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Outpatient Pharmacy 2016
Who Is Meeting Today's Demands?

author - Adam Cherrington
Author
Adam Cherrington
author - Emily Paxman
Author
Emily Paxman
 
April 12, 2016 | Read Time: 2  minutes

In response to healthcare and payment reform, providers are turning to the outpatient pharmacy to cut costs and improve outcomes. In a space where development has traditionally been slow, providers are tasked with finding a vendor partner that can meet population health and value-based care challenges. To help providers determine which vendors best meet their needs, this report addresses key provider questions: which vendors are making strategic product improvements, which solutions can scale, which vendors foster strong relationships with customers, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of outpatient pharmacy systems today?

1. TODAY'S MARKET: QS/1 SEES BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMANCE; CERNER STAYS STAGNANT

QS/1 has made gains during the last 12 months thanks to more responsive support and improvements to integration, a past challenge. They lead the best-of-breed market thanks to impactful upgrades that increase providers’ ability to handle higher volumes. After a sharp decline, ScriptPro has steadily improved functionality, although customers say development has stagnated over the past several months. Cerner’s score remains stagnant overall due to unresponsive phone and web support and a lack of aggressive product development. Some customers feel the product’s functionality was oversold.

a changing market

2. IS EPIC A VIABLE OPTION? MOST SAY YES THANKS TO STRONG DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION

Providers hoping for strong integration want to know whether Epic’s is mature enough to meet their needs. Epic has a relatively small outpatient pharmacy customer base—around 30 sites. This limited customer base says the functionality is not as strong as that of best-of-breed players, though most agree that their functionality needs are being met and that the product is not oversold; it is the highest rated product. Customers feel confident in Epic’s ability to meet their growing needs and rate the vendor high for development and integration. Cerner struggles to deliver meaningful upgrades, and providers are disappointed with the lack of integration with other clinical and financial systems.

integration vs developement

3. SMALL MCKESSON CUSTOMERS FACE INTERFACE COMPLEXITIES; CERNER STRUGGLES TO SCALE UP

Small McKesson customers report that the resources required to create and maintain interfaces are prohibitive, leaving them unable to properly leverage the system’s capabilities. Many feel these complexities were not disclosed during the sales and contracting process. Conversely, large Cerner customers state that the product lacks the speed and functionality to meet the demands of high-volume health systems. Limited feedback suggests that ScriptPro’s sweet spot is midsize organizations and that there are some challenges accommodating large volumes in organizations over 500 beds.

who meets providers needs

4. EPIC FOSTERS STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS

Epic customers see their vendor as a true partner, saying that Epic keeps their development promises and is up front about support and upgrade costs. Around two-thirds of McKesson customers feel nickel-and-dimed and face unexpected costs around customizations, functionality upgrades, and phone and web support; also, promises around integration are often unmet. Around half of Cerner customers say that their vendor does not keep their promises, and while many are hopeful that needed functionality will be developed, others are concerned about Cerner’s ability to meet their needs in the future.

transparency and keeping promises what you need to know about outpatient pharmacy
author - Natalie Jamison
Designer
Natalie Jamison
author - Robert Ellis
Project Manager
Robert Ellis
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This material is copyrighted. Any organization gaining unauthorized access to this report will be liable to compensate KLAS for the full retail price. Please see the KLAS DATA USE POLICY for information regarding use of this report. © 2024 KLAS Research, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NOTE: Performance scores may change significantly when including newly interviewed provider organizations, especially when added to a smaller sample size like in emerging markets with a small number of live clients. The findings presented are not meant to be conclusive data for an entire client base.

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