Humana partners with Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs on technology, distribution

By Amina Niasse

NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) – Humana announced on Monday it will launch a pharmacy partnership with Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, with the health conglomerate’s CenterWell pharmacy unit serving as a distributor for the platform.

CenterWell will begin using SwiftyRx, Cost Plus Drugs’ digital platform, to process prescriptions. The partnership will also allow Humana to offer mail-order prescriptions to qualifying company employees enrolled in Humana’s employee health plans.

• Humana said the digital partnership will reduce costs by increasing operational efficiency, such as automatically confirming a patient’s health plan benefits.

• Cost Plus Drugs, founded by billionaire Mark Cuban, adds a fixed markup to drugs the online pharmacy offers: “Everyone should be able to get safe, affordable medication,” Cuban said in the release.

• About 85% of Humana’s business is made up of government-sponsored plans. In 2023, the company said it planned to largely exit employer-based plans.

• Humana said it aims to develop with Cost Plus Drugs a new structure for employer-sponsored health plans.

• SwiftyRx uses AI to automatically verify prescriptions, check benefits and transfer scripts between pharmacies.

(Reporting by Amina Niasse; Editing by Joe Bavier)