Partners Rx Management, LLC


	About Us History Philosophy Services Key Executives Contact Info Join Our Family News

Quick Links

Mail Order Form
Mail Order Form (Medicare)
Prescription Drug Claim Form
Specialty Drug Order Form
Formulary

Find a pharmacy

Search here for the Partners Rx participating pharmacy nearest you.

More Info

Meet a different kind of PBM.

We use that statement often and here is why:

Open-book financial management—There are no hidden deals or financial influences that could affect the cost of our clients’ prescription benefit plans.

Accountable—We pride ourselves in producing the lowest drug trend in the industry. Our goals and objectives are fully aligned with our clients. We further qualify our accountability by consistently providing the quality of service demanded by this highly competitive marketplace. We are an industry-leading pharmacy benefit management company. We prove this by achieving the Lowest Total Cost for our clients.

Consultative management—The PRx team consists of highly skilled and experienced veterans from across the PBM industry. Our people know pharmacy benefit management. We spend an extraordinary amount of time with our clients helping them maximize the value of their investment in a prescription benefit for their members.

We invite you to explore this site to get to know us a little better. Find out what we mean when we say, “We’re in this business together.”

A History of Trust.

Partners Rx was organized in 2001 during a turbulent time in the PBM industry. The cost of prescription drugs was escalating rapidly and prescription benefit management was growing more complex. Founders, Mark Mertel and Bob Field saw an opportunity to start a PBM that aligned its goals and objectives with its clients to reduce costs and build true partnerships.

From the very beginning, Partners Rx operated with a business model that embraced two important concepts: an open-book approach with its business partners, plus a prescription benefits management (PBM) model that focuses on controlling drug plan expenditures by managing the drug mix to the Lowest Total Cost. Today, the marketplace is following PRx’s lead in many respects. The difference is we have been utilizing our Lowest Total Cost model from our inception, putting us far ahead of the curve with demonstrated, proven results.

We have a strong and collaborative strategic partner in Prescription Solutions. Our strategic partner manages the benefits of more than 10 million members nationwide, including over 6 million Medicare Part D recipients. They process more than 27 million claims per month. Fully aligned with the Partners Rx Lowest Total Cost model, Prescription Solutions’ roots are in managed care, which offers our clients a partnership that understands the business needs for total pharmacy and medical management. We use this strength to best manage the drug mix and reduce drug ingredient costs by an average of 9.5% for our partner clients.

We receive the benefit of competitive pricing on medications and pass it along to our clients. And we have the advantage of the latest technological systems to accommodate the most complex clinical programs, such as Medicare Part D.

Since day one, the Partners Rx team has taken every step forward with its core belief in hand, “We’re in this business together.”

A Different Approach.

Partners Rx (PRx) set out to change the buying patterns that were deeply anchored in the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry. You may be familiar with the process of evaluating PBMs by a spreadsheet comparison that primarily looks at a few pricing components such as AWP discounts, dispensing fees and minimum rebate guarantees. Discount and fees only represent about 5% of the drug expenditure. What should matter to you, the plan sponsor, is the average cost of a therapeutic category and what drugs are actually being utilized. By focusing on drug mix and costs by therapeutic class, we have successfully maintained the lowest drug cost trends in the industry.

Partners Rx operates in a full disclosure and open book management environment to ensure that we align our goals and objectives with those of our clients. This openness with our clients has fostered the atmosphere of trust we enjoy today.

Our partnership strategy reduces the complexity of prescription benefit management. It encourages the exchange of ideas to solve problems together. Other PBMs may sell value through high discounts, low administrative fees, low dispense fees and large rebate payments. We see value in competitive pricing strategies and rebates on appropriate medications, but at PRx , we focus on drug mix, the greatest slice of the drug cost pie by far at 95%. The question we ask ourselves everyday is how can we manage the drug mix better to further our clients’ goal of achieving the Lowest Total Cost? Partners Rx has demonstrated that its strategy has proven to be successful delivering trends in total pharmacy spend (including utilization) at 4.5% and 2.2% for 2004 and 2005 respectively on our entire book of business.

Mission Statement

The Partners Rx Mission Statement

At Partners Rx, we put our clients’ needs first by providing the most clinically appropriate medications at the lowest possible cost. “We’re in this business together.”...this is more than just words; it’s the spirit of our organization.

Management as a Service.

The greatest value we can offer our partner-clients is the savings they realize through the services we provide.We help you manage your prescription benefit plans by offering a comprehensive suite of services. Here are a few:

National Retail Pharmacy Network
Fully Integrated Mail Order Services
Specialty Rx
Claims Processing
Account Management
Client Services
Web-based Programs and Services
Wellness Programs
Clinical Management Programs
Prospective, Concurrent and Retrospective Drug Utilization Review
Formulary and Rebate Management Services
Step Therapy
Prior Authorization
Disease Management Programs
Comprehensive Reporting Packages and Analytics Capabilities

We want to make sure you are getting the most comprehensive set of prescription benefit management programs and services and the greatest return on investment for your prescription benefit management dollars.

Key Executives

Mark Mertel, Chairman
Robert W. Field, President and CEO
Edward T. Printy, CPA, Chief Financial Officer
Matthew P. Ward, Senior VP of Sales and Chief Marketing Officer
Lori Bymark, MSIA, Vice President of Operations
Steven G. Avey, Vice President, Managed Care
Richard Bullard, R.Ph., Chief Pharmacy Officer

Mark Mertel, Chairman

Mark heads up Diversified HealthCare Services, Inc. (DHS), the parent company of Partners Rx Management, LLC. Mark leads the DHS senior management team and is responsible for the strategic planning and development of industry partner relationships. His primary role is to ensure that DHS lives out its mission of building businesses with partners by creating innovative strategies and processes that bring value to its clients.

