Louisville, Ky.-based ScionHealth will begin purchasing certain bulk drugs from Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Co., the 94-hospital system said May 1. This marks Cost Plus Drugs' second health system partnership.
Drugs ScionHealth purchases in bulk through the new partnership will be delivered to Safecor Health's unit-dosing packaging centers, where they will be packaged, stored and shipped on the same day upon requests from the health system's locations. The health system began working with Safecor Health, which provides unit-dose packaging services, in September 2023.
The health system anticipates purchasing drugs from Cost Plus Drugs will drive cost savings and reduce medication waste. The health system has already started placing orders through the the Cost Plus Drugs marketplace, a spokesperson for the pharmaceutical company told Becker's.
"Across the industry and particularly in hospital settings, we are facing the challenges of rising drug and supply costs and navigating staffing shortages," ScionHealth CEO Rob Jay said in a statement. "ScionHealth is continually looking for innovative approaches to address these issues."
Mark Cuban's pharmaceutical company launched in January 2022 and now sells hundreds of generics and about 20 branded medications at a discounted rate, based on the following pricing model: manufacturing cost, plus a 15% markup, $5 pharmacy fee and $5 shipping fee.
In March, Cost Plus Drugs inked its first health system partnership with Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems. The health system has said it expects the partnership to lead to "significant advantages" for its hospitals. CHS is currently purchasing epinephrine and norepinephrine for nine of its hospitals in Texas and Pennsylvania from Cost Plus Drugs.