Louisville's Baptist Health hopes new partnership will lower costs for specialty drugs

Louisville-based health care system Baptist Health teamed up with Boston-based Clearway Health in an effort to lower prescription drug costs for patients with serious medical conditions.

The partnership, announced July 18, is meant to help Baptist Health offer wider varieties of specialty medications at more affordable rates to patients, according to a news release. Clearway Health said it would help Baptist Health add more insurance plans that provide coverage for medications stocked in Baptist Health's pharmacies.

Nilesh Desai, chief pharmacy officer at Baptist Health, said the new partnership with Clearway Health could generate an additional $100 million in revenue in one year, allowing the system to "continue to provide essential healthcare services for the communities it serves."

"Baptist Health is transforming specialty pharmacy services — not only for our health system, but for hospitals across the country in setting a new industry standard," Desai said in a statement. "Having an expert partner like Clearway Health to navigate challenging payor networks is a tremendous advantage for our program's growth.

The collaboration could also benefit the La Grange pharmacy Baptist Health opened in June, which was designed to be a "medication hub for all nine of the healthcare system's hospitals," according to a news release.

More about the pharmacy: Baptist Health opens doors to a $40 million pharmacy hub in Oldham County. What to know

In a statement from Clearway Health, Allison Arant, the company's senior vice president of client development and marketing, said that in the first 30 days of the partnership, Clearway and Baptist Health "unlocked access to the first payor and look forward to continued growth and success together."

"We're honored to serve as Baptist Health's partner as they launch the fast-tracked expansion of their program," Arant said.