Several years ago, I blogged about a PBM-powered coupon-generating app and website operated by WellDyne, which was from one of the smaller Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and the coupon-generating app was known as WellCardRx. WellDyne is a smaller, more-transparent PBM which says it avoids rebates which defines its bigger PBM rivals. At the time, nearly every major PBM—except for CVS Caremark—had its own discount card platform. That trend has since faded. For example, United Healthcare's OptumRx sold OptumPerks to RVO Health, LLC in 2023, and Cigna's Express Scripts stopped using its mail-order pharmacy to fulfill orders from its own InsideRx coupon platform.
WellDyne, however, continues to operate its own mail-order pharmacy business called HealthDyne. The branding between WellDyne and HealthDyne is quite similar (for example, the names for both are in lower-case letters, and use a similar color scheme), underscoring their shared corporate identity. HealthDyne is based in Lakeland, Florida (between Tampa and Orlando) and serves as the pharmacy fulfillment arm of WellDyne, a PBM which was originally founded in 1990 as WellDyne Rx, Inc. and WellDyneRx, LLC. In 2016, WellDyne was acquired by the private equity firm known as The Carlyle Group.
Although data on WellDyne's PBM operations is rather limited, the Drug Channels Institute (DCI) reported in 2021 that as a PBM, it covered about 2.5 million lives, including roughly 700,000 commercial lives. DCI—itself now owned by HMP Global—was previously run by Pembroke Consulting, whose founder Adam J. Fein and his wife Paula still contribute to the blog. For comparison, Navitus Health Solutions, another smaller PBM co-owned by SSM Health and Costco Wholesale, had about 7 million covered lives, including 2.5 million commercial lives in 2021.
Fast forward to June 7, 2023: HealthDyne and Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC) announced a new pharmacy fulfillment partnership (see the press release at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mark-cuban-cost-plus-drug-company-and-healthdyne-announce-pharmacy-partnership-301844354.html). The deal positioned HealthDyne to expand Cost Plus Drugs' pharmacy operations, by leveraging HealthDyne's underlying infrastructure, technology and expertise.
While the press release never mentioned MCCPDC's previous fulfillment vendor known as TruePill, the timing suggests a transition. TruePill had previously fulfilled orders for Cost Plus Drugs, but it merged into a new entity called Fuze Health by mid-2023. Fuze Health also now owns the mail order pharmacy known as Aalto Pharmacy (which originally claimed to serve people with conditions such as diabetes) and LetsGetChecked. With Cost Plus Drugs growing so rapidly, the company likely sought a new fulfillment partner better suited to its evolving needs.
This transition may explain an order disruption I personally experienced when buying from Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Back in August 2023, I blogged about how Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company had taken my order, then unexpectedly listed my prescription as "Out of stock" (catch my post about that at https://blog.sstrumello.com/2023/08/when-mark-cuban-cost-plus-drug-company.html for more details) when it had already accepted my reorder request. The lack of an ETA and sudden unavailability was frustrating at the time, but now it appears that the shift from TruePill to HealthDyne as the fulfillment source may have been the underlying cause.
Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company has frequently been cited (including by me personally) as a disruptive force for good in the deeply dysfunctional U.S. prescription drug distribution system. By eliminating middlemen and offering transparent pricing—actual drug costs plus a 15% markup, $5 pharmacy fee, and $5 shipping—the company has challenged entrenched PBM practices and made many medications vastly more affordable for millions of Americans. For people with chronic conditions like Type 1 diabetes, where access to insulin and other life-saving medications and things like testing supplies is non-negotiable, partnerships like the one with HealthDyne appears to played a meaningful role toward better patient access and affordability. While I wish there had been more transparency about what I was experiencing at the time, this appears to be the likely explanation.
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