Southside ISD reviews health benefits options as brokers highlight savings from telemedicine and specialty pharmacy

Southside Independent School District trustees heard back-to-back briefings Oct. 15 on the district’s employee health coverage and options to control rising medical and prescription costs.

Robinson Brokerage presented the district’s current self-funded program and vendors it uses, including Global Rx for specialty drugs and Attentive for telemedicine and mental-health access. Shauna Robinson told trustees Global Rx ships 27 of the district’s most expensive medications directly to employees’ homes at no copay; Robinson said Global Rx can reduce those drug prices by about 40–60 percent compared with Blue Cross Blue Shield and that about 180 employees currently use medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro. Robinson said the district’s pharmacy spend this year is unusually high and that Global Rx and other vendor changes could reduce drug spend by significant sums — she cited a $300,000 potential saving from…