MHS-4853405-1225 Specialty Checklist

10 key questions every health system should be asking about their specialty pharmacy service line

Achieving More with Your Health System’s Specialty Pharmacy Starts by Asking These Key Questions

Achieve more for the business of pharmacy and the advancement of patient health with the right questions and the right partner.

At McKesson, our team of Specialty Pharmacy Enablement (SPE) experts can work closely with your health system to not only answer these questions but, more importantly, act on them – with the data, tools, and resources to help you achieve more.

Back

CHECKLIST

Where are our specialty prescriptions going after they leave the system?

If you can’t track where scripts go, you can’t measure the opportunity lost – nor can you take the appropriate steps to recapture it. Visibility into fill location is a primary step toward closing care gaps and keeping more prescriptions (and patients) within your system. Notably, more than two-thirds of health system specialty pharmacies dispense no more than half of the prescriptions written by their providers due to payer network restrictions or limited distribution drugs (LDD).

question 1

Next Question

Click to Reveal Answer

Next Question

Understanding which pharmacies and payers are capturing your volume reveals both competitive pressure and potential partnership or access routes. These insights can help shape access strategies, payer negotiations, and network alignment.

Click to Reveal Answer

Who is filling those prescriptions, and who is paying for them?

question 2

Next Question

Knowing your patient mix by condition area helps identify where demand already exists. If a significant portion of your population receives specialty treatment for oncology, cystic fibrosis, or inflammatory conditions, that data should inform your pharmacy strategy.

Click to Reveal Answer

Which patients are we treating in specialty therapeutic classes?

question 3

Next Question

LDDs are common in specialty care, and access can vary widely across health systems. Cataloging your current access footprint is foundational to understanding what you can dispense – as well as what you may be losing when patients go elsewhere.

Click to Reveal Answer

What specialty drugs do we currently have access to?

question 4

Next Question

If you’re treating a high volume of patients for certain conditions but lack access to key therapies in those areas, you may be underserving your population and under-performing financially. Matching access to patient need is critical.

Click to Reveal Answer

What drugs should we have access to based on our patient population?

question 5

Next Question

Access is not static. Manufacturers, data partnerships, and distribution strategies all play a role. With the right tools and advocacy, your health system may be able to qualify for additional products in high-priority areas.

Click to Reveal Answer

What are our opportunities to expand access to limited distribution drugs?

Next Question

Quantifying the financial and clinical upside of improved access helps build the business case for investment. Our team can help model the impact of gaining access to specific therapies, including forecasted revenue and improved continuity of care.

Click to Reveal Answer

How much more could we capture with broader drug access?

question 7

Next Question

When patients fill externally, care becomes fragmented. They may miss out on coordinated follow-up, education, and clinical monitoring, which are especially critical for complex specialty therapies. Bringing fills in-house helps preserve alignment across the care continuum. It’s well documented that health system specialty pharmacies are associated with improvements in clinical outcomes, including access to medication and medication adherence rates.

Click to Reveal Answer

Are our specialty patients receiving coordinated, system-based care?

question 8

Next Question

Even with access and volume, a health system can struggle to operationalize specialty pharmacy effectively. Evaluate whether your workflows, data systems, and clinical coordination are enabling or inhibiting success and what additional tools and resources you may need in place.

Click to Reveal Answer

Do we have the right infrastructure and workflows to support specialty capture?

question 9

LEARN MORE

Like many health systems, you may be dealing with labor and resource constraints, administrative burdens, and other challenges that delay or impede your ability to make progress in upgrading your specialty pharmacy strategy. Choosing our industry experts as your trusted partners can accelerate your ability to gain visibility, make data-informed decisions, and create a pharmacy model that works for both your bottom line and your patients.

Click to Reveal Answer

Who can help us answer these questions and act on our findings?

question 10

question 6