Evolving Roles of Specialty Pharmacies | Is the Model Sustainable?

Welcome to the Specialty Pharmacy Collaboration Summit Podcast Series. Speaking with us today is Nick Calla, VP of Industry Relations, Community Specialty Pharmacy Network (CSPN)

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What are the evolving roles of community-based specialty pharmacies?

Nick: Well, we look at the community-based specialty pharmacies. Really our goal within our network is really to have these pharmacies really stand side-by-side with the larger central fill specialty pharmacy. There really is no intention to quote/unquote “overtake” the larger central fill pharmacy, but really more to truly have a voice and a space and to treat those difficult-to-treat patients that need that personal touch, that face-to-face counseling in order to be successful on therapy.

So, as I mentioned in my previous comments, what we are really looking to do is to expand the role of these pharmacies and really to use them as an adjunct to the patient that is not going to be successful in a less touch model and needs the higher touch that these pharmacies can provide in order to be successful as a therapy.

Again, as I mentioned before, as this specialty pharmacy environment expands and more and more products flood the market, I think that there is going to be plenty of room for all of these different stakeholder pharmacies to be successful.

Is the specialty pharmacy model sustainable?
 
Nick: Yes, I absolutely think the specialty pharmacy model is sustainable. As I mentioned before, I think you need to expand. I think more pharmacies need to quote/unquote “get accredited” to become part of professional organizations such as NASP in order to be truly successful in this space. But, in this world of accountable-tier organizations and again the really huge pipeline in what are considered specialty products, which are really more niche in nature and more along the longs of personalized medicine. A higher-touch model, if you will. 

I definitely think that the model is sustainable. I think it will grow and expand over time.
 


To hear more from Nick, please join him at IIR's Specialty Pharmacy Collaboration Summit, September 15-17 in Boston. Also, you can save an EXTRA $100 off the current rate, $300 in total savings when registering by 8/22 with the code: XP1968BLOG - Register now.

Moving and Improving: Using Data and Informatics to Inform Your Business Strategy, Save Lives and Improve Quality

A complimentary webinar from Healthcare Data Insights - August 19th, 11:00AM - 12:00PM EDT

Moving and Improving: Using Data and Informatics to Inform Your Business Strategy, Save Lives and Improve Quality

The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), the member organization of 120 non-profit Academic Medical Centers and their affiliates, encourages hospitals to integrate data into their business plans, in part by demonstrating how data can be used to save lives and improve quality scores. With transparent access to data from more than 400 hospitals (which includes more than 5 million inpatient discharges annually and 25 million outpatient encounters), learn how they make the case for member hospitals to “move and improve” with innovative programming based on data.

Speaker: David Levine, MD, FACEP, Vice President, Informatics, and Medical Director, UHC

In this seminar, David will show how members maximize hospital and physician data to measure efficiency and effectiveness. Work in both the inpatient and outpatient settings to capture performance over the continuum of care will be emphasized. The data challenges will be highlighted especially with cost and capturing all inputs to care.

• Key metrics being used to measure overall hospital performance
• How Academic Medical Centers are looking at physician variability
• How to identify key opportunities for cost reduction
• Importance of risk adjustment and using proper compare groups to engage clinicians in improvement
• Challenges of integrating databases and gaps in data

Register for the Webinar - Use Priority Code: W1BL

Oncology Management Podcast Series with Bill McGivney

Welcome to the Oncology Management Podcast Series - Presented by IIR's Annual Summit for Oncology Management. Joining us today is Bill McGivney, Principal, McGivney Global Advisory LLC & former CEO, National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Download the complete podcast & transcript here.

To begin, could you please comment on what appears to be a seemingly never-ending call to define value in healthcare?

Bill: To answer your question about the definition of value in healthcare, you know I really do continue to be amazed at the calls that come out of national committee meetings and publications, etc. to say that we continue to have to define and develop a national standard for what value is in the healthcare system. To me, it seems really simple. I mean, I’ve been around the healthcare system for almost 30 years now. The value is the clinical benefit derived by patients, specifically, for the expenditure of a specified amount of healthcare dollars. That’s pretty simple. Sometimes when people try to develop these long equations to which I’ve seen, it’s a gust of bodies when they have their conferences. I mean, I saw one once years ago and I just commented to the moderator of the session that one, the long equations for the definition of cost effectiveness was mind-numbing and two, it would never see the light of day. I was right on both accounts. 

So, I think my simple definition is pervasive in terms of this is what value is. It’s really, again, the clinical patient benefit that’s obtained for a specified expenditure of healthcare dollars.

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To hear more from Bill, please join us at IIR’s Annual Oncology Management Summit, July 21-23 in Philadelphia, PA.

To save 15% off your registration rate, use the code: XP1914BLOG

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