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Omnicell Unveils Specialty Pharmacy Services in Summer 2022 Release
Carmine DeNardo
VP and General Manager, Specialty Pharmacy Services, Omnicell
Despite the widespread adoption of electronic health records, pharmacy management systems, and other digital technologies, managing patients and medications across the continuum of care remains a significant challenge. Organizational and departmental standardization creates workflows that are highly manual and largely siloed. In each setting of care, there is a significant opportunity for optimization.
Omnicell’s vision to deliver a single, comprehensive infrastructure to transform medication management is driven by ensuring that every new product or service we introduce optimizes at least one pharmacy outcome. Historically, this pursuit has been largely focused on addressing the needs of the inpatient pharmacy – whether via point of care dispensing, central pharmacy automation, sterile IV compounding services, or intelligent inventory management. However, our latest release, Specialty Pharmacy Services, moves beyond acute care to provide a portfolio of solutions that truly enables us to help customers transform medication management and improve outcomes from inpatient to outpatient, from the bedside to the home.
With specialty medications already accounting for more than 50 percent of annual drug spending and a projected outlay of $316 billion by 2025 1, specialty pharmacy represents the single biggest financial opportunity for hospitals and health systems today. However, operating a specialty pharmacy is difficult and demanding. Success requires multifunctional expertise to facilitate accreditations, orchestrate access to limited distribution drugs (LDDs), and manage payer and physician relationships.
Omnicell Specialty Pharmacy Services provide a turnkey solution that combines technology, services, and expertise to help hospitals and health systems stand up, operate, and optimize a specialty pharmacy. This comprehensive offering delivers:
- Improved access to specialty medications to enhance care and support patient outcomes
- Financial outcomes via a ‘value-based’ service model
- Speed-to-market through broad expertise and dedicated support
Our Specialty Pharmacy Services team has more than 25 years of experience in the field, including establishing the specialty pharmacy program for a major retail pharmacy chain and growing it to a multibillion-dollar operation. They have launched and operated specialty pharmacies for hospitals and clinics throughout the United States, delivering substantial financial and clinical results.
One such provider is Temple University Hospital, an academic healthcare provider located in North Philadelphia consisting of multiple campuses and a combined 979 beds. Temple wanted to improve medication access and care to its patient population while also combating some of the financial strain it faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hospital sought to add an in-house specialty pharmacy to address these issues but lacked the bandwidth or expertise to quickly launch such a program on its own. Omnicell Specialty Pharmacy Services helped Temple gain access to Limited Distribution Drugs, accelerated accreditation, provided staffing, and delivered a set of proven policies and procedures that accelerated the organization’s speed-to-market. As a result, Temple University Hospital was able to launch its in-house specialty pharmacy in just six months and has realized 45 percent growth in specialty medication sales and a 35 percent growth in patient volume to date.
Temple has tapped into the nontraditional revenue stream that a specialty pharmacy delivers. Your healthcare organization has the same opportunity, and we’d love to show you the specific value this initiative can provide your hospital. Our Specialty Pharmacy Services team has developed a detailed financial value projection proforma to calculate the savings and revenue you can expect with an in-house specialty pharmacy.
Contact us today to request your custom evaluation and learn more about how the right specialty pharmacy strategy can help you optimize outcomes across all settings of care.
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Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis do not reflect the position of any entity other than the author(s). These views are always subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and may not be held in perpetuity.
