2024 Specialty Pharmacy Distribution Issues and Opportunities

Big idea: Specialty pharmacy distribution issues regarding safety, visibility, compliance, and cost will persist unless special attention is paid to the unique needs of the industry.

Introduction

In a 2022 blog series, we discussed four unique concerns surrounding specialty pharmacy distribution. These include patient safety issues, lack of visibility, high compliance risk, and increased costs.

Nearly two years later, we’re reassessing the landscape to see how these concerns have evolved, for better or worse. Then, we advocate for a perspectives shift aimed at alleviating these pain points for specialty pharmacy.

Patient Safety

Patient safety measures in specialty pharmacy distribution are more important now than ever. In our last blog series, we highlighted that there were twice as many specialty pharmacy prescription distribution errors as dispensing errors.

Today, specialty pharmacies are now averaging five times as many distribution errors as dispensing errors. Typically, these errors result when pharmacies dispense medications with the incorrect address and/or delivered to the wrong address.

These errors can jeopardize patient safety and increase liability for the pharmacy. When their medications are compromised due to shipping errors and delays, patients are at risk of adverse health events and even re-hospitalization.

Due to stability and/or temperature control requirements, specialty medications can be even more vulnerable to compromise caused by distribution errors

As a result, it is critical for specialty pharmacies to target interventions aimed at addressing distribution errors to ensure patient safety. Read more >