Evernorth, the health services division of The Cigna Group, launched a new AI-powered program for specialty pharmacy on Thursday called Pharmacy Forward. The program is backed by a $100 million investment through 2028.
Evernorth serves 190 million people and offers pharmacy, care and benefits solutions. Pharmacy Forward is initially launching with Evernorth’s Accredo Specialty Pharmacy, which serves about 1 million patients battling chronic and complex specialty conditions. Evernorth plans to expand the program to its other pharmacy operations in the future.
The program leverages AI in four key areas, according to Matt Perlberg, president of the Evernorth Health Services pharmacy and care delivery businesses:
- Care enablement: Pharmacy Forward provides clinical insights, AI-generated summaries and predictive analytics to help clinicians identify patients who are at risk of adverse events and intervene earlier. This also reduces the administrative burden on physicians.
“About 15% of our clinicians’ time is spent on administrative tasks. … What Pharmacy Forward will help us do is reduce that administrative burden, so that our clinicians can get back to doing what they do best, which is take care of patients,” Perlberg said in an interview.
- Experience accelerators: The program uses AI to get to patients earlier and personalize care. Perlberg gave the example of an AI-enabled scheduling tool that ensures patients are being contacted during their preferred call windows.
- Rx readiness: Pharmacy Forward uses AI to support prior authorization submissions, copay assistance eligibility and speed up the time it takes for patients to receive their medication.
“We are going to cut the time that it takes for patients to receive their medication after we get the referral in half, so we’re going to help patients receive their medications much sooner,” Perlberg declared.
- One Fulfillment Network: Evernorth has about 40 different care delivery sites across the U.S. where it dispenses complex specialty drugs. The company is making investments in these sites so that 90% of patients are within a same or next-day ground shipping radius.
Evernorth anticipates that Pharmacy Forward will bring $400 million in value by the end of 2028, according to the announcement. To measure the success of the program, Evernorth will track medication adherence, patient net promoter score and how quickly it can get medications to patients, Perlberg said.
Ultimately, Evernorth hopes Pharmacy Forward can drive “better and faster patient care,” he stated.
“This is a big innovation, and it’s one that’s going to allow us to deliver a simpler, better and faster care treatment journey for our patients,” Perlberg said.
Photo: ismagilov, Getty Images
