What kinds of data and trends should you evaluate to project next year's pharmaceutical costs and develop a budget for your health system pharmacy?
| Posted by: | Lee C. Vermeulen, M.S., FCCP |
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Date:
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February 09, 2007 5:10pm PST
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As pharmacy managers, we have to remain vigilant in monitoring drug costs in our health system and take a proactive role in pursuing efficient drug utilization.
But how do you predict the future? Forecasting pharmaceutical expenditure patterns is complex. Generally speaking, four factors cause pharmaceutical expenditures to rise:
1. Price inflation
2. Utilization
3. Drug mix
4. The introduction of new, innovative medications and the resulting effects of drug mix/utilization
When you're forecasting future pharmaceutical expenditures, you should take several issues into consideration, including the:
• Changing patterns of prescription drug utilization
• Impact of new drugs in development
• Expected patent expirations
• Changes in price of existing drugs
Several reports that study the trends in prescription drug expenditures, as well as their drivers, are released annually:
• Express Scripts. The Express Scripts cohort uses a substantial sample of Express Scripts clients, but excludes Medicaid recipients and Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare + Choice plans. The data reported for Express Scripts also excludes specialty pharmaceuticals.
• Medco Health. Medco Health data includes clients with integrated benefits (plans that include both retail and home delivery options).
• IMS Health. IMS Health data contains prescription drug sales for retail and non-retail settings.
It's important to note that Express Scripts and Medco Health focus solely on prescription drug expenditures in the outpatient setting and observed only a managed care population.
What kind of health system-specific data and trends do you evaluate when you're faced with developing a budget and presenting institutional drug costs to your senior management?
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How do I get started on turning my pharmacy
into a High Performance Pharmacy
SM
| Posted by: | Steven S. Rough, M.S. |
| | Lee C. Vermeulen, M.S., FCCP |
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Date:
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November 15, 2006 1:42am PST
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Before we answer this question, let us begin by saying welcome! Thanks for joining this dynamic community of health system pharmacists. If you're like us, you're interested in leading your pharmacy toward delivering the best clinical outcomes for your patients and financial results for your entire organization.
After perusing all the information this site has to offer – about the Executive Alliance, the High Performance Pharmacy study, the 8 Dimensions of High Performance, you're probably wondering, "Where do I begin?" There's a lot to digest, we know. We've been working on the High Performance Pharmacy project since 1998!
Here are three things you can do right now to start your pharmacy down the path toward high performance:
