That is one trend as reported in Modern Healthcare. Being able to better managed health care spend across medical and pharmacy is one reason.
In 2018 alone, about 76% of hospitals with over 600 beds operated a specialty pharmacy, in comparison to a little under half in 2016, according to American Society of Hospital Pharmacists. Growth in accountable care organizations and risk-based payments also makes having a specialty pharmacy another value proposition, according to George Zula, vice president of specialty pharmacy programs at health system solution provider Acentrus.
“Going back to total cost of care, and the performance metrics that our health systems are able to deliver, I think that’s something else that the C-suite should be paying attention to,” Zula said.