For Plan Sponsors
About the coalition
The Know Your Rx Coalition, or KYRx, helps employers in non-profit higher education, health care and the public sector save money on the prescription benefits they provide their employees and retirees. The coalition was founded in 2011 by the University of Kentucky, and today it includes six universities and multiple other non-profit employers, with 11 different groups totaling over 120,000 lives.
The coalition is supported by administrators, pharmacists, and staff at the University of Kentucky. The coalition is managed by directors, including a board of directors made up of coalition member representatives. Coalition members maintain their own pharmacy benefit management (PBM) contract and their own unique benefit plan features.
Joining the coalition
Institutions may join the coalition by signing a member agreement directly with the coalition’s current PBM. Each member agreement outlines the services (prescription management, etc.) coalition pharmacists will provide in exchange for an administrative fee. This fee is collected by the PBM and remitted to the coalition.
The coalition (by and through the University of Kentucky) also maintains a separate Business Associate Agreement with each coalition member related to the provision of coalition services.
Why join KYRx?
Financial savings
Bulk purchasing: Discounts are an inherent part of the contract secured by KYRx and result in purchasing savings for all members.
Expected annual savings for seven university coalition members in 2025 from bulk purchasing contracts:
| University | Covered lives | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|
| University 1 | 1,157 | $223,671 |
| University 2 | 1,781 | $265,012 |
| University 3 | 2,242 | $277,111 |
| University 4 | 2,488 | $287,513 |
| University 5 | 2,743 | $367,342 |
| University 6 | 11,069 | $1,393,365 |
| University 7 | 44,205 | $4,742,312 |
Custom exclusions: KYRx has identified high-cost, low-value drugs that are excluded, driving patients to lower-cost alternatives that have the same therapeutic value.
Coalition member savings in the first six months of 2025 from custom exclusions:
| University | Annual savings |
|---|---|
| University 1 | $111,559 |
| University 2 | $14,178 |
| University 3 | $26,052 |
| University 4 | $89,892 |
| University 5 | $32,920 |
| University 6 | $141,097 |
| University 7 | $543,198 |
Pharm-Assist: Pharmacists reach out to patients to counsel them on ways to lower their costs and their plan costs, along with navigating their prescription benefits.
Savings in the first six months of 2025 from outreach to covered members about lower-cost alternatives and effective use of pharmacy benefits:
| University | Patient savings | Employer plan savings |
|---|---|---|
| University 1 | $3,360 | $0 |
| University 2 | $8,032 | $21,000 |
| University 3 | $200 | $14,857 |
| University 4 | $520 | $22,500 |
| University 5 | $0 | $840,000 |
| University 6 | $2,756 | $126,259 |
| University 7 | $37,494 | $228,823 |
Operational collaboration
Plans maintain freedom to design their plans to ensure their benefit meets their organization’s unique needs.
The coalition is managed by directors, including a board of directors made up of coalition member representatives. The coalition offers frequent opportunities for member institutions to come together and learn from shared experiences to strengthen everyone’s pharmacy benefit offerings.
Improved customer service
KYRx maintains a customer-focused mission. Beyond contract savings, KYRx pharmacists conduct active outreach to individual plan members to share opportunities to lower costs. Pharmacists also take incoming calls from patients about costs, therapeutic questions or benefit design, removing this burden from coalition member HR teams. Our team handles roughly one customer service issue for each 1,000 members of a plan per day.
Leading-edge innovation
At the forefront of clinical decision-making, pharmacogenomics is now part of KYRx’s offerings.
Pharmacogenomics is a personalized medicine program that examines a patient’s DNA to determine if their response to a drug would be the typical intended response, or if their genetic makeup would result in the drug being too potent or less effective. Prescribers can adjust a drug or dosage as necessary to get the best desired effect.
A pilot with one coalition member helped more than 10,000 members ensure they are taking the most effective therapy for them based on their unique genetic makeup. This has earned KYRx a reputation as the gold standard in pharmacogenomics review and counseling for members and patients.
For more information about becoming a member, please contact us.
Clinical Director
Marissa Boelhauf, PharmD
Marissa.Boelhauf@uky.edu
Operations Director
Travis Albrecht, PharmD
Travis.Brick@uky.edu