Conversion of an outpatient pharmacy to a mail-order pharmacy within a health system.

Purpose: The establishment of a new outpatient pharmacy provided a strategic opportunity to repurpose and convert an existing outpatient pharmacy into a closed-door mail-order pharmacy within a health system. This article describes the steps taken to successfully make this change and evaluates the impact.

Summary: The mail-order pharmacy conversion project was divided into 3 phases: phase 1 (before conversion) from July through August 2022, phase 2 (conversion) from October through November 2022, and phase 3 (after conversion) from December 2022 through February 2023.

Recent and anticipated novel drug approvals for 2024.

Purpose: Health-system pharmacists play a crucial role in monitoring the pharmaceutical pipeline to manage formularies, allocate resources, and optimize clinical programs for new therapies. This article aims to support pharmacists by providing periodic updates on new and anticipated novel drug approvals.

Summary: Selected drug approvals anticipated in the 12-month period covering the first quarter of 2024 through the fourth quarter of 2024 are reviewed.

Recent and anticipated novel drug approvals for 2023 and 2024.

Purpose: Health-system pharmacists play a crucial role in monitoring the pharmaceutical pipeline to manage formularies, allocate resources, and optimize clinical programs for new therapies. This article aims to support pharmacists by providing updates on new and anticipated novel drug approvals.

Summary: Selected drug approvals anticipated in the 12-month period covering the fourth quarter of 2023 through the third quarter of 2024 are reviewed.

Recent and anticipated novel drug approvals for 2023 and 2024.

Purpose: Health-system pharmacists play a crucial role in monitoring the pharmaceutical pipeline to manage formularies, allocate resources, and optimize clinical programs for new therapies. This article aims to support pharmacists by sharing new and anticipated novel drug approvals.

Summary: Selected drug approvals anticipated in the 12-month period covering the second quarter of 2023 through the first quarter of 2024 are reviewed.

Analyzing the costs of developing and operating an integrated health-system specialty pharmacy: The case of a centralized insurance navigation process for specialty clinic patients.

Purpose: Direct and indirect costs related to the growth of specialty pharmacy services and the insurance navigation process for specialty clinic patients are discussed, and development and implementation of a pharmacy-driven and system-wide prior authorization (PA) processing center within a health system are described.

Summary: Expensive specialty drugs require PA. Due to the concentration of specialists, health systems with multiple specialties experience higher PA burden and resulting care delays.

National trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2020.

Purpose: To report historical patterns of pharmaceutical expenditures, to identify factors that may influence future spending, and to predict growth in drug spending in 2020 in the United States, with a focus on the nonfederal hospital and clinic sectors.

Methods: Historical patterns were assessed by examining data on drug purchases from manufacturers using the IQVIA National Sales Perspectives database. Factors that may influence drug spending in hospitals and clinics in 2020 were reviewed, including new drug approvals, patent expirations, and potential new policies or legislation.

Implementation and impact assessment of integrated electronic prior authorization in an academic health system.

Objective: To describe the system-wide implementation of integrated electronic prior authorization (ePA) and its impact within a centralized prior authorization (PA) department in an academic health system.

Setting: Prescription drugs have been among the fastest growing areas of health care and continue to advance; therefore, costs associated with medications are continually rising. Pharmacy benefit managers implement tools such as PAs in an effort to manage costs.

Implementation of a centralized mail-order pharmacy service.

Purpose: The development and implementation of centralized mail-order pharmacy services in an academic healthcare system are described.

Summary: The use of mail-order pharmacy services continues to increase, as mail-order services offer patient benefits such as reduced copayments and improved clinical outcomes. Prior to undertaking an initiative to improve its mail-order pharmacy services, the University of Utah Health system's pharmacy department offered decentralized mail-order pharmacy services at all of its retail pharmacies, but there was no standardized process for processing mail-order prescriptions or providing phone support to mail-order patients.

National trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2019.

Purpose: Historical trends and factors likely to influence future pharmaceutical expenditures are discussed, and projections are made for drug spending in 2019 in nonfederal hospitals, clinics, and overall (all sectors).

Methods: Drug expenditure data through calendar year 2018 were obtained from the IQVIA National Sales Perspectives database and analyzed. New drug approvals, patent expirations, and other factors that may influence drug spending in hospitals and clinics in 2019 were also reviewed.

Implementation and quality assessment of a pharmacy services call center for outpatient pharmacies and specialty pharmacy services in an academic health system.

Purpose: The implementation and quality assessment of a pharmacy services call center (PSCC) for outpatient pharmacies and specialty pharmacy services within an academic health system are described.

Summary: Prolonged wait times in outpatient pharmacies or hold times on the phone affect the ability of pharmacies to capture and retain prescriptions. To support outpatient pharmacy operations and improve quality, a PSCC was developed to centralize handling of all outpatient and specialty pharmacy calls.

Development and implementation of a centralized comprehensive refill authorization program in an academic health system.

Purpose: The development and implementation of a centralized, comprehensive, refill authorization (CCRA) program within an academic health system are described.

Summary: In order to improve continuity of care for our medically complicated patients, ambulatory pharmacy services developed and implemented a highly coordinated CCRA program for multiple community clinics within the system. To implement the CCRA program, we centralized the refill-request intake process to the Pharmacy Ambulatory Clinical Care Center (PAC).

Implementation of a patient-focused specialty pharmacy program in an academic healthcare system.

Purpose: The development and implementation of a systemwide specialty pharmacy program in an academic healthcare system are described.

Summary: Although the system's pharmacy department had developed specialty pharmacy services for patients with certain conditions, it was necessary to expand and standardize those services to meet the needs of all specialty clinics because (1) many of the clinics had experienced an increased volume of prior-authorization requests due to the introduction of new specialty drugs, (2) the dispensing pharmacies were operating at maximum capacity due to the previous decentralization of specialty pharmacy operations, and (3) payers had sent notice that they would require accreditation of the specialty pharmacy program as a condition of participation in their specialty pharmacy networks. To ensure standardization of services and successful preparation for increasing numbers of specialty prescriptions, all specialty pharmacy services were centralized to the healthcare system's Pharmacy Ambulatory Clinical Care Center (PAC(3)).