Arrival Hello on Wednesday acquired a set of patient engagement and automation technologies developed in UPMC. The technology suite includes an AI-based chatbot and customer relationship management platform, both designed to support improved medication adherence and prescription capture rates.
Founded in 2013, Arrive was known as RxRevu while it rebranded last year. The Denver-based company provides real-time prescription benefits services to hospitals across the country. Several health systems have invested in Arrive, including UPMC, Providence, UCHealth, UnityPoint Health and Children’s Hospital Colorado.
“Arrive Health is primarily focused on point-of-care price transparency, so we’ve built a network that can deliver real-time, patient-specific, point-in-time pricing around medications in EHR workflows,” CEO Kyle Kizer said in an interview. “So when a drug is prescribed, we inform that moment with all that specificity—we show what the patient will encounter when they show up at the pharmacy counter.”
Affordability is one of the most common reasons for medication non-adherence, Kiser pointed out. With its new acquisition, Arrive adopts tools to better address this problem.
The UPMC-developed technology introduces consumer choice into the clinical decision-making process by showing patients alternative options when they can’t afford their prescriptions — such as offering a biosimilar or referring them to a drug assistance program. The technology also allows clinical teams to prioritize patients who are at risk of missing their medication and enables continuous engagement through automated messaging.
“What happened when e-prescribing came along is that consumer choice was eliminated. Because you are prescribed a drug, you show up at the pharmacy and it is already sent there for you. You really had no voice. How much will this cost? How do I choose based on price? What do I need to know about this decision?” Kiser said. “Our goal here is to inject that back into the process so that the clinician can be a facilitator to help you make that decision.”
Arrive has wanted to address this issue for some time, and the company wanted to do it together with suppliers, Kiser said. Why? Because when a patient has a problem with their prescription, their first instinct is usually to go back to their provider and get answers.
Over the past five years, UPMC pharmacy experts have developed an AI chatbot and CRM platform through UPMC Enterpriseshealth system innovation and commercialization division.
UPMC saw positive impacts on medication adherence when it implemented the technology in its own facilities. The solutions improved readmission rates by 200% and reduced 7-day readmissions by 32%. The technology also eliminates thousands of pharmacy calls per month, UPMC said.
Both Kiser and UPMC said they are excited for more providers across the country to adopt the technology now that it is available through Arrive.
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