Southborough, MA – March 3, 2014 – RxAdvance, a full service Pharmacy Benefits Management company, announced George Rapier III, MD has joined its board of directors. In addition he has also participated in Series A1 funding which was closed in mid February 2014.
George M. Rapier III, M.D., is Chairman and CEO of WellMed Medical Management, Inc., a growing, diversified, award-winning healthcare company specializing in senior care. A noted physician, Dr. Rapier founded WellMed with a single clinic in 1990 in San Antonio, TX, where WellMed remains headquartered. Today, WellMed works to positively impact the health of over 110,000 Medicare Advantage patients through more than 82 owned and operated clinics in Texas and Florida; a physician management company supporting more than 3,000 independent physicians with multi-specialty in Texas and Florida. WellMed is the largest physician-led healthcare provider in South Texas serving 1 in 5 Medicare-eligible seniors in the Greater San Antonio area and has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing enterprises in the nation. The company’s vision is “to change the face of healthcare delivery for seniors”. Dr. Rapier also led development of clinical health protocol screening systems to access and evaluate clinical, lab and medication data, assisting in providing preventive health and screening recommendations to physicians. He developed and continues to work with specialists to implement disease management programs to enhance the quality of life for WellMed patients.
Dr. Rapier and WellMed have had a longstanding relationship with United Health Group as well as a number of other Health Plans. As part of a long term aggressive growth strategy, Dr. Rapier and the WellMed shareholders decided to enter into a transaction to sell a controlling interest in WellMed Medical Management, Inc. to Optum, a subsidiary of United Health Group in January of 2011. WellMed joined 7 other medical organizations as part of the Optum provider strategy. WellMed as well as the other Optum provider entities continue to retain a strong multi-payer strategy.
Dr. Rapier is a Dallas native who earned his medical degree from the University of Florida College Of Medicine. Since 1985, Dr. Rapier has been an assistant professor of medicine at the UT Health Science Center. Dr. Rapier chaired a number of crucial committees required for medical group expansion and contributed significantly in relevance to the changing payor and income structure of today’s medical group practice.
Ravi Ika, CEO of RxAdvance said, “Dr. Rapier brings deep operational, payer, and clinical experience to RxAdvance’s revolutionary full service PBM. Dr. Rapier is a pioneer in managing Medicare risk business, understands the role of comprehensive drug utilization review and adherence in improving the healthcare quality and cost outcomes. We are delighted about the future opportunities by having Dr. Rapier on our Board and as well as an investment partner.”
Dr. Rapier said, “I’m excited about joining the RxAdvance board. Their traditional PBM services and unique value-added services through unified platform will revolutionize PBM space as they will offer significant savings to payers and will create superior health outcomes at the point of care and point of sale”. “I have experience working with Ravi in his previous venture – ikaSystems, his disruptive vision and unflinching client focus are unique and I look forward to working with Ravi in redefining the PBM value proposition to payers/plan sponsors,” Rapier adds.
In addition to his medical and business strengths, Dr. Rapier has received numerous honors including Physician Entrepreneur of the Year, inducted into Mexican American/Hispanic Physicians Hall of Fame, and Hispanic Heritage Award winner. In the spirit of giving, Rapier Family Foundation has donated over $25 million to various charities.
