Comprehensive Pharmacy Services and 4Front Consulting combine capabilities to Deliver Turnkey Specialty Pharmacy Support
Memphis, TN and Buffalo, NY – Comprehensive Pharmacy Services (CPS), the nation’s leading provider of pharmacy services for hospitals and health systems, and 4Front Consulting Group have brought together one of the most effective and dynamic capability sets in the industry to be led by 4Front’s founding and Managing Partner, Jody Miller. 4Front further strengthens the exciting new turn-key specialty pharmacy service line that CPS has launched. The new Ambulatory and Specialty Pharmacy capabilities will help leading health facilities meet the growing demand for specialty drugs, navigate the complexities of ambulatory pharmacy services, and deliver better care to patients while improving financial performance.
The pressure on health systems and hospitals to provide specialty medications is growing rapidly as more medications are released to treat patients with complex chronic diseases. Even though less than two percent of patients require these drugs, by 2020 specialty medications are projected to represent more than 50 percent of medication expenditures, topping $49B billion. The cost of most specialty medications runs high - over $2,000 per fill with many rare disease drugs in excess of $100,000 per patient per year. These macro dynamics pose many risks and opportunities for hospitals and health systems struggling to determine their role in delivering specialty health medications, and how to integrate specialty drugs into the care continuum.
4Front has been a leading Specialty Pharmacy consulting firm focused on strategy and implementation of Specialty Pharmacy in all healthcare environments for the last decade. 4Front has developed and implemented specialty pharmacy solutions for health systems, hospitals, health insurance companies and grocery chains.
“The strategic fit of these two organizations could not be better,” said Jody Miller, who has been named President of Ambulatory and Specialty Pharmacy for CPS. “The demand for specialty drugs is growing at an unprecedented rate, and without a strong Specialty Pharmacy presence healthcare organizations are at risk of losing millions in revenues from those medications and ambulatory care services.”
Where 4Front is a leader in developing strategy, CPS is the leader in executing pharmacy operations. The combination allows CPS to offer expanded end-to-end services, from development to ongoing management of specialty and ambulatory pharmacy solutions. CPS has been providing these services through their retail team, and with the addition of 4Front can now accelerate that growth.
“Specialty Pharmacy is substantially changing the landscape for hospital and health system pharmacies across the country,” said Don Nickleson, CPS Executive Chairman. “With nearly a half century of experience in the U.S. pharmacy sector, CPS has the expertise to build a new or expand an existing specialty pharmacy and prepare pharmacy teams to effectively deliver clinical, operational and financial excellence.”
CPS’ Specialty Pharmacy Solutions team meets each health facility where they are in Specialty Pharmacy development. Whether they have a specialty pharmacy operation that can be taken to the next level, or need to build a new, best-in-class Specialty Pharmacy. This complete solution encompasses a spectrum of Specialty Pharmacy services, including:
Education: guiding and supporting the pharmacy team through the complex specialty drug market and the potential value to the hospital
Assessment: analyzing the hospital opportunity; assessing payer mix, 340B opportunities, contract pharmacy & more; assisting with payer contracting; and crafting a specialty pharmacy strategy
Design: creating custom facility plan; and overseeing facility construction, IT infrastructure, and patient telepharmacy contact center
Implementation: hiring specialty pharmacy team; training existing staff; obtaining accreditation; ensuring compliance; and interfacing with manufacturers to procure limited distribution drugs
Ongoing Operations: Driving performance and maintaining the on-going specialty pharmacy program at best practice levels through integrated technologies and deep specialty pharmacy expertise
“The CPS solution for Specialty Pharmacy Hospital Services allows health systems to partner with a proven leader in order to de-mystify running a successful Specialty Pharmacy,” added Calvin Johnson (CJ), CEO of CPS. “With large Specialty Pharmacies, Pharmacy Benefits Managers and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers combining to limit and veil the opportunities, hopitals need a proven partner like CPS.”
About Comprehensive Pharmacy Services
Founded nearly 50 years ago and employing over 2,000 pharmacy professionals, Comprehensive Pharmacy Services is the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pharmacy support services to more than 500 hospitals and healthcare facilities pharmacies. CPS helps hospital pharmacists tackle complex problems such as specialty pharmacy, medication reconciliation, hyper-inflated drug costs, standardization, operational effectiveness and efficiencies, centralized distribution, retail pharmacies, compliance, 340B programs and much more, leading to increased quality, reduced admissions and lower costs. For more information, visit http://www.cpspharm.com.
About 4Front Consulting Group
4Front Consulting Group was founded over 8 years ago by professionals with extensive pharmaceutical and healthcare industry experience. 4Front clients rely on our nationally recognized team to provide insights based on years of experience and unparalleled knowledge of current trends in the rapidly changing healthcare environment. These insights continue to deepen with our current, ongoing involvement in all facets of the integrated healthcare marketplace. We strongly believe that healthcare is an ecosystem that requires understanding more than just the immediate projects we are working on. 4Front approaches every client project with a wide, multi-disciplinary view. We provide our clients strategic and tactical insights to accelerate growth and improve patient care. Our client list includes well known pharmacy corporations, payers and other organizations that provide services to, or manage, the pharmaceutical supply chain. For more information please visit: www.4frontcg.com
