Fiduciary Model Lowers Drug Costs Versus Traditional PBMs with Renzo Luzzatti, US-Rx Care TRANSCRIPT
Release Date: 03/17/2026
How Data Analytics and AI Can Reduce Clinician Burnout in Healthcare Systems with Lori Runion Resultant TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Lori Runion, a director at Resultant, identifies inadequate scheduling and related staffing unpredictability as a central cause of clinician burnout. Healthcare organizations traditionally rely on historical averages for scheduling, often resulting in a mismatch between patient demand and clinician capacity. Breaking down data silos and using analytics and AI to create predictive staffing models can help forecast demand, anticipate seasonal spikes, and enable proactive staffing to reduce clinician burnout. Lori explains, " From my perspective, burnout is driven at the operational level. To say...
info_outline
How Data Analytics and AI Can Reduce Clinician Burnout in Healthcare Systems with Lori Runion Resultant
Empowered Patient Podcast
Lori Runion, a director at Resultant, identifies inadequate scheduling and related staffing unpredictability as a central cause of clinician burnout. Healthcare organizations traditionally rely on historical averages for scheduling, often resulting in a mismatch between patient demand and clinician capacity. Breaking down data silos and using analytics and AI to create predictive staffing models can help forecast demand, anticipate seasonal spikes, and enable proactive staffing to reduce clinician burnout. Lori explains, " From my perspective, burnout is driven at the operational level. To say...
info_outline
Temporary Medical Staffing Addresses Critical Provider Shortages with Bill Heller CHG Healthcare TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Bill Heller, Chief Operating Officer at CHG Healthcare, is focused on the significant and growing demand for physicians across numerous specialties and on providing a flexible solution for healthcare facilities to maintain services with temporary physician staffing. Rural healthcare facilities are especially dependent on temporary staffing to overcome challenges in attracting and keeping permanent medical professionals. Physicians at all career stages are drawn to locum tenens work, and it has evolved from a niche practice to a mainstream strategy for healthcare facilities and...
info_outline
Temporary Medical Staffing Addresses Critical Provider Shortages with Bill Heller CHG Healthcare
Empowered Patient Podcast
Bill Heller, Chief Operating Officer at CHG Healthcare, is focused on the significant and growing demand for physicians across numerous specialties and on providing a flexible solution for healthcare facilities to maintain services with temporary physician staffing. Rural healthcare facilities are especially dependent on temporary staffing to overcome challenges in attracting and keeping permanent medical professionals. Physicians at all career stages are drawn to locum tenens work, and it has evolved from a niche practice to a mainstream strategy for healthcare facilities and...
info_outline
Building Foundational AI Infrastructure for Holistic View of Biology with Jean-Philippe Vert Bioptimus TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Jean-Philippe Vert, the Co-Founder and CEO of Bioptimus, is building a foundational AI model for biology to solve the problem of siloed biomedical research. Key goals are to bridge the translational gaps between drug discovery and development, and between clinical research and real-world patient outcomes, and to redesign clinical trials for greater efficiency and improved results. Creating digital twins of patients is a way to simulate treatment outcomes and create synthetic control arms for clinical trials, ultimately lowering the risk and cost of drug development and enabling the creation...
info_outline
Building Foundational AI Infrastructure for Holistic View of Biology with Jean-Philippe Vert Bioptimus
Empowered Patient Podcast
Jean-Philippe Vert, the Co-Founder and CEO of Bioptimus, is building a foundational AI model for biology to solve the problem of siloed biomedical research. Key goals are to bridge the translational gaps between drug discovery and development, and between clinical research and real-world patient outcomes, and to redesign clinical trials for greater efficiency and improved results. Creating digital twins of patients is a way to simulate treatment outcomes and create synthetic control arms for clinical trials, ultimately lowering the risk and cost of drug development and enabling the creation...
info_outline
Drug Targets Iron Dysregulation in Rare Neurodegenerative Disease Multiple System Atrophy with David Stamler Alterity Therapeutics TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
David Stamler, CEO of Alterity Therapeutics, is developing a drug to treat multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare and rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease that often presents as Parkinson's disease but is distinct and more aggressive. There is no single genetic cause or specific biomarker, making accurate diagnosis a significant challenge. The lead drug is a novel small molecule designed to manage excess reactive iron in the brain, which drives the disease, and may be effective for other neurodegenerative diseases involving iron dysregulation. David explains, "Multiple system atrophy...
