Read time: 3 minutes
By: Ginger Thorpe
Gone are the days when the health system specialty pharmacy was seen as a siloed function. Now, more than ever, the specialty pharmacy service line is widely regarded as an integral part of the health system’s financial success and a key driver of improved patient outcomes. At the same time, however, specialty pharmacy prescriptions are increasingly being filled outside of the health system – something which can compromise both profitability and continuity of care – and something that may be, in part at least, preventable.
With specialty pharmacy growth overall continuing to accelerate, health systems with a strong, well-designed specialty pharmacy strategy – including visibility into complex data, access to the right drugs, and more – have an abundance of opportunities to capture and recapture patient and prescription volumes. For many, though, a variety of obstacles – from labor and resource constraints to administrative burdens and others – can prohibit health systems from fully realizing the potential of their specialty pharmacy. The solution is often as simple as selecting the right strategic partner – one that may be closer than you realize.
We’re already here
There’s no shortage of specialty pharmacy support models on the market today, though many are fragmented, overly rigid, or focused more on short-term transactions vs. long-term growth. More than a vendor, health systems looking to achieve measurable growth with their specialty pharmacy need a strategic partner that brings:
- Strategic insight into your patient mix, therapeutic classes, and potential gaps
- Data visibility across scripts, payers, fill locations, and loss points
- Expertise in access strategy, especially for limited distribution drugs (LDD)
- Infrastructure support that complements your internal operations
- Flexibility to meet you where you are, with no one-size-fits-all expectations
As your trusted distributor, McKesson is already familiar with the unique needs of your health system. As a strategic partner, we can help you achieve even more with our team of Specialty Pharmacy Enablement experts who have a deep understanding of the complexities and nuances of the health system specialty pharmacy landscape, insights into critical data, and relationships that can ease the burden of drug and payer access. Whether you’re expanding your existing specialty pharmacy program or just entering the building phase – or you’re somewhere in between – partnering with McKesson can help accelerate your impact, increase capture rates, and drive improvement across the board.
One major challenge for health systems is understanding the true extent of their opportunities. Figuring that out is not always an easy lift, as these systems often struggle with the labor intensity and the abundance of vendors offering solutions. So it can be difficult to really know where to start and what’s actually going to be of value for them. With our expert advisory services, data capabilities, payer and manufacturer relationships, and unique insights into their health system, we have everything already in place for a successful partnership to help them achieve more. - Ginger Thorpe, VP/GM Pharmacy Solutions in Health Systems
The right partnership yields real-world results
With a customized enablement model and the guidance of our industry experts, along with access to a comprehensive range of solutions, tools, resources, data, and more, health systems can achieve real, measurable results, including:
- Capturing more prescriptions that currently leave the system
- Retaining more revenue across specialty therapeutic areas
- Improving medication adherence and patient satisfaction
- Reducing care fragmentation and improving continuity
- Identifying high-impact opportunities to expand drug and payer network access
From patient, to provider, to profitability – and beyond – these impacts of a more optimized specialty pharmacy can be felt across the entire ecosystem.
Start with the questions that matter most
Establishing, redesigning, or improving your specialty pharmacy starts with asking the right questions to get a clear understanding of what’s working well, what may be missing or being underutilized, and what a successful strategy could look like for your health system.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 10 essential questions to help you get started. Download the full checklist, 10 Key Questions Every Health System Should Be Asking About Their Specialty Pharmacy, as a resource to help establish where your specialty pharmacy is today and how McKesson can help you achieve more now and in the future.
To learn more about how partnering with Specialty and Infusion for Health Systems by McKesson can help your health system recapture specialty volume, drive better clinical outcomes, and achieve more for the business of pharmacy, contact us today.
Share
Post
Post
Email