Horizon Pharmacy is far from your typical drug store.
Operating as a social enterprise, it is owned by three nonprofit community mental health centers – Newport Mental Health, Thrive Behavioral Health and Community Care Alliance – which receive all of Horizon Pharmacy’s profits.
“We’ve got a unique model,” said Jason Costa, CEO and president of Horizon Pharmacy. “It’s a great story about how social enterprise can both have a real double bottom line by providing unrestricted income to a nonprofit but also provide real, actual clinical care.”
Horizon is a closed-door pharmacy, meaning it’s not open to the general public and manages prescriptions for its 14 partner facilities. Though if a patient leaves one of those facilities, Horizon will continue to manage their prescriptions, Costa said.
The Warwick-based pharmacy got its start a decade ago to help preserve a prescription program serving some of Newport Mental Health’s highest-need patients.
Newport Mental Health had been offering a package medication program, which helps people who typically have trouble managing their own medications, through Newport Prescriptions. As the owner of Newport Prescriptions reached retirement, he considered selling the retail portion of the business, but the buyer wasn’t interested in continuing the package medication program.
So, the leaders of Newport Mental Health got creative and decided to open their own pharmacy. However, they couldn’t do it alone and partnered with Thrive and CCA to get the business started.
Costa stepped into his current role in March 2023 after serving as chief financial officer of Newport Mental Health. One of the reasons Costa wanted to lead Horizon was the opportunities he saw to expand the business and benefit the nonprofit owners.
“We allow people who would otherwise not be able to afford care to afford care,” Costa said. “I wanted to be able to generate more profit in what we’re doing to help more people at the community mental health level.”
One of these opportunities comes from Rhode Island adopting the national Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic model this year, which is meant to improve access to mental health care. Costa also said he wants to expand Horizon’s services for children facing mental health struggles, as well as cross into Massachusetts and Connecticut.
By September, Costa expects Horizon Pharmacy to reach around 1,600 patients, a 26% increase from the pharmacy’s current 1,300.
Being owned by a nonprofit also means Horizon can expand its services in ways its competitors can’t, Costa said. Horizon is extending its pharmacy hours to close at 8 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. four days a week and offering on-call service opportunities.
Costa has been making improvements within Horizon. One of these is using artificial intelligence to fill prescriptions so pharmacists can focus on patients.
Costa says Horizon employees enjoy thinking about the medical interaction of the medication.
“A lot of them enjoy the relationships they have with the [staff] at the facilities,” he said.
OWNERS: Newport Mental Health, Thrive Behavioral Health and Community Care Alliance
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Closed-door pharmacy
LOCATION: 2756 Post Road, Warwick
EMPLOYEES: 26
YEAR FOUNDED: 2014
ANNUAL REVENUE: $19 million
(CORRECTS spelling of Nabile Bobonagua in cutline.)
