Aureus Health Services Enters the Specialty Hub Market

Aureus Health Services, launched through the acquisition of specialty pharmacies Town Total Health and Special Design Health Care launched its new HUB service platform.

Aureus Health Services is a specialty pharmacy and health management company that provides drug fulfillment and other solutions designed to address the complexity of specialty medications and health conditions for patients, medical professionals, healthcare payors and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Aureus operates two lines of business: Aureus Specialty Pharmacy Services and Aureus Health Management.

Aureus Specialty Pharmacy Services is Aureus’ specialty pharmacy division that dispenses and delivers specialty medications to patients living with chronic health conditions such as Cancer, Crohn’s Disease, Hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, Psoriasis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cystic Fibrosis and Solid Organ Transplantation.

Aureus has six dispensing facilities located in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Missouri.

Aureus Health Management is a provider of health services designed primarily for pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as consumer retail chains that operate pharmacies without specialty pharmacy capabilities.

These services include centralized HUB programs that manage specialty distribution networks, patient access and support, benefits investigations and other administrative services typically associated with high cost and/or complex medications.

Additional services include Patient Assistance Programs, Free Product Programs, Clinical Trial support programs and others to aid in the commercialization of newly approved and/or mature pharmaceutical products.

Specialty distributors, specialty pharmacies, and health care providers are all competing for a dominant position in drug delivery and reimbursement. Increasingly, influence from nonsupply chain participants is shaping future considerations for specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers.

There is a small number companies working in the specialty pharmaceutical market that are often called Reimbursement Hubs, although the phrase does not fully describe their work. Also known as integrated service providers, they are hired and funded by biopharmaceutical manufacturers. The Reimbursement Hubs perform somewhat behind the scenes offering a range of activities for payers, patients, and providers related to reimbursement and patient access support services.

Specialty Hubs work with a physician’s office to provide a single point of contact and referral, reducing the patient administrative management burden on a physician’s office. They also play a role with patient data.

Specialty Hubs also are involved in activities that may duplicate those of a specialty pharmacy. They work to help extend a manufacturer’s limited network by reducing barriers to entry.