Pharmacy Services Lead

Abridge, Free Market Health reflect on growth at life sciences summit. Abridge and Free Market Health, both Pittsburgh-based, closed out Wednesday's Bio + Health Summit hosted by the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance. Reba Schenk, Abridge's vice president of partner experience, and Joe Cardosi, CEO of Free Market Health, both spoke during a Bio + Health Summit panel titled "Growth Stage Lessons" that was moderated by Patrick Colletti, CEO of CoSage. Abridge, founded in 2018 in Pittsburgh, uses generative AI to transcribe doctor-patient conversations. Considered one of Pittsburgh's "Unicorns," it collaborates with over 300 U.S. health systems. Free Market Health, established in 2019, connects insurance providers with specialty drug pharmacies. It manages $15 billion in annual specialty medication spend and serves 11 million patients. Both companies have impressive portfolios, but Schenk and Cardosi noted that they've had some growing pains along the way, while also making significant gains in their fields. Schenk, who joined Abridge in 2024, explained that initially their company started as a patient-facing app. Eventually, Abridge learned that the clinicians they worked with did not like the idea of patients recording their visits. Abridge pivoted and since then has continued to improve its services. Schenk said that the day she realized the scale of Abridge's impact was when the company ran out of compute capacity for its services. "The early days were full of technical challenges like that, and also human challenges of taking these personal relationships that our CEO had built, that were tech friends of his, and scaling that authenticity because we're so passionate about human connection in healthcare," Schenk said. "Figuring out how to scale both the technology and the human side of it that quickly, when we had 10 major health systems at one point going live a week, is truly unprecedented for what I've seen in healthcare." In recent years, Abridge has expanded its footprint to San Francisco and New York, and initiated partnerships with other major companies like Nvidia and Eli Lilly. Over the years, Abridge has also seen significant growth in its staffing numbers. Schenk said that when she first started with the company, there were around 60 people within the company and now it has expanded to over 600. The mission to help people is something that really drives workers at Abridge, according to Schenk. But she noted that sometimes it becomes hard to translate that mission. "We wanted to build very thoughtful experiences for our customers, so we have to be intentional about that, and we have to encourage each other and set the standards," she said. "But I think it is also about taking the time for human connection internally. We had someone who was one of the first people who departed our team a couple of weeks ago, and I chatted with her before she left. And one of the things she told me that was hard to hear is that she felt disconnected. And it was a good reminder to me that it's not just about connecting with our customers; it's about connecting with each other and taking the time to remind each other why we're doing the work." Cardosi, when reflecting on Free Market Health's first days, said that it took them a while to "crack the code" of what they were doing. He said the impact became clear only when they began expanding into Pennsylvania and states like North Carolina. Cardosi said that they're working to expedite the specialty drug process for patients, acknowledging that they're sometimes forgotten about during the pharmaceutical process. "Let's get the medication to the patient as fast as humanly possible and make sure it's a high-quality pharmacy," he said. "We're building the things, whether that's features, capabilities, integrations, to get in that moment as often as possible, as early as possible, and to make that connection to a high-quality pharmacy happen as seamlessly, systematically as possible, so the patients don't have to be the advocates for their care." Free Market Health has partnered with other organizations like Highmark's specialty pharmacy, which has helped ease the process for patients. Cardosi emphasized that their overall goal is to help people and improve their experience in the healthcare system. "I think we want to make an actual impact. Maybe a logo or something on a building will be an indicator or signal that we're making an impact, but for us, that's already helping patients, people in their most vulnerable times," he said. "We have a super compelling opportunity to make an impact on people in really tough times in their lives by showing up as a technology company and helping the thing that's hard for them today be a little bit easier." Read the full story from from Pittsburgh Business Times.

Free Market Health (FMH) announced today that Mike Einodshofer, an industry veteran with over 28 years of experience in pharmacy benefit management and specialty pharmacy, has joined the company as Chief Growth Officer.