In this five-part blog series, we explore the top challenges community health centers face when running profitable, efficient, and impactful in-house pharmacies. In this final topic, we discuss navigating requirements and earning accreditations
When managing an in-house pharmacy, it’s critical to stay on top of ever-changing licensing, regulatory and statutory requirements. And for in-house teams, ensuring compliance is often a full-time responsibility that can result in undue pressure—oversight in any regard can lead to compliance violations, which may result in federal law enforcement investigations.
Pharmacies’ compliance obligations are dependent on a variety of factors such as the size of the pharmacy and geographic location. The main areas of compliance include DEA compliance, electronic prescription compliance, prescription drug ordering, inventory, record keeping—including the federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA)—prescription dispensing and diversion protection, insurance billing and PBM compliance, Medicare and Medicaid billing, and specialty compliance.[1]
How to use a third-party partner to tackle your compliance needs
Pharmacies can help ensure compliance by partnering with a pharmacy services manager, like Maxor. With dedicated compliance teams, Maxor ensures a careful review of your pharmacy’s unique compliance needs and generates a customized compliance program with tailored policies and procedures, routine maintenance of auditable records and regular monitoring of upcoming/pending regulatory changes.
Beyond compliance, accreditation signals to the market that your in-house pharmacy consistently meets high standards. Pursuing the right accreditations takes time and strategic perspective, as the ones you select depend on what your organization is trying to accomplish. CHCs can consider pursuing community pharmacy, specialty pharmacy and Medicare’s DMEPOS accreditations, or look at various accrediting bodies such as: the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC), Joint Commission (JCO), Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC), and Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation (CPPA).
Not only does accreditation help ensure your patients can receive the best treatment protocols, but it can also assist your organization in gaining access to limited distribution pharmaceuticals and biologicals. Maxor helps navigate your options to identify the ones that are right for your pharmacy.
In-house pharmacy management in 2024
Operating an in-house pharmacy is a complex but rewarding endeavor for any CHC looking to deliver the broadest range of services that support equitable care access and outcome improvements for their patients. To help safeguard the financial and operational success of your center’s in-house pharmacy in the year ahead, partner with an experienced pharmacy manager such as Maxor, who specializes in boosting revenue, workforce expansion, supply chain and formulary management, and more.
[1] https://www.natlawreview.com/article/pharmacy-compliance-what-do-you-need-to-know