Top 5 Specialty Pharmacy Provider Service Ratings

A recent poll from EMD Serono Specialty Digest, asked different insurance payers about their satisfaction with their specialty pharmacy providers (SPP) and how they would rank the services provided to them.

This publication’s goal is to provide information about the specialty pharmacy market in a coherent and simplified way.

1. Dispensing

This service is defined by EMD Serono as how the SPP distributes medications to patients’ homes, pharmacies, and medical providers.

Of the respondents, 91% said their SPP(s) offered this service and 88% said they felt this service was valuable. Another 81% said they were satisfied with this service.

2. Patient Service

This service includes coordinating patient eligibility and reimbursement, helping patients receive financial assistance, and educating them in order to promote adherence to treatment.

A total of 82% of payers cited this as a service their SPP(s) offered. Only about 61% responded that they valued this service, however, 64% said they were satisfied with the quality of service provided.

3. Reporting

Tracking patient interventions and outcomes and documenting health spending, as well as savings, are included in this category.

About 81% of respondents receive this service from their SPP(s) and 52% of those payers say this is a service they value. However, it can be assumed that there are improvements to be made, since only 30% of respondents were satisfied with these services.

4. Utilization Management

This category includes preventing inappropriate dosing, wasted costs, and drug abuse, as well as enforcing any prior authorizations.

Only 47% of payers said they received this service, but 59% stated this is a service they value. In terms of satisfaction, 48% deemed the service they received from their SPP as satisfactory.

5. Medical Management

SPPs are supposed to enforce benefit policies for specialty drugs, including contracted infusion network, site-of-care policies, and billing requirements.

A small 26% of respondents said they received this service, but 52% said that medical management is a valuable service. This service had a satisfaction rating of 47%.