Yesterday afternoon, Surescripts announced a new partnership with TPG Capital, a global investment company that will now be the majority investor. TPG has driven innovation and growth in companies like IQVIA, WellSky, Airbnb, and many others. This new partnership will allow Surescripts to invest more in solutions that serve its customers and lead to better patient outcomes. NCPA will retain a significant ownership share in the company so we can continue to influence its growth in ways that best serve independent pharmacies.
Surescripts revolutionized the healthcare industry by allowing providers and pharmacies to communicate important patient information in ways that were not possible before. Today the company enables nearly 24 billion transactions a year. We are proud to have played a role in developing a technology on which millions of patients and their pharmacists now rely. TPG’s majority ownership will unlock Surescripts’ potential to innovate more, expand, and grow.
During the negotiations between Surescripts and TPG, NCPA negotiated for important protections for independent pharmacies. As a result, the deal ensures fee stability and ownership neutrality. NCPA co-founded Surescripts at a time when PBMs threatened to control e-prescriptions between pharmacies and prescribers. Then, as now, our focus was to influence the company in ways that benefited community pharmacy and the patients we serve. For example, we successfully advocated for lower e-prescribing fees which have dropped more than 60 percent (Note: The vast majority of independent pharmacies are not direct customers of Surescripts. Rather, their Pharmacy Management System vendors are direct customers, who generally pay Surescripts $0.10 or less per transaction. Such transactions are then typically marked-up when PMS vendors bill their independent pharmacy customers for the e-prescribing transactions they have delivered to them.)
The new partnership is pending regulatory approval. Many of the details are protected by a non-disclosure agreement. We will provide more information in the months ahead. In the meantime, NCPA will continue to invest in independent community pharmacy, focusing on helping change the pharmacy payment model through technological advances, advocacy, and education.
NCPA is excited about the new possibilities for community pharmacy in a reconstituted Surescripts and for NCPA’s work continuing to advance its mission to serve independent pharmacies.
