How hiring a skilled Pharmacist can be cost-effective for your facility

While facilities in the USA have to ensure skilled pharmacists are staffed, the focus on proactive medication management has proved to reduce healthcare expenses. Across the US healthcare market, a large area of a facility’s costs arises from preventable adverse drug effects. Implementing the proper use of a medication review program that is led by skilled pharmacists can minimize almost all complications.

Adverse drug effects are unwanted drug effects that can be inconvenient for both patients as well as hospitals leading to hospital readmissions, increased length of hospital stay, and emergency intensive care scenarios. The American Hospitals Association revealed that in 2023, facilities spent $115 billion on drug expenses alone. A wide range of reforms focusing on better patient care, cost-effective drug availability, treatment strategies, etc., are being implemented at both the state and local levels across the USA. Adhering to these evolving regulatory terms, Pharmacists proactively save costs for the facilities by handling medication-related issues before they escalate into more serious health problems demanding extended hospital stays or extra interventions.

What does a Pharmacist do?

The primary responsibilities of a Pharmacist involve administering prescribed medicines and addressing the patient’s queries regarding the drugs. They also collaborate with other healthcare professionals to deliver optimized treatments to patients. Customized drugs are prepared by Pharmacists in cases when there is an unavailability of drugs or when the available drug is of high dosage. 

With modern healthcare systems and stringent norms, Pharmacists play a major role in preventing adverse drug effects and following drug safety protocols. They also team with insurance providers to settle billing-related issues. In short, Pharmacists act as a bridge between patients, doctors, insurance payers, and suppliers, and hiring a Pharmacist can help your facility save money, which we will learn more about later in this blog.

The role of Pharmacists in different settings

A Pharmacist performs a series of tasks depending on the role and the work setting. While hiring a Pharmacist, always make sure that you pick according to your facility’s specific needs. Some examples of the different roles of Pharmacists include:

• Community Pharmacists: Community Pharmacists are the traditional Pharmacists who work in drug stores to dispense medicines.
• Clinical Pharmacist: These Pharmacists work in hospital settings and their duties include monitoring the drug administered to patients, in-patient medication review, and pharmacotherapy interventions.
• Ambulatory care Pharmacists: They work in outpatient clinics and their job description might include patient assessment as well.
• Consultant Pharmacist: These Pharmacists work independently or associate with facilities to review medical regimes, provide strategies for drug optimization, etc.
• Specialized Pharmacists: Some Pharmacists specialize in areas such as long-term care for the elderly, pediatrics, oncology, etc., and provide service in such settings.

How does hiring Pharmacists help save money for facilities?

Advancing drug shortages along with the rising prices of drugs is one of the major setbacks faced by the healthcare systems today. According to the National Institute of Health study, over the last seven years, inpatient prescription drug spending has increased by around 15 to 20%. The rapidly changing drug prices are significantly impacting hospital funding and operations. 

The following are some ways in which hiring the right Pharmacist can save you money.

• Avoid medication errors and adverse drug events, which can increase the length of hospital stay.
• Limit pharmacy waste by downsizing unused or expired medications.
• Dose optimization and therapeutic intervention of patients’ medication.
• Negotiate with pharmaceutical suppliers for cost savings while maintaining the quality of the drugs.
• Educate patients on medication adherence, potential side effects, and preventative care to reduce in-patient admissions.
• Ensure compliance with regulations related to medication storage, handling, dispensing, and documentation, so that penalties can be avoided.

Cost-effective strategies implemented through pharmacy

• 340B Drug Pricing Program: This program was designed to see the medicines are affordable even to the underserved populations in the USA. Facilities that serve low-income and vulnerable populations get discounts on all the eligible outpatient drugs from manufacturers under this program. These Pharmacists work within the framework of the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program. They manage the drug procurement from suppliers at discounted prices and make sure it is beneficial to the patients at no additional cost. The hospitals also benefit from this scheme by having large cost savings.
• Value-based Purchasing initiatives: These initiatives represent a shift from traditional fee-for-service models towards payment models that reward facilities based on outcomes and the overall value of care delivered. Pharmacists play a major role in continued value-based care for patients. For example, facilities under the Medicare Part D plans are evaluated and rated based on various quality measures, and facilities with higher star ratings may receive bonus payments from Medicare. This incentive system promotes better patient care outcomes. Medication Therapy Management (MTM) and other strategic interventions by Pharmacists help hospitals get better ratings.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship Program: The role of an antimicrobial or infectious disease Pharmacist is to set appropriate guidelines for using antimicrobial drugs and administer them to enhance patient health. This decreases the incidence of adverse drug reactions and leads to shorter hospital stays and fewer complications from infections, and eventually helps facilities cut down their operational expenses.
• Transition of Care programs: The Transition of Care Pharmacists help patients in the transitioning stages of care, from healthcare settings to home or between different levels of care within the hospitals, by providing care coordination, reconciliation of medications, and follow-up monitoring. This decreases the likelihood of high-risk patients returning to the hospital, thus reducing healthcare costs. According to a study published in the Journal of Managed Care and Speciality Pharmacy, these TOC programs reduce hospital readmission by 32% within six months and save $2,139 per patient for the facility.
• Advanced practice Pharmacists: With the low availability of physicians in most rural healthcare settings, an advanced practice Pharmacist can be relied upon to provide primary care to the patients. To hire an advanced practice Pharmacist in your facility, you must ensure that the state in which the facility is located allows for collaborative practice agreements (CPA). CPAs formalize partnerships between Pharmacists and healthcare providers, enabling advanced practice providers (APPs) to extend their patient services, especially for chronic conditions. Their scope of work might vary depending on the state norms and will include conducting limited physical assessments, ordering lab tests, and prescribing medications. 

Due to all the above reasons, there is always a huge demand for skilled Pharmacists. Various factors such as their knowledge in the domain, specializations, familiarity with the government norms, ability to negotiate with the drug supplier, and patient interaction skills should be screened when hiring a Pharmacist for your facility. Finding the right talent with the appropriate experience in the domain is a time-consuming task. 

Fret not! MedSquirrels is an all-in-one SaaS platform that will help you overcome this challenge and enable you to hire a Pharmacist quickly and cost-effectively! After you sign up on our platform, you just need to mention your exact job specificiations for the open role. In 2-5 business days, our platform will provide you with the best profiles of Pharmacists who match your job requirements. To use our AI-enabled platform, you only need to pay a flat license fee and the monthly payroll cost per hire. Check our three distinct hiring plans and their pricing here. Get started today!