Employers Health and Judi Health are teaming up to launch StarkRx, a new cost-plus benefit offering designed to drive transparency for employers.
The approach unites the expertise of Employers Health as a group purchasing organization for pharmacy benefits that's backed by employers with the technology available through Judi. The goal, the partners said, is to ensure that self-funded employers have greater access to transparency data that they can use to identify and manage cost drivers.
Employers are expect another year of significant healthcare costs increases in 2027, with pharmaceuticals serving as a major factor behind the trend. A recent analysis from Marsh (formerly Mercer) estimated that costs could increase by 8.2% next year.
Advanced, high-cost therapies and GLP-1 medications were both cited as key cost drivers in that analysis.
"Employers Health clients have worked collaboratively for more than three decades to purchase PBM services," Chris Goff, CEO of Employers Health, said in an announcement. "This new offering, with Judi Health's award-winning technology platform as the engine, allows our clients to work together to find innovators in the market and move faster to implement solutions to today's challenges."
Through StarkRx, employers can tap into a broad pharmacy network that's reimbursed in a cost-plus model, and they're able to plug in third-party vendors for specialty drug management if they choose. Specialty pharmacy products will also be available in a cost-plus model through Amazon Pharmacy or Evernorth's Accredo.
StarkRx will also allow employers to use a centralized system for account management and participant care teams, per the announcement.
As costs rise, employers are increasingly considering the switch to an alternative pharmacy benefit manager—rather than continuing with the legacy Big Three organizations—or adopting new reimbursement or care management models.
This trend has allowed more nascent players like Judi to grow, and the company's recent rebrand has focused on its capabilities to bring medical and pharmaceutical benefits together. It's modern, tech-enabled PBM foundation supports transparency like that which is embedded in StarkRx.
"Employers deserve transparency, accountability and technology that works in their best interests," said Judi Health's chief commercial officer, Kristin Begley, in the announcement.