Here are the top five Health System Pharmacy trends for 2019
1. Growth in Specialty drug spending
The specialty drug market had a 16% growth rate in 2018 and the number of specialty drugs entering the market will continue to grow in 2019, along with the price of each new drug. Prescribers and patients will expect a seamless experience which ensures availability of these drugs. Many of the new drugs are targeted for specific disease states. Sourcing them can sometimes be difficult unless you’re part of a limited distribution network. It will be required to have key relationships in place with specialty pharmacies to be able to procure and dispense limited specialty drugs.
2. Next-door healthcare is on the rise
In recent years digital tech and mobile apps are making pretty much anything available to consumers at their fingertips. When these consumers become patients, they expect on-demand healthcare. These expectations will keep growing in 2019, and it will be important for health system pharmacies to meet them.
Just extending the hours at outpatient pharmacy will not be enough. It will be required to assist with refilling prescriptions and delivering drugs at home. It should be a top priority to invest in a mobile app solution to engage patients to monitor adherence and communication.
3. Increase patient awareness on Pricing
Due to increased patient awareness on pricing they will do comparison between different pharmacies and the brands they are offering.
Transparency with drug cost is a current issue requiring attention. Having patients understand the cost of medication could be helped by pricing being included in television advertising for drug products.
Transparency in pricing is very important. At the same time we need to make sure that providers are diagnosing and prescribing the right medications for the right patients.