info_outline
Drug Targets Iron Dysregulation in Rare Neurodegenerative Disease Multiple System Atrophy with David Stamler Alterity Therapeutics
Empowered Patient Podcast
David Stamler, CEO of Alterity Therapeutics, is developing a drug to treat multiple system atrophy (MSA), a rare and rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease that often presents as Parkinson's disease but is distinct and more aggressive. There is no single genetic cause or specific biomarker, making accurate diagnosis a significant challenge. The lead drug is a novel small molecule designed to manage excess reactive iron in the brain, which drives the disease, and may be effective for other neurodegenerative diseases involving iron dysregulation. David explains, "Multiple system atrophy...
info_outline
Psychedelic Treatment for Adjustment Disorder in Cancer Patients with Greg Mayes Reunion Neuroscience and Dr. Manish Agrawal Sunstone Therapies TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Greg Mayes, President and CEO of Reunion Neuroscience, and Dr. Manish Agrawal, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sunstone Therapies, shine a light on adjustment disorder, a disproportionate emotional or behavioral reaction to a significant life stressor such as a cancer diagnosis. This under-recognized condition lacks FDA-approved treatments and is often managed with SSRIs or talk therapy. The REKINDLE study evaluated the use of a psilocybin analog drug in development for treating adjustment disorder and has shown positive results by integrating emotional treatment into the standard of care for...
info_outline
Psychedelic Treatment for Adjustment Disorder in Cancer Patients with Greg Mayes Reunion Neuroscience and Dr. Manish Agrawal Sunstone Therapies
Empowered Patient Podcast
Greg Mayes, President and CEO of Reunion Neuroscience, and Dr. Manish Agrawal, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sunstone Therapies, shine a light on adjustment disorder, a disproportionate emotional or behavioral reaction to a significant life stressor such as a cancer diagnosis. This under-recognized condition lacks FDA-approved treatments and is often managed with SSRIs or talk therapy. The REKINDLE study evaluated the use of a psilocybin analog drug in development for treating adjustment disorder and has shown positive results by integrating emotional treatment into the standard of care for...
info_outlineRenzo Luzzatti, Founder and CEO of US-Rx Care, discusses the role and practice of the Pharmacy Benefits Managers and the advantages of working with a company that uses a fiduciary model. Inherent conflicts of interest in the traditional PBM model, such as manufacturer rebates and requirements to use PBM-owned pharmacies, drive up prescription drug costs. US-Rx Care eliminates these conflicts by charging a flat administrative fee, with its sole incentive to lower drug costs for the plan and its members.
Renxo explains, "We've been around since 2007. We do have about 5 million lives under management, both self-funded employers, which is the bulk of our business. Then we also tap into Medicare health plans and have some programs and offerings that we assist there to lower costs and improve the quality of care. Our approach is unique in that we've taken a fiduciary stance from day one. We can talk about that in a little bit. It is a legal term. It's defined under ERISA, which governs health plans. They have a fiduciary duty to the plan, the members, and the management of the plan assets. And the industry as a whole has shied away from any fiduciary obligation whatsoever, in part because it's rife with conflicts of interest, and you cannot have conflicts of interest as a fiduciary."
"That is really at the core of all of the issues and complaints that we're hearing about PBMs - they’re driving up the cost of prescriptions rather than having the intended effect, which is to reduce the cost of prescriptions. And I would say in the last four or five years, employers have really started to ask the right questions because they're becoming more and more educated."
"For folks like us, we're growing like crazy because the industry finally gets that. The deal that they were getting through their traditional model is not so good. The other thing is when we move to a fiduciary model, savings are typically in the realm of 30% to 50% in the first year, and then we typically see additional savings in year two and three, and then after that, the goal and the intent, which we've been successful at, is to keep costs stable."
#USRxCare #PBM #PharmacyBenefits #EmployeeBenefits #HealthcareCosts #FiduciaryResponsibility #BenefitsConsulting #HealthcareTransparency #CostContainment #SelfFundedEmployers #HealthcareReform
