340B Decision Insights 2020
Service Weighs Heavy in Purchasing Decisions

White-Glove Treatment Helps Verity Attract
and Retain Clients

Verity Solutions

Verity Solutions has been considered in nearly 60% of the 31 decisions in this research (which was collected over the last 18 months). Provider organizations praise the Verity team for their engagement and transparency during the decision-making process. Respondents also appreciate the solution’s ease of use and its straightforward reimbursement model (invoicing upon replenishment/no true-up costs). Current customers report high satisfaction cwith Verity, especially regarding the value they receive and their relationship with the vendor. Retention is also high, with very few customers reporting plans to leave.

Decision Drivers: Product Features and Partner-Level Relationships

“We know of some other facilities that are using Macro Helix, and those facilities have been much happier with Macro Helix than we have been with our current vendor. Macro Helix offers much better vendor support than our current vendor. Some of the hospitals that use 340B Architect are converting NDCs to 11-digit codes, and I like that. I think that is where 340B compliance is headed. Another good thing is Macro Helix doesn’t nickel-and-dime. Their customers just pay maintenance fees, and as new features and changes are released, there aren’t any charges. Those releases are just part of Macro Helix’s business.” —Pharmacy Manager

“Macro Helix didn’t have a completed contract to show us. They complied with some of the RFP details, but they didn’t meet the deadline, and their RFP was never complete. Macro Helix wasn’t sure whether they wanted our small sites. The contracting people and the account managing people were not present, and they didn’t really return calls. They didn’t provide the information we were requesting, and they wouldn’t answer our questions. Macro Helix just didn’t really seem to want us, and they certainly weren’t meeting our needs.” —Pharmacy Director

“We are transitioning to RxStrategies for split billing because we already use the vendor for contract pharmacy, and they developed a lot of the functionalities we were looking for. The vendor was very clear when the product wasn’t ready for us yet, and they recently got it up to the level that I was looking for. The functionality the system has is definitely an improvement from my old system’s functionality, so we made the decision to switch.” —Director of Pharmacy

“We are reverting back to another system. We couldn’t get the orders to go through appropriately and come back to be processed through our EMR correctly. That was causing our buyers a lot of extra work and aggravation. That was one thing that we just couldn’t allow because it was also causing overtime. The accumulations were never correct, and the basis of our program wasn’t compliant. The last thing we want is a bad HRSA audit. The data wouldn’t pull in sometimes, and that was a big frustration on our end. We couldn’t get reports that we truly needed out of the system. When the vendor generated a report, we found flaws in it, and we couldn’t trust the reporting.” —340B Manager

“Sentinel was an easy choice for us. We have already used Sentry for some of our contract pharmacy arrangements, and we have been really satisfied with their work. On top of that, we have heard that Sentry is a good, reliable operator.” —Director of Pharmacy Operations

“We are reverting back to another system. We couldn’t get the orders to go through appropriately and come back to be processed through our EMR correctly. That was causing our buyers a lot of extra work and aggravation. That was one thing that we just couldn’t allow because it was also causing overtime. The accumulations were never correct, and the basis of our program wasn’t compliant. The last thing we want is a bad HRSA audit. The data wouldn’t pull in sometimes, and that was a big frustration on our end. We couldn’t get reports that we truly needed out of the system. When the vendor generated a report, we found flaws in it, and we couldn’t trust the reporting.” —340B Manager

“We are going to go to Verity Solutions. . . . The contract pharmacy model for Verity 340B is much more conducive to business on the contract pharmacy side. With Verity 340B, the contract pharmacy keeps some of the insurance payments and some of the patient co-payments. We get only a percentage. That leaves the contract pharmacy with more money to pay their switch fees and their direct and indirect remuneration fees. Some of the younger companies, such as Verity Solutions, have that model that allows the contract pharmacy to keep more and pay their bills. . . . Verity Solutions came out of the shadows like a dark horse and took over things to a degree, but that is because of their model. It is very simple and straightforward, so most people can follow it; the model doesn’t have a convoluted, slow-moving medication program.” —340B Coordinator

“We looked at Verity 340B. The vendor was very competitive with their pricing, but they did not meet our organization’s needs. A lot of hospitals use NDCs, but we don’t. We are still in the charge code era, and that gets complicated when the software can only do one-to-one links. Verity Solutions’ system can do one-to-many links, but we would have to switch back and forth between NDCs. That would become complicated and would require more resources to manage the software solutions.” —340B Specialist

“Macro Helix’s support is really lacking. If an issue comes up with software that is important to regulations, and we call with a simple question, it goes through the bureaucracy of a case number and all those things. We can never just call and speak to someone. We don’t have direct contact. With my other vendors, there are specific people that I can call up if I need anything. With Macro Helix, there is nobody to call. We just get the bureaucratic help desk scenario. Some of the techs don’t work every day on the assignment.” —Pharmacy Director

“We have weekly calls with Verity Solutions, and they are very proactive. In terms of deliverables, we have tangible outcomes that are tracked and established every week. Verity Solutions’ customer support is excellent. Verity Solutions is very goal oriented, and they make an effort to provide quantifiable deliverables in our 340B program. Verity Solutions establishes a very insightful reporting mechanism and reports our information on a regular basis to keep us on track. We know more about how productive our program is as a result of Verity Solutions’ software and reporting capabilities.” —Pharmacist

“The vendor distribution numbers often don’t match. When the numbers come back, I open up a ticket and ask the vendor how to get the numbers in the system, and I have to send the vendor an NDC along with other information on the drug. Then I have to wait for the vendor to get around to putting everything into the system. We discussed all of that with the vendor before we switched computer systems. We believed that the vendor should have picked up anything new that we added on the list and processed the new items in their system. But the vendor couldn’t give us an answer as to why that didn’t happen or why it took so long to happen. We didn’t know whether they were even looking at that list that we sent them every month. The issue was on their end, and we felt that the vendor had expanded and grown too fast and didn’t have enough people. A lot of people we originally talked with suddenly changed jobs, and then we had to talk with somebody new.” —IT Manager

“I feel like we are paying more for PSG’s product than we did for our other vendor’s system, but PSG works a lot harder and does more with our program. Previously, we weren’t able to qualify for managed Medicaid with our contracted pharmacies. PSG has worked really hard with the state health authorities. PSG worked really hard with our five entities to get the information that we needed so that we could qualify those prescriptions. That has resulted in a lot more revenue for PSG. Obviously, the more prescriptions we qualify, the more we pay PSG.” —Pharmacy Coordinator

“We like RxStrategies very much. They are an excellent business partner. . . . Our relationship with them is not a transactional arrangement. . . . There is a lot of give-and-take that happens in the 340B space. So I appreciate the partnership. I consider the people I work with at RxStrategies to be business friends. I benefit from that relationship, and they give me things that aren’t always in the contract. They don’t always charge me for everything they do, and we adjust the fees as we go along. The value we get for what we pay is very good.” —Director of Pharmacy