Bright Spot – Denver Health

Change often feels scary and overwhelming, but innovation can strengthen capacity while reducing expenses. Denver Health is a safety net system caring for at-risk and underserved populations. Few systems have a more challenging mission, yet, they illustrate our first  “Bright Spot” in the market.

During the pandemic, leadership at Denver Health needed a cost-effective and reliable method to provide access to care and medications to patients who struggle with mobility, immune deficiencies, mental health, or simply couldn’t get to the pharmacy due to Covid restrictions. 

They found an innovative company in the Jumpstart portfolio called ScriptDrop, which specializes in prescription delivery and understands the importance of getting medications to patients promptly and safely. Their technology allows pharmacists to create and track orders easily, order tamper-evident packaging, and maintain the delivery records they need for regulatory audits and control.  

Denver Health signed up for an initial 12-months test of the service. During this time, the rate of prescriptions delivery jumped 391% for Denver Health’s pharmacies, and there was a simultaneous 50% decrease in administrative expenses. By working with this innovation partner, Denver Health made better use of its budget and dramatically improved access to care and medications for at-risk patients. 

Pharmacy manager Warren Streck said, “Until recently, patients with urgent needs and no transportation had few choices other than waiting for the mail to arrive a day or two later. With ScriptDrop, we can get our patients started on their regimens today.” Denver Health refused to allow financial and operational challenges to limit care. Instead, they leveraged innovation and partnered to build a robust medication delivery service for vulnerable patients. We can all learn from their example.