Sector-specific LTC pharmacy data warehouse now a reality
Published by American Pharmacist Association
As medication management regimes and clinical functions become more complex, assisted living and skilled-nursing facilities will need to turn to the expertise of long-term care (LTC) pharmacies along with consultant pharmacists, writes Phil Fogg Jr., president and CEO of the Marquis Companies and chairman of the board for the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC). The SCPC was formed in late 2014 to address ever-changing federal laws, regulatory mandates, and payment methodologies. SCPC has reached an organizational milestone by establishing the initial infrastructure necessary to appropriately collect, tabulate, and analyze data from the group’s growing number of member pharmacies. Among other key projects, SCPC will continue to develop its research effort aimed at quantifying PBM reimbursement inequities driven by the Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC) pricing approach used to establish payment rates for a majority of generic drugs LTC pharmacies dispense to older Medicare beneficiaries. An earlier SCPC study by Avalere Health found that MAC prices paid for the same generic drugs on the same day by different payers can vary considerably. Now, with SCPC’ own internal LTC pharmacy data capacity, the group will be able to capture and analyze larger volumes of transaction data with which to make more determinative conclusions for lawmakers and regulators.
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