Mark founded DHS in 1994 as the corporate parent for a family of companies. His current holdings include: Tactical-NYU, a marketing company for excess loss insurance; Wholesale Benefits Club, Inc. a consumer card company supplying discounts on quality health care products and services; Agency Resource Group, Inc. a company providing resources for health insurance agencies; and Partners Rx Management, LLC, the pharmacy benefit management company.

Mark holds a B.A. in Business from Alfred University.

Key Executives

Edward T. Printy, CPA, Chief Financial Officer

Edward has enjoyed a successful career as a financial manager in the manufacturing, real estate development and health insurance industries. Ed’s primary functions have been in the operating environment with a strong focus on operational analysis, planning and budgeting activities. His expertise, experience and divisional outputs provide a critical component to the executive management team in financial decision making to ensure the continued success of Partners Rx.

Joining Mark Mertel and his Family of Companies in 1988, Ed has functioned as Vice President, Finance for a third party administrator (TPA), a managing general underwriter (MGU) and a utilization review/large case management company (UR/LCM) over the past fourteen years. He manages the accounting and treasury activities of all the firms, including Partners Rx.

Ed graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in Marketing and the University of Northern Iowa with a MBA (concentration in Finance). He became a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Arizona in 1980. He is a member of the Arizona Society of CPAs.

Key Executives

Robert W. Field, President and CEO

Bob is a co-founder of Partners Rx (PRx) and has been its President and CEO since its inception in 2001.

Venturing into the PBM business nearly 30 years ago, Bob spent 11 years as a key executive with PCS (now Caremark). He championed the development of the RECAP system that revolutionized the pharmacy claims processing industry. Following his career at PCS, Bob founded Perform Cost Management as President and CEO. Perform grew to more than three million members in three years before it was sold. Bob spent several years as a consultant in the pharmacy benefit management arena prior to founding PRx with Mark Mertel.

Bob earned a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from Rockhurst College. He was on the Board of the National Council for Prescription Drug Plans for several years and served as its Chairman in 1990.

Key Executives

Matthew P. Ward, Senior VP of Sales and Chief Marketing Officer

Matt has been with Partners Rx Management (PRx) since it was founded in 2001. He and his sales team are responsible for PRx’s sustained growth and its success in becoming a nationally recognized and respected prescription benefit management company.

Matt’s diverse professional career began as a finance director and senior credit officer in the automotive industry. He later moved to sales management positions in banking. Prior to joining PRx, Matt honed his skills through several years in group health benefits, growing his professional sales and senior management experience in general underwriting, utilization and pharmacy benefit management.

Today, Matt’s team focuses on marketing, selling and delivering PRx’s unique model for pharmacy benefit management to third-party administrators, managed care organizations and employer groups.

Matt holds B.S. degrees in Economics and Business Administration from Fort Lewis College.

Key Executives

Lori Bymark, MSIA, Vice President of Operations

Lori has spent more than 20 years in health care management, where she built a diverse portfolio of experience across pharmacy benefit management, pharmaceutical manufacturing, health plan administration and health care service technology.

She began her career in customer service and marketing for Physicians of Minnesota (now United Healthcare). Later, she gained valuable experience at Eli Lilly and Company. Lori’s career advanced at PCS (now Caremark), where she led the company’s nationwide clinical consulting program.

Prior to joining Partners Rx, Lori was Vice President of Marketing and Clinical Services at MedVantx, Inc., a start-up company that works with health plans to provide samples of generic medications as first-line therapy at the point-of-care in physician offices.

Lori earned a B.A. in Political Science from Gustavus Adolphus College and an M. A. in Industrial Administration from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

Key Executives

Steven G. Avey, Vice President, Managed Care

Steve is responsible for overseeing all strategic marketing and sales for health plan prospects at Partners Rx. He is also responsible for training the PRx sales staff and support team in issues and principles of managed care.

Prior to joining Partners Rx., Steve served for 5 years as the executive director of the Foundation for Managed Care Pharmacy (FMCP), where he was responsible for the foundation’s research and education agenda. Under his direction, FMCP presented more than 30 training programs for pharmacists and physicians on the most appropriate review process for new medication formulary placement. Prior to his assignment at FMCP, Steve was Vice President of Data Services, the PBM division of Prospective Health Inc. (PHI) in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Steve received a B.S. in Pharmacy and an M.A. in Pharmacy Administration from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a nationally recognized speaker on a variety of managed care subjects. Steve continuously works at pursuing his mission to provide innovative and industry-leading formulary management practices.

Key Executives

Richard Bullard, R.Ph., Chief Pharmacy Officer

Dick is responsible for the clinical oversight of PRx’s pharmacy benefit management programs. He leads the development of clinical programs to improve member health through an integrated approach to healthcare, capitalizing on innovations in medicine, pharmacy and information technology.

Dick also provides support to PRx’s account management teams, client services, analytics, marketing and sales. His unique perspective and expertise brings a powerful mix of clinical, business and customer service skills that advance PRx’s pharmacy solutions for its clients and their members.

Dick brought more than 33 years of health care industry experience when he joined PRx in 2004. His breadth of experience includes 7 years at PCS (now Caremark). That tenure included the positions of AVP of account management, clinical account executive and clinical director. Dick’s professional and business experience also draws from community, hospital and long term care areas of practice.

Dick earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.

Join our family.

Partners Rx is a different kind of PBM, so we’re interested in working with people who think differently. If you think you want to be in this business together, please contact Human Resources for opportunities to join our family.