As a public service, I’ve put together a (partial) list of firms that repackage drugs for physician dispensing. This is primarily a workers comp issue, as comp insurers and TPAs are increasingly concerned about the cost of drugs dispensed by physicians. In some circumstances, the billed and payable amount can be several times higher than the cost for the same type of drug dispensed through a pharmacy.
There are benefits attributed to physician dispensing; less hassle for the injured worker, potentially greater compliance and dispensing accuracy. But these benefits appear to be far outweighed by the increased cost.
Here’s the list. Additions are welcome – if they have been vetted.
Bottom line medical
Physicians total care
PDRx
MedXDispensing
Coordinated Care Network
MDScripts
DispenseWorks
Dispensing Solutions Inc.
Physicians Dispensing Systems Inc.
American Physicians Service Group
MedXSalesForce
MedVantX
Concentra
I am notifying you of another company called Allscrips that was the original company that started the physician dispensing in 1986.
I’m not sure where you got your list, but it’s missing the #1 and #2 players in medication dispensing industry!
#1 is Allscripts
#2 is Purkinje DRx
Has anyone ever heard of a company called Cal Pharmacy Management?
I am a pharmaceutical investigator and consultant in Chicago. I have a client looking to find experts understand how certain repackagers operate and do business with brand name manufacturers who sell in bulk older, multi-source brand name drugs.
These repackagers are American Health Packaging; National PharmPak, and RX Pak—
and are unique to the industry–according to my client–because they do three things differently than conventional repackagers:
1. They repackage into sizes–generally 100s–that the original manufacturer (Brand-multi source drugs) currently manufacturers, and distributes to retail pharmacies.
2. They place the ENTIRE original manufacturer NDC number on their repackaged products, either in addition with their own NDC or in place of their own NDC.
3. They are NOT participants in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program.
IF you have a moment, I would love to briefly speak with you regarding any help or suggestions you might have for me on this issue. My client is having a difficult time dealing with these issues, and understanding how they work from a contractual basis.
As I understand it, only a couple of repackagers actually do this.
I can be reached at 708 488 8751. Much thanks and I hope to hear from you.
Regards:
John Burns
SRI
Chicago
There are tons of mom and pop repackagers for physician dispensing, but the two largest and most established ones are Allscripts and Purkinje’s DRx program. Many of the mom and pop repackagers simply purchase their drugs from one of the two large players, and if they don’t, I’d be curious how they can ensure safety and guarantee pedigree (guaranteed pedigree is very important!!!!!)
So you might as well cut out a middle man and deal directly with Purkinje DRx or Allscripts. Both of them sell directly to physicians and dentists.
Actually, based on many state and federal regulations, these repackagers are very strict about what they buy, and how they get it. We actually sell to many of the “mom and pop” corporations as they seem to be called (one of those that I sell to actually dispenses what equals about 2000 scrips a day, which is about 3-4 times what a large chain pharmacy dispenses). We are required by law to provide a pedigree with any drug to the pharmacy as needed. In accordance with PDMA guidelines, a wholesaler is not required to provide a pedigree on products that are purchased directly from the manufacturer. Hope this helps!! Just means keep your options open, doesn’t mean that the “big 2” as they are being called are necessarily the best. Just the biggest.
The physician dispensing industry has certainly been legitimized, and the presence of both mom and pop repackagers along with established players helps keep healthy competition in play. The drugs all come from the same manufacturers, all have the same pedigree, have similar FDA regulated repackaging operations.
What differentiates a player in this industry is the service, availability, and value added provided by a supplier. Do you need schedule C-II drugs? Do you need a software program that can manage the process for you from A-Z? Is the software provided, or will you be charged a large up front fee? Are you seeing Workers Compensation patients, or Personal Injury cases? What kind of revenue model does your supplier provide? What hardware or support does your provider supply? These value added services are the glue that make your program successful, and should be the key factors that you evaluate as you consider a physician dispensing program.
After significant review of this industry I find dispensing to be the right thing for patient and physician alike. Shame on the pharmacy lobbyists that have created significant hardship in certain states to keep physicians from making money at what they were trained to do!
You can’t be serious. Physician dispensing greatly increases the chance of mediation error. This is NOT debatble. Furthermore, physician dispensing creates the same conflict of interest concerns which arise from the collaborative practice agreements in which pharmacists can prescribe medications. You simply do not want physicians to have a financial interest in the drugs they prescribe. This is the antithesis of cost savings for the patient. In short, physician dispensing is far more dangerous to the patient and more costly to everyone involved. Only a physician interested in monetary gain more than the welfare of their patients would be for the widespread adoption of this practice.
How do you become a vendor to set up in house pharmacies in the Doctors offices without having to be a repackager? Do you buy the software? Can you work with more than one repackager?