Qwark Health Launches Direct-to-Consumer Pharmacy to Lower Prescription Prices and Reduce Abandonment
SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 15, 2021 (Newswire.com) - Qwark recently launched its digital pharmacy platform in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts to provide patients a great way to compare insurance and cash prices on generic prescriptions, choose delivery options, and manage all their prescriptions in a single location. The company is also building a unique network of local pharmacies with guaranteed drug pricing for the patients, should they choose to go to a local pharmacy to pick up their prescriptions.
Qwark is also working very closely with various doctor offices and clinics to provide a support infrastructure for patients who are uninsured, have high-deductible health plans, or are looking for convenience. The unique program reduces the friction associated with filling medications with ease, on time, and for the right price.
"While there are several digital pharmacies out there, we think we are very different. We started the pharmacy from scratch and decided to rethink each and every aspect right from services offered to workflow to patient care to outcomes. We are a modern and technologically savvy pharmacy that gives the feel of the corner pharmacy that so many of us grew up with," says Qwark CEO Abhi Jha. "Before the idea of Qwark germinated, we did an analysis of out-of-pocket costs for various types of drugs. In that study of over a million pharmacy claims across the U.S., we were stunned to see that drugs with a wholesale cost of $2 were being sold to patients at up to a 1000% markup. Even some of the well-known discount cards available were introducing a lot of middlemen and eating away at the value for both the patients as well as the pharmacies. We plan to directly pass the value to the patient."
The Founders of Qwark saw this out-of-pocket cost burden as one of the key drivers for about 200M prescriptions abandoned each year. To solve this, Qwark is bringing a true cost-plus model to the market, where one can get drugs such as Metformin, Lisinopril, and more for $2.99 / month, shipped.
To get started on Qwark, consumers can just text "Price <medication name>" to 860-RX-CHECK and get the price back for a particular generic medication or text "Switch" to transfer prescriptions to Qwark. Qwark's workflow also allows patients the ability to just use text for ordering, refilling, and transferring prescriptions. Qwark has also built a unique savings calculator that allows patients to put in all their generic prescriptions, their corresponding out-of-pocket costs and determine their potential savings.
Qwark's Director of Pharmacy, Sreevani Singaraju, says, "I have spent all my professional life working very closely with patients and focusing on improving outcomes for each individual patient. I'm excited to bring that same rigor to Qwark." She likes to say that "Chemistry states the more energy you put into a bond, the harder it is to break," and she strives to make a very strong bond with every single patient she sees at Qwark.
Jha and his co-founder have over 30 years of cumulative experience in Healthcare, including at large drug distributors and retail pharmacy chains. And they want to apply that experience to build this new pharmacy model that serves the patients right.
"Look, we are having a lot of fun constantly iterating and building a great new Pharmacy. We Qwarkers are quirky and think out of the box all the time. We are looking forward to making a small dent in the Pharmacy universe," signs off Jha.
For more information visit www.qwarkhealth.com.
Source: Qwark Health