The first-ever “Cost of Dispensing Study” released in January 2020 found, on average, that dispensing a specialty prescription drug required 51 minutes.  Several time-consuming tasks were completed during those 51 minutes, including “obtaining plan information,” which took 13.3 minutes; “securing patient financial assistance,” which accounted for 16.8 minutes; and “obtaining information for and submitting prior authorization,” which took just over 20 minutes.

 While those numbers are specific to specialty drugs (which account for more than half of total pharmacy spending), estimates for dispensing “regular” prescriptions range from 20-to-25-minutes to 10-to-15-minutes.

And with the 2021 NCPA Digest reporting that the typical community pharmacy dispensed 185 prescriptions per day during 2020, it’s easy to see why dispensing-related services account for 65% of a pharmacist’s day.  The NCPA Digest also reported a dispensing cost of $10.80 per prescription or just under $2,000 per day. Continue Reading >>