saved the client $10,000 in the first two days after implementation and is expected to provide $1.05 per member per month, or more than $170,000 in total savings over the next year. With the initial success of this pilot, Elixir is currently exploring this enhanced option for other clients beginning in late 2022 to early 2023.
Continually improving services for you. Elixir is invested with its parent company, Rite Aid, to evolve all systems and processes to meet existing client demands, as well as emerging client needs. In 2021, we advanced our utilization of Lean, a management principle focused on reducing waste, increasing productivity and, ultimately, reducing costs. With this process, we improved our new client implementations, reducing the number of errors by 67%.
Elixir’s commitment to quality is second to none, whether that be in mail order, specialty or the call center to improve first call resolution. We will continue with Lean projects in 2022, using the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) methodology of problem solving to improve operations and deliver even more value to our clients and members.
Getting There Together
All of us at Elixir are excited about the year ahead. We have so much more planned that will help us deliver on our purpose of achieving whole health for life. From our Elixir family to yours, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season and a prosperous New Year. We look forward to continuing to partner with you to provide crafted solutions to your pharmacy benefits challenges in 2022.
