During Asembia’s 2018 Specialty Pharmacy Summit, industry stakeholders joined Acentrus Specialty and Asembia for a panel discussion highlighting best practices from health system industry experts who are navigating new territory in ambulatory specialty pharmacy.This session highlighted key successes in collaboration using connections to share information, results, and best practices, ultimately leading to a better patient experience and an improved patient journey.

The expert panel included Samaneh Wilkinson of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Sean Maydick from Lehigh Valley Health Network, and Sandy Goel from the University of Michigan. They all offered insight into the advantages they have experienced and best practices as health systems caring for patients receiving specialty medications.

Key takeaways included:

• How stakeholders can gain advantages through a health system-centered approach to specialty pharmacy
• An examination of how health system specialty pharmacies are using data
• Expert advice about real-world situations about navigating new territory in ambulatory specialty pharmacy

The trade publication Specialty Pharmacy Continuum covered the panel session in more detail in its article, "Panel Highlights Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Edge." 

Health system-based specialty pharmacies are among the fastest-growing segments of the specialty pharmacy industry for good reason: health systems offer a unique environment of integrated care, where pharmacists are closely linked to the prescriber, the electronic health record, and the patient. This linkage, found nowhere else in the industry, facilitates an exceptional ability to provide collaborative care to patients while achieving superior operational metrics, including improved time to therapy, adherence, compliance, and patient financial assistance.

Health systems offering this integrated care can help reduce the specialty abandonment rate, meaning that more patients initiate therapy. This improvement is achieved through the availability of resources to overcome cost barriers as well as an integrated care team focused on continuity of care, locally administered care, and patient relationships.

Health system specialty pharmacies facilitate a patient-centered approach to care, improving the flow of information and collaboration among the physician, pharmacist, and patient, ultimately increasing convenience and reducing time to fill. This continues to build a deeper relationship with the patient, as all care is administered by providers they know and trust.

Health systems and academic medical centers also represent a distinctive environment for new specialty product launches. Key opinion leaders in many therapeutic areas administer their care in health systems. Health systems are often centers of excellence for these disease states. In fact, many of these systems provide the final clinical research and patient documentation necessary to market new products. As a result, no other specialty channel offers more patient insight, support, and clinical expertise than those found in health systems.

The health system solution to specialty pharmacy offers a seamless therapeutic transition from inpatient to outpatient care.

Panelist Credentials:

• Sangeeta “Sandy” Goel, PharmD, is the Manager of Specialty Pharmacy Services at Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.
• Sean Maydick, PharmD, CSP, is the Supervisor of the Specialty Pharmacy Division at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
• Samaneh Wilkinson, MS, PharmD, is the Director of Ambulatory Pharmacy Services and Residency Director at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City.

For more information on the material discussed, visit our Health Systems page, where we discuss health system-based specialty pharmacies.

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