Taking Hospice Pharmacy Benefit Management to the Next Level
HospiScript’s beginnings were rooted in a small office in Jacksonville, Florida. A pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company serving hospices, the business lacked a sales team, a client service team and accounting systems. In 2003, when HospiScript’s original owners were looking for a partner, the company was losing clients. But New Capital Partners saw an opportunity to grow HospiScript and provide vital services to hospice clients and patients.
One of the first steps to reaching HospiScript’s potential was hiring a CEO to lead the company. NCP worked closely with a candidate, Shannon Speir, during the diligence process to negotiate new vendor contracts to improve the company’s profitability and competitiveness in the market. In December 2003, the transaction was completed, and Speir became the CEO of HospiScript. Speir said, “NCP gave us someone to bounce ideas off of who wasn’t caught up in the day-to-day, which was extremely helpful once we really got going.”
With Speir’s leadership, HospiScript immediately began recruiting and building a management team to professionalize and grow the business. In July 2004, HospiScript relocated from Jacksonville to Montgomery, Alabama, hired its first in-house clinical staff and began developing its sales and account management teams. After some initial customer churn, the business started to grow.
In 2005, HospiScript further improved its pharmacy network pricing and claims adjudication system, which helped the company enhance customer service, reporting capabilities and client resources while reducing overall cost of administration and building a scalable platform. Later that year, HospiScript opened a 24-hour call center in Montgomery. NCP aided HospiScript in the development of two new business lines: Premier Script and SeniorScript.
Along the way, NCP strived to be a partner to Speir and the HospiScript team. “It was great to be able to present challenges to a group who understood our business, but who also were out in the market constantly seeing how other businesses, other industries were tackling issues, so they always had fresh eyes,” Speir said of NCP.
HospiScript continued to thrive, growing top-line revenue 500% over five years, while at the same time helping clients reduce their drug expenses by 30 – 40% on a per patient, per day basis. HealthExtras acquired HospiScript in 2008.