Diligent Health picks up Diplomat Pharmacy assets to grow in patient support

For an undisclosed price, Diplomat Pharmacy has unloaded some of the assets known as Envoy Health Management to Diligent Health Solutions, a year-old company started by Mary Anne Greenberg and Ron Abel earlier this year. Greenberg, Diligent CEO, is the former North American president of Ashfield, a global commercial-services firm, and Abel, Diligent CFO, was president of WRB Communications. WRB was acquired by Diplomat in 2017 and folded into Envoy Health; now, some of that asset is coming back.

A key part of the transaction is a contact center in Chantilly, VA. “For staff and clients, the acquisition means a return to trusted senior leadership,” said Greenberg, in a statement. “We’ll be able to leverage Diligent’s newer technology as well as share key resources between Chantilly and our location in Trevose, PA.”

For its part, Diplomat Pharmacy emphasizes that it will continue the hub services business of Envoy Health. “Diplomat continues to support manufacturers with specialty drug and digital therapeutics services,” Brian Griffin, CEO and chairman of Diplomat said. “With the sale of certain Envoy Health Management assets to Diligent Health Solutions, we are divesting non-core assets and expect to utilize the proceeds to pay down debt.” Diplomat, said to be the largest independent specialty pharmacy in the US, has been under the gun on Wall Street for the past year; its stock declined 56% in February after delaying its annual report, and has barely recovered since.

The business of patient-support hubs has emerged in recent years as a critical part of launching and maintaining specialty pharmaceuticals. In addition to telephone or online patient support, hubs provide services for navigating prior authorizations and benefit verifications, and in-person support in some cases.