Recently it was announced that Walgreens and Blue Cross-owned PBM Prime Therapeutics would partner in a combined specialty and mail services company aimed at assisting health plan enrollees in adhering to medications, making healthcare more affordable, and more.

Prime Therapeutics is owned by more than a dozen Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans, and is a large pharmacy benefit manager. Its most well-known competitors include CVS Health’s Caremark PBM, UnitedHealth Group’s Optum RX, and Express Scripts. The focus is to obtain better deals for health plans and employers in regards to the costs of prescription medications.

With more than 8,000 Walgreens nationwide, the efforts are in hopes of delivering value, care, and service to the communities and patients the company serves according to Alex Gourlay, co-chief operating officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance.

In a Walgreens press release, the drugstore chain said the alliance between the two would align pharmacy, PBM and health plans to improve health outcomes, coordinate patient care, and deliver cost of care opportunities.

CEO and president of Prime Therapeutics, Jim DuCharme, said that strong and decisive action must be taken to make healthcare more affordable, considering costs are rising at unsustainable rates. DuCharme compared rising drug costs to a runaway freight train, saying the partnership is an effort to apply the brakes.

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