Jim Barta – Sav-Rx founder
Our founding years
Jim Barta, a veteran of the US Air Force goes to work as a pharmacist at A&A Drug, a small independent retail pharmacy in Fremont, Nebraska. He acquires the company fully in 1969. By 1973, A&A Drug begins expanding to multiple retail pharmacies throughout Nebraska. In the 1970s, A&A Drug becomes the first retail pharmacy in the U.S. to establish operations within retail and grocery store settings, inventing a medication distribution model that becomes ubiquitous globally. By 1984, A&A Drug grows to over 40 locations across Nebraska and Iowa.
An Organized Labor Foundation is Built
By the late 1970s, A&A Drug begins providing prescription services to the members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) employed at Hormel Foods in Fremont, Nebraska. In 1985, in solidarity with these workers, A&A Drug voluntarily waives member co-pays in order to ensure that these union families can maintain access to their needed drug therapies until the union’s Labor dispute is resolved. While not planned, this action establishes A&A Drug as a proven friend of American Labor. In 1994, the International Professional Craft and Maintenance Workers Employee Association Trust becomes Sav-Rx’s first funded card client. In 1987, A&A Drug rebrands to Sav-Rx Prescription Services.
Christy Piti – Jim’s daughter, presenting
A new generation enters the business to drive the business forward
In 1995, Christy Piti, Jim Barta’s daughter, a graduate from the University of Arizona’s School of Pharmacy and a member of the UFCW, joins Sav-Rx to help scale the business. In 1991 Sav-Rx begins providing mail-order services from our centralized pharmacy in Fremont, Nebraska; and in 1992 we establish our first national point-of-sale claims adjudication solution with the Fraternal Order of Police.
Expanding our organized labor alliance
In 1997 Sav-Rx expands to Chicago, Illinois when the PBM servicing the Chicago Truck Drivers Union goes out of business. Sav-Rx is given 48 hours to begin servicing these union families. We successfully bring the Fund live on time, averting a crisis that would have left tens of thousands of workers and families without coverage. This union becomes the anchor of Sav-Rx’s operations throughout Chicago. Word spreads, and in 1998, Sav-Rx partners with HERE International Union (now Unite HERE) to provide services to over 200,000 members in Atlantic City, Chicago, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and New York City. That same year, Sav-Rx also begins managing the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) International Staff Plan. By 2001, Sav-Rx has self-organized all hourly workers under the IBEW. Today, Sav-Rx remains the only fully unionized Medication Benefit Manager operating in the United States.
The Opioid Crisis Emerges
In 2001, Sav-Rx, in response to a dramatic increase of opioid prescription dosing by the medical community, immediately places all opioids into a Prior Authorization program. Sav-Rx is the only PBM to do so nationally. Foresight in this area proves critical as the growth in opioid exposure leads to a national health crisis that claims the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans, and continues to affect every community in the U.S. still today. Sav-Rx’s position with opioid management is not popular or easy, but our choice positively impacted millions of lives.
The Choice of Labor
In 2003, Sav-Rx is selected as the sole Prescription Benefit Manager for the Electrical Workers’ Coalition for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA). This marks a pivotal moment in the American Labor movement as International Unions begin to recognize the need to help their local affiliate unions contain the rising cost of prescription drugs. Sav-Rx expands our partnership with NECA-IBEW in 2006 when we are selected at the sole partner of the NECA-IBEW Family Medical Care Plan. The following year, in 2004, the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC) select Sav-Rx as their sole prescription benefit management partner, followed by the Iron Workers International Union (IW) in 2018. During the 2000s, Sav-Rx’s growth accelerates rapidly, with hundreds of union Health and Welfare Funds representing millions of American workers joining the Sav-Rx family.
Expanding our Footprint Beyond Traditional Services
In 2008, Sav-Rx provides our first fully integrated onsite dispensing solution in a hospital setting with integrated medication benefit management. This on-site pharmacy model would soon be adopted by many large private employers and municipalities. A year later, in 2009, Sav-Rx acquires majority interest in A-S Medication Dispensing Solutions from Allscripts. This acquisition enables Sav-Rx to provide comprehensive medication dispensing solutions to patients at the point of care in primary and urgent care settings, improving drug compliance and increasing patient convenience. Today, A-S Medications is the leading prescription medication dispensing solution supporting the employer-sponsored primary care and direct primary care industries.
Christy Piti – CEO
Innovation Increases our Value Proposition
In 2012, Christy Piti assumes the role as CEO. Sav-Rx expands innovative clinical management services to address rising prescription drug costs for self-funded plans including unions, private employers, and municipalities throughout the United States. These programs prove vitally important for self-funded benefit plans to thrive, saving billions of dollars since their inception. By 2015, our unique Fraud and Abuse Prevention program is proactively insulating clients and their members from various misaligned industry practices which would otherwise lead to excess drug spend without additional clinical benefit to members.
Collin Piti – Director of Finance
Continuing The Tradition
In 2019, our founder, Jim Barta, passes away. During that year, Sav-Rx pioneers the industry’s first program to source infusions through the pharmacy benefit where benchmark pricing and clinical management opportunities result in a lower cost for Plan Sponsors. Fast forward to 2020, Jim’s grandson, Collin Piti, joins Sav-Rx as the Director of Finance – introducing the third generation of the Barta family to the medication benefit management business.
We Continue Innovating for Your Benefit
In 2022, Sav-Rx introduces the industry’s first fully transparent pass-through model using NADAC (National Average Drug Acquisition Cost) as a benchmark at both retail and mail-order. This solution provides unparalleled transparency in an industry known for opaque practices.
Sav-Rx’s innovation roadmap keeps evolving proactively and anticipates the ever-changing pharmaceutical landscape. Our commitment to continuous improvement has never been stronger as we develop solutions for the problems our clients will face tomorrow, today.
