Vizient has announced a new collaboration with Civica Rx to help reduce the impact of drug shortages. Vizient will provide insights into purchasing patterns and provider needs through its analytics and data capabilities to help Civica anticipate gaps in drug availability and affordability.
“Vizient fully agrees with and embraces Civica’s mission to ensure that essential generic medications are available and affordable to everyone,” said Dan Kistner, PharmD, senior vice president, pharmacy services at Vizient in a release. Healthcare Purchasing News asked Kistner to explain what is driving so many drug shortages and how specifically this partnership might ease the problem for providers and their patients.
The company says its analytics and data insights, in combination with Vizient’s private label Novaplus pharmacy program, serve the needs of its own member healthcare organizations and mitigate the effects of drug shortages and lower rising drug costs. As an example, the Novaplus program provides Vizient members improved access to more than 760 NDCs (including most of the drugs regularly listed as “short”).
“Vizient has been using its data to drive our successful Novaplus private-label program for more than 20 years,” Kistner told HPN. “We have data and insights into what is being purchased - both historically and at any given moment - at more than 60 percent of the nation’s hospitals. This brings predictability for manufacturers, which has led to superior fill rates for Vizient members, especially for many drugs that have been on the drug shortage list. We also have industry data and insights on manufacturers, who are making a particular product or can make a product. That gives insight into what could possibly go short. This insight can serve as an early warning for providers as they manage their supply chain. And like us, Civica is provider driven, which brings the critical provider perspective to the forefront. By collaborating with Civica, we believe we can help them better understand the market and help them bring new supply that could really make a positive impact for providers.”
Other strategies, said Vizient, include the Vizient Drug Shortage Task Force, a collaborative effort with its member healthcare organizations, to pursue a broad range of activities to support greater stability of the supply chain, particularly for the injectable generic products. The organization said it is also exploring strategies to expand its Novaplus program and continues its advocacy efforts to promote legislative solutions in Washington, DC.
