Synchronization is an important concept for Phil Baker’s nonprofit and now employer-focused pharmacy vision.
Pharmacy processes that proved successful at Good Shepherd Pharmacy led to launching a new venture, HaloScrips.
In 2015, Baker founded Good Shepherd, a membership pharmacy for uninsured patients. Early in 2020, he founded HaloScrips, which serves insured patients and employer groups.
A key to keeping costs down for Good Shepherd was the genesis for HaloScrips.
Since 2017, Good Shepherd has kept more than 700 patients’ prescriptions on four ship dates per year thus reducing overhead costs.
And now, HaloScrips is dispensing that group synchronization approach as an attractive option to employers.
“We're able to say to employers: We're going to give you one pharmacy bill every 90 days and sell all drugs at cost with no markup,” Baker said. “By doing group synchronization, we can get prices below market costs.”
HaloScrips receives a percentage of the savings the employer gets from the service. The startup touts saving employers up to 35% of their total medication spend.
'First point of contact'
By necessity, group synchronization worked for Good Shepherd. The nonprofit needed a lean operation.
But, expanding that concept into what became HaloScrips first required testing.
For two years, Baker and his team worked with Barnhart Crane & Rigging — one of Memphis’ largest private companies — to “make sure the numbers worked,” Baker said.
HaloScrips launched with one sizable customer — an Accenture subsidiary in Baltimore — growing to serve 100 patients by year-end.
The bulk of 2020 was spent getting customer service right, given HaloScrips’ concierge pharmacy model.
Their first customer came from Employee Benefit Services (EBS) of Maryland. And now, EBS has shepherded eight more clients to HaloScrips.
“We're looking this year to [serve] at least four to five times the number of patients that we're handling [now],” Baker said. “We're looking to grow as fast as we can.”
He called HaloScrips “high-touch” with an emphasis on being a text message away for patients while dispelling the negative perception of mail-order pharmacies.
Initially, the startup provided chronic and reoccurring mediation fulfillment but that has since expanded.
“What we found was since we're that first point of contact, we can bring all sorts of other services to the table, and [patients] will be much more likely to engage with them,” Baker said.
Lessons from Good Shepherd allow for matching patients with specialty medication assistance programs, for example.
“Humira is one of the most common specialty meds. Every CEO is going to know about Humira. It's about $6,000 a month,” Baker said. “When we convert an employee into an assistance program, we save $75,000 a year — 100% savings.”
Moving meds
Good Shepherd and HaloScrips are currently located on the third floor of Southern College of Optometry (SCO)'s space at 1256 Union Ave.
Their current SCO space was funded via a three-year grant, which is coming to an end.
Baker has his eye on 2,500 square feet of space in the Medical District for a move into what will be customized space for his seven employees — four with Good Shepherd and three with HaloScrips.
The two entities share more than just an operational model. Good Shepherd provides fulfillment for HaloScrips. And, the nonprofit side benefits.
Each HaloScrips prescription has a $15 dispensing fee, providing revenue to Good Shepherd, which is now 75% self-funded by operating income.
“The hope is that we could contract with charity pharmacies all over the country in this way [and] give them a means to generate revenue,” Baker said.
And, as HaloScrips expands its customer base, its fulfillment network expands, too.
In January 2021, HaloScrips partnered with Diamond Pharmacy Services — one of the largest independent pharmacies in the U.S. — on a distribution agreement providing key national licensure coverage in 50 states.
“We can service any employer in any state [now],” Baker said.
