Episode 7: Data Aggregation in Specialty Pharmacy

Ray Tancredi, RPh, MBA, CSP, vice president of specialty pharmacy development at Walgreens; Cheryl Allen, BS Pharm, MBA, vice president of business development and industry relations for Diplomat Pharmacy; Nicholas Karalis, RPh, of Elwyn Pharmacy Group; Stacey Ness, PharmD, RPh, CSP, MSCS, AAHIVP, director of specialty clinical services for Managed Healthcare Associates*; and Renee Rayburg, RPh, senior director of clinical consulting at Artemetrx, discuss the various types of data collected by specialty pharmacies and of interest to payors.

According to Allen, manufacturers and payors are looking for more longitudinal data from specialty pharmacies, including the patient’s history of previous therapies and concomitant therapies to layer more information together beyond the diagnosis. Ness mentioned the growing importance of third-party information technology solutions that can help organizations capture comprehensive data in a usable manner.

In the limited distribution environment, Tancredi said that there is a call for data analytics such as utilization reports, patient status reports, and inventory reports. The data collected by specialty pharmacies may never become public, but as noted by Karalis, they will see more requests by payors, patients, and providers for data such as side effects and discontinuation rates.

*The views expressed are those of the individual alone and not of Managed Health Care Associates, Inc.