NOAH’s Pharmacy is trending to top 10,000 this month for all-time number of prescriptions dispensed since opening last December.
As anticipated, a change in availability of 340B medications in late February (closure of Walgreens’ 7th Street location) and subsequent addition of Sliding Fee Scale (SFS) patient prescription pick-up services at Desert Mission Health Center, sparked an increase in scripts dispensed.
Total Prescriptions Dispensed
Avg. Dispensed Per Day
With satellite pharmacy services launching at all NOAH Health Center locations and courier service now open to all payor types, distribution numbers have again climbed significantly over the last few months.
Prescription Pick-Up Location
While Pharmacy volume is meeting expectations in terms of prescriptions dispensed, revenue is falling short as the payor mix skews toward SFS. Just like payor mix impacts our revenue in terms of appointments, payor mix affects pharmacy revenue, but in a slightly different way.
Pharmacy Payor Mix
Appointment Payor Mix
NOAH’s savings on 340B medications helps us to offer discounted prescriptions to our SFS patients but only when we also sell 340B medications to commercially insured patients. Ideally, for healthy pharmacy revenue, our payor mix would mirror NOAH’s target payor mix for medical patients.
Regular Pricing
| Payor Type | Drug Cost | Amount Paid | Net Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFS | $100 | $20 | -$80 |
| Commercial | $100 | $100 | $0 |
| Total | $200 | $120 | -$80 |
340B Pricing
| Payor Type | Drug Cost | Amount Paid | Net Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFS | $70 | $20 | -$50 |
| Commercial | $70 | $100 | +$30 |
| Total | $140 | $120 | -$20 |
Current Payor Mix
| Payor Type | Drug Cost | Amount Paid | Net Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFS: 80% of Total | $70 x 80 = $5,600 | $20 x 80 = $1,600 | -$50 x 80 = -$4,000 |
| Commercial: 10% of Total | $70 x 10 = $700 | $100 x 10 = $1,000 | $30 x 10 = +$300 |
| Total | $6,300 | $2,600 | -$3,700 |
Ideal* Payor Mix
| Payor Type | Drug Cost | Amount Paid | Net Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFS: 13% of Total | $70 x 13 = $910 | $20 x 13 = $260 | -$50 x 13 = -$650 |
| Commercial: 35% of Total | $70 x 35 = $2,450 | $100 x 35 = $3,500 | $30 x 35 = +$1,050 |
| Total | $3,360 | $3,760 | +$400 |
| Annualized* | $742,140 | $830,520 | +$88,380 |
**Annualized amount based on 251 days of operation at 88 scripts per day.
In line with our pharmacy growth plan, we will continue to phase out Walgreens as the preferred pharmacy for NOAH SFS patients and shift those patients to NOAH’s Pharmacy over the coming months. At the same time, we are working to increase the volume of prescriptions dispensed to insured patients to offset the loss incurred by the SFS discount.
More than ever, we need your help to increase our ratio of prescriptions sold to commercial and Medicare Part D versus SFS. This shift will not only improve pharmacy revenue but overall revenue for NOAH and our ability to reinvest in important patient programs and services.
Ways to Help
- Ensure every patient is aware of our convenient pharmacy services including no-cost courier services to any NOAH Health Center.
- Offer to update pharmacy preference during every visit.
- Tell your friends and neighbors how choosing NOAH’s pharmacy can help us continue to deliver affordable healthcare to those who need it most.
- Consider filling your prescriptions at NOAH’s pharmacy (e.g. save 50% on NOAH insurance copays through 12/31/24 and free courier service to your clinic).
We also continue to grow our pharmacy service line through patient communication. Recent marketing efforts included a dedicated pharmacy email to our patient database of 46K people which garnered a 36% open rate and the implementation of pharmacy patient satisfaction surveys which have delivered an average rating of 4.63 out of 5. We will continue to implement strategic marketing efforts including email outreach, in-clinic signage, social media, etc. as well as launch employee-facing programs to be announced in our upcoming benefits enrollment period.
NOAH’s Pharmacy has been an incredible addition to the services we provide, and we look forward to its continued growth. If you have questions regarding pharmacy services at NOAH, please reach out to your leader or contact Pharmacy Director, Eric Scherf at escherf@noahhelps.org.
