CASE STUDY
www.cps.com
Holzer Specialty Pharmacy opened its doors in February of 2022 – and although still in
the early stages, progress has been encouraging. In its first six months, the specialty
pharmacy dispensed more than 300 prescriptions and contributed $1 million in
new revenue.
“I'm impressed by the number of prescriptions we've dispensed, but also the volume of
calls being handled,” says Fowler. One of the things that stands out for him is how involved
the specialty pharmacy team is with patients. That's critical as many of the medications
require a lot of education and support to ensure proper use. More than that, CPS tracks
incoming calls in very much the same way as Holzer's centralized scheduling center, a
system that has been nationally recognized. “Like us, they pay close attention to wait
times and abandoned call rates — and their statistics are very good.” Calls are answered
on average within 8.5 seconds and abandoned calls are less than 1%.
Another area where CPS and Holzer are aligned is in their hiring practices. “When they
brought on someone to manage our specialty pharmacy operation, they made sure it
was someone local — a person who already knows the culture and community of rural
southern Ohio. That's important,” says Fowler. As a result, he adds, the relationships
pharmacy and hospital staff have with CPS managers are so seamless — many don't even
realize they are not Holzer employees. “That says something about how much a part of
our team CPS is.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2023 AND BEYOND
Launching the specialty pharmacy and completing accreditations would have taken
significantly longer without the efficiency CPS’ range of expertise brings. The same is true
for the collaborative practice agreements they’ve been able to establish for ambulatory
care, compliance reviews, and auditing for retail locations. That’s why Holzer plans to build
on their relationship with the company and explore new opportunities to help them fulfill
their longer-term strategy — to focus on quality and patient outcomes. “We have a relatively
large outpatient physician practice covering five counties and 15 sites — and we want to
optimize how we use our pharmacy services in the clinical settings,” says Fowler. That's
why for 2023 and beyond, they are looking at the possibility of implementing new solutions
such as telepharmacy and medication therapy management. They're also looking for ways
to augment their oncology services with tactics like expanding biosimilar integration and
optimize outpatient infusion revenue.
"The strategy and direction of pharmaceutical services are so specialized,” says Fowler.
“If you want to maximize opportunities in the pharmacy — it's critical to have a true
strategic partner on your side, and CPS has proven to me over and over again that they
are that partner," says Fowler. "They know what's happening in the industry and bring ideas
to us that meet our strategic vision. Then together, we decide what makes the most sense
for Holzer."
MORE THAN
300
$1
MILLION
In NEW Revenue
PRESCRIPTIONS