Hear Ashley Holzworth-Nash talk about her work in shaping pharmacy care models (12 min).
At a glance
- Ashley Holzworth-Nash is a recipient of the 2026 PBMI Innovators Award.
- Evernorth Signature Pharmacy Benefit Services ensures patients get the lowest available medication cost at the pharmacy counter and brings greater predictability to prescription drug spending.
- MoreThanRx enhances the patient experience by making it easier to access clinical services, medication support, and preventive care through local community pharmacies.
- The award recognition highlights growing industry interest in pharmacy benefit models focused on affordability, access, clinical expertise, and patient-centered care.
As a high school student exploring career paths, Ashley Holzworth-Nash witnessed an interaction that inspired her future in pharmacy: a pharmacist sitting beside a patient who was overwhelmed by the process of starting insulin. The pharmacist took the time to answer questions and help the patient practice injections on an orange until the person’s fear began to give way to confidence.
That moment helped shape how Holzworth-Nash understood the role of pharmacists – not only as medication experts, but as educators, clinicians, and trusted guides during some of the most important moments in a person’s care journey.
“What struck me most was that the pharmacist wasn’t just helping the patient manage a medication. They were helping that person feel empowered, informed, and supported during a difficult moment,” Holzworth-Nash said. “That experience shaped how I think about pharmacy care and the role it can play in improving people’s lives.”
Today, that perspective is central to her work as head of product strategy and solutions at Evernorth, as the pharmacy benefits industry faces a pivotal moment. As prescription drug costs continue to rise and patients and health plans alike demand greater transparency and predictability, organizations across the health care system are reevaluating how pharmacy benefits are structured and delivered.
Against that backdrop, Holzworth-Nash was recognized by Managed Healthcare Executive and the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI) as one of the recipients of the 2026 PBMI Innovators Award for her leadership in advancing a more affordable, transparent, and patient-centered pharmacy experience.
“My role is to keep us focused on what matters most: helping members achieve better health outcomes,” said Holzworth-Nash. “By expanding pharmacist-led care, we can improve access, enhance the care experience, and make medications more affordable when members need them most.”
A leadership philosophy inspired by patient needs
After beginning her career in managed care, Holzworth-Nash moved into product leadership to help develop strategies that could make a broader impact across the health care system.
“I wanted to be part of something bigger and to help shape meaningful change across the health care industry,” Holzworth-Nash said. “Stepping into product leadership marked that shift. It wasn’t just a new role, it was a new mindset.”
The same lesson Holzworth-Nash learned watching that pharmacist guide a nervous patient continues to shape her approach today. For her, pharmacy innovation is not simply about changing how prescriptions are priced or reimbursed. It’s about creating a health care experience that makes patients feel informed, supported, and confident in their care.
The work that earned Holzworth-Nash industry recognition reflects a broader shift across the health care industry: helping people better manage prescription drug costs while making care more accessible, transparent, and patient-centered.
How Evernorth meets new demands for affordability and transparency
As health care costs continue to rise, employers, health plans, and patients are looking for solutions that make care more affordable, transparent, and easier to navigate. Across its portfolio, Evernorth is focused on helping stakeholders better understand and manage health care costs while maintaining access to high-quality care.
One way Evernorth is addressing these challenges is through Signature, a pharmacy benefit model designed to make prescription drug costs more affordable and predictable for patients while providing greater transparency for employers and health plans. The rebate-free approach makes negotiated savings on brand-name medications available upfront. For eligible patients, including those enrolled in high-deductible health plans, Signature can reduce monthly prescription costs by an average of 30%, while giving employers and health plans greater visibility into pharmacy benefit costs and pricing.
“Signature is designed to improve affordability at the point of care while bringing greater transparency and predictability to pharmacy benefits,” Holzworth-Nash said. “By delivering savings directly to patients and simplifying pharmacy benefit pricing, we can help people better manage prescription costs while giving clients greater confidence in how they plan for and manage their pharmacy benefits.”
How Evernorth supports the expanding role of pharmacists in patient care
The value of the pharmacist-patient relationship extends far beyond dispensing medications. Through programs like MoreThanRx, Evernorth is helping expand access to care by leveraging the reach and expertise of pharmacists to deliver services such as medication counseling, disease management, preventative care, and treatment support. By bringing care closer to where people live and work, these programs help address gaps in access, improve convenience, and support better health outcomes.
These interactions reinforce the idea that pharmacists are not only medication experts but also trusted health care providers who offer education, guidance, and ongoing support throughout a patient’s care journey.
That philosophy is also reflected in how Evernorth is working to better recognize the full value pharmacists bring to patient care. Through Signature, pharmacies can be compensated not only for dispensing medications, but also for the clinical services they provide.
“With Signature, pharmacies are compensated based on acquisition cost, combined with a dispensing fee and additional reimbursement for clinical services,” Holzworth-Nash said. “This approach recognizes the broader role pharmacies play in supporting improved outcomes through more meaningful, value-based reimbursement structures.”
By creating opportunities to recognize and reimburse those clinical services, Signature seeks to align pharmacy payment models more closely with the value pharmacists bring to patient care, helping support a health care system that rewards outcomes, not just prescriptions filled.
What’s next for pharmacy benefit innovation
New technologies, changing consumer expectations, and policy developments will continue reshaping how people access and pay for prescription medications in the years ahead.
“We expect the industry to keep moving toward a more connected, transparent, and personalized pharmacy benefit ecosystem,” Holzworth-Nash said. “The future pharmacy benefit landscape will be defined by integrated experiences across channels and a stronger alignment between cost, quality, and health outcomes.”
As direct-to-consumer drug sales, government influence on drug prices, and new technologies continue to reshape the marketplace, Holzworth-Nash’s recognition by Managed Healthcare Executive and the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute helps validate Evernorth’s approach to meeting the industry’s evolving expectations for pharmacy benefits.
For Holzworth-Nash, the future of pharmacy benefits ultimately comes back to the same principle that first inspired her career: helping patients feel supported, informed, and confident in their care decisions.
“The work is far from finished,” Holzworth-Nash said. “We will continue exploring new ways to improve pharmacy benefits, expand access to care, and create a simpler, more affordable experience for the people we serve.”
Commonly asked questions about Evernorth and the PBMI Innovators Award
Evernorth MoreThanRxSM is a suite of products that opens new doors of access to patients through our partnerships at retail pharmacies across the nation and through home delivery. Pharmacists in our network can test for common disease and illness, immediately prescribe and fill the medication, and provide medication counseling – often all in one visit.
