SureCost webinar highlights ways to maximize rebates with compliance insights

Drug Store News hosted SureCost's “3 Ways to Maximize Rebates With Compliance Insights” webinar, featuring Danielle Dinglasan, product marketing manager and company product managers Chase Ferguson and Laura Copeland.

Dinglasan opened the webinar, noting that each pharmacy has their own way of meeting their primary vendor compliance, and because of that each pharmacy experiences various challenges. 

"Let’s consider three different pharmacies where each pharmacy handles their compliance differently. We’ll go into each scenario and discuss the challenges pharmacies like these come across. The first strategy is not having the time to understand my contract and check my compliance," Dinglasan said.

Copeland proceeded to address the first strategy, explaining why it’s important for pharmacies to understand and track their compliance, stating, “Contracts are super complex these days. There are a lot of exclusions and inclusions and rebates that are dependent on achieving other metrics and often times when pulling on one string it impacts another. It’s a fine tune balance and takes a lot of effort to maintain. On top of that we sometimes have a limited availability of information. Often that is coming at a point in time where it’s a little late to correct. You might not be maximizing rebates and may accidentally be falling under the mark and losing opportunities. Ultimately, you could be paying penalties or losing your contract specified pricing." 

[Read more: Making it Personal: The changing relationship between patient and pharmacy]

Dinglasan noted that the second approach concerns pharmacies that want to save as much as possible and who want to shop around for the lowest price. 

Ferguson explained the pitfalls of the second approach. 

Noting that most often our focus goes to that lowest priced items, and that consumers are used to looking for that better deal when they go shopping, Ferguson said, "That often starts and ends with whatever that price tag is in comparison to the one next to it. Unfortunately, pharmacy purchasing isn’t that simple. There are more things we have to factor into that."

Ferguson provided the example, where there are two items, one is $1,800, and the other is $2,000. "Our eyes and habits points us to grab the $1,800 item. You might be saving, but you might also losing $300 when you factor in those rebates and how that plays out with your cost of goods. You have to learn to resist that knee jerk reaction and going for the low price. It may not be the best item when it comes to the total cost," he said. 

Pointing out that SureCost looked at a number of customers, where there’s a tendency to look at the lowest price upfront, and where about 75% of their customers were focusing on where the top 200 items spending was going. "We recognize we can’t mentally look and manage every single item. Fortunately, with about 75% of our customers we were able to find an additional savings when we look outside of those 200 items. Some customers in that group were finding an additional 11% savings on the total cost of goods, which is huge. It’s important to move that spotlight around and not just focus on the lowest priced item," he said.

Next, Dinglasan presented the third approach which involves pharmacies that want to purchase through one vendor. 

Ferguson explained the drawbacks to this approach. "It’s easy when we think about not having to juggle looking around. The problem is we don’t know what we don’t know or see. There’s a lot of opportunity that can be missed. For starters, you are taking them at their word, that what you’re seeing in that single platform is your best opportunity. Even if you have additional vendors options you could be relying on or comparing, as soon as you narrow it down and stick with the single vendor you’re potentially leaving a lot of cash on the table. Your compliance with that single vendor can sometimes be misconstrued. By the time they’re substituting items or factoring in multiple rebates... there are better ways to do purchasing here. You don’t have to sacrifice the savings without having to lock yourself into a single option," he said. 

Emphasizing that drug shortages are a challenge that is impacting a lot of pharmacies' savings. Ferguson said, "It’s hard for a single vendor to meet 100% of your needs. The supply chain is volatile and it is always shifting. We have to think about broadening our options and choices, and that involves moving outside of that one vendor mindset." 

Dinglasan proceeded to set up the discussion to how insights to your compliance performance can maximize your rebates and improve your bottom line.

[Read more: Unveiling the Medical Billing Blueprint for Establishing a Future-Ready Pharmacy] 

Ferguson explained what pharmacies need to know about their contracts to maximize those rebates, stating, "We can’t find savings and take advantage of our contracts if we don’t have insights into what’s happening with them. A lot of times contracts get reviewed, signed, put in place, but sometimes the person making daily purchasing decisions wasn’t involved in that process and may not have insights readily available to them. That’s a disconnect we want to bridge. You need to understand where you are."

Lastly, Ferguson provided advice for pharmacies, stating, "Make sure vendors are shipping the correct items, in the right quantities at the agreed upon prices; verify rebates are calculated and applied properly per the contracts; review data and rebate performance to identify opportunities for improvement."

To watch the webinar, click here.