CMS’ New Value-Based Payment Program is a Catalyst for Tabula Rasa HealthCare

MOORESTOWN, N.J., April 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (TRHC) (NASDAQ: TRHC), a leading provider of technology-enabled solutions to mitigate medication risk and reduce medical costs, commends a new initiative from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to introduce new payment models for primary care that will require payment for health and outcomes rather than fee-for-service.

According to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, these models represent the biggest step ever taken toward building an American healthcare system that pays for value. The CMS projects that the new voluntary programs will shift at least a quarter of people in traditional Medicare out of fee-for-service, which will motivate providers to compete for these beneficiaries and be rewarded for their ability to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital, among other quality measures.

“This shift to fee-for-outcomes presents an enormous opportunity for TRHC to benefit more patients and providers with its novel medication decision support tools and MedWise™ software, which analyzes multi-drug regimens to detect and reduce dangerous drug interactions,” said Calvin Knowlton, PhD, CEO and Founder of Tabula Rasa Healthcare. “As pharmacists and clinicians in the U.S. and abroad continue to adopt the TRHC MedWise platform, value-based providers will be able to show a tangible increase in quality of care, reductions in hospitalizations, and lower medical costs.”

According to the CMS, their experience with innovative models, programs and demonstrations to date have shown that when incentives for primary care clinicians are aligned to reward the provision of high value care, the quality and cost effectiveness of patient care improves.

As part of the policy changes, there will be a Direct Contracting (DC) payment model option aimed to engage a wider variety of organizations that have experience taking on financial risk and serving larger patient populations, such as Accountable Care Organizations, Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicaid managed care organizations. In the DC payment model option, organizations offering greater efficiencies and better quality of care will be financially rewarded.

Currently, TRHC provides a variety of services to health plans, Medicare Advantage Part D Plans, accountable care organizations, at-risk provider organizations, hospitals and community pharmacy markets, reaching over 10,000 pharmacies and more than 15,000 pharmacists. TRHC’s proprietary Medication Risk Mitigation technology, MedWise, has been proven to prevent adverse drug events – the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. – and has been shown to correlate directly with better quality of care and lower medical expenditures.  

About Tabula Rasa HealthCare
Tabula Rasa HealthCare (NASDAQ:TRHC) is a leader in providing patient-specific, data-driven technology and solutions that enable healthcare organizations to optimize medication regimens to improve patient outcomes, reduce hospitalizations, lower healthcare costs and manage risk.  Medication risk management is TRHC’s lead offering, and its cloud-based software applications provide solutions for a range of payers, providers and other healthcare organizations. For more information, visit: www.TRHC.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements that we believe to be reasonable as of today’s date, including statements regarding Medication Risk Mitigation technology.  Such statements are identified by use of the words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” and similar expressions.  These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release.  Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the need to innovate and provide useful products and services; risks related to changing healthcare and other applicable regulations; increasing consolidation in the healthcare industry; managing our growth effectively; our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our filings with the SEC,  including those factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on March 1, 2019, and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of the TRHC website http://ir.trhc.com or upon request from our Investor Relations Department. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was made. TRHC assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law, to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today’s date.