Northwest Medical Specialties Partners with House Rx to Enhance Patient Care Through Medically Integrated Dispensing

NWMS to Adopt House Rx Technology and Pharmacy Service to Improve How Physician Practices Get Specialty Medicines to Patients

SAN FRANCISCO, March 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Medical Specialties (NWMS), a leading oncology practice with clinics in seven locations across Washington State, will partner with House Rx, a platform for medically integrated dispensing (MID) of specialty medication, House Rx announced today. By partnering with House Rx, NWMS' 14 medical oncologists and 14 advanced practice providers will have access to new technology and pharmacist support to enhance the practice's medically integrated dispensing offering to patients, enabling better patient care.

"I have seen firsthand the value medically integrated dispensing provides to both our patients and our team's ability to care for patients," said Mark Nelson, CEO of NWMS. "It improves patient care based on many factors, but in particular, because patients are able to obtain their oral medication much faster than through traditional specialty pharmacies. We decided to partner with House Rx because it was clear their technology and expertise will help us take our MID program at NWMS to the next level."

Research demonstrates that when patients obtain timely access to cancer treatments directly from their care team, they have better outcomes, including improved quality of life and increased survivability.

The "medically integrated dispensing" model is a simple idea where the physician, nursing staff, pharmacist and technician work together as one team to provide patient care. In addition to superior drug initiation turnaround time, other benefits of the model include reducing financial burden, better patient education, and reducing accumulation of expensive therapies (source). The model was pioneered in oncology — with NWMS being one of the first practices to adopt an integrated dispensing model — and the data from this care model are incredible, despite clinics working with antiquated technology and limited or no pharmacist support:

• 10+ days faster time to therapy (source)
• 25% better adherence rates (source)
• 50% better patient satisfaction score (MMIT Specialty Pharmacy Patient Satisfaction Survey November 2021)

"We believe we can help many more clinics successfully implement this approach, and importantly, assist clinics like NWMS who have already adopted this approach on their own do it more efficiently and effectively by giving them the modern technology and pharmacist support they need," said Tesh Khullar, Cofounder & President of House Rx. "We are excited to be partnering with NWMS, a flagship community oncology provider that has defined the quality of care for a long time."

House Rx's technology platform is designed to support all workflows in the medically integrated dispensing model and enables prescribers and pharmacists to collaborate via one integrated system. The platform also includes analytics to give clinics the real-time insights they need to continuously improve their dispensing operation and quality of care.

Since it launched in March 2021, House Rx has partnered with three other medical specialty practices in California and Washington.

About House Rx: 
House Rx is a technology-enabled service company focused on making specialty medication more accessible and affordable. We do so by helping clinics dispense specialty medications to their patients in a medically-integrated way using pharmacist expertise and modern technology. By helping physicians and pharmacists collaborate on patient care, we're able to improve patient outcomes, lower the cost of care, and create a better experience for patients and their caregivers. Learn more at www.houserx.com.

About Northwest Medical Specialties: 
Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC (NWMS), is a physician owned hematology oncology practice with 7 locations throughout the South Puget Sound in Washington state. NWMS is actively involved in over 35 phase I-III clinical trials and is one of the founding practices of Quality Cancer Care Alliance Network (QCCA.) NWMS participates in several quality cancer-care initiatives, such as the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation's Oncology Care Model, American Society of Clinical Oncology's Quality Oncology Practice Initiative, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Learn more at: www.nwmedicalspecialties.com.

SOURCE House Rx