Tracking pharmaceutical costs within an organization—simply making sure that the right price has been charged and paid—has never been more important. Purchasing has become more complex, with a wealth of interrelated variables: more products, more specialty products, more refined formularies, new sources of and channels for products, and contracts that establish increasingly detailed terms. New purchasing strategies and tools that help keep pharmaceutical costs in check are constantly emerging. The current purchasing process involves four main parties: (1) health systems and pharmaceutical purchasers in other classes of trade, (2) drug wholesalers, (3) group purchasing organizations (GPOs), and (4) pharmaceutical manufacturers. Each party is involved in product procurement and contractual agreements for the purchase of pharmaceuticals, and each has a disciplined approach to pricing. The ability of these parties to connect their disciplines is where price accuracy and agreement are determined. For the purposes of this article, pharmaceutical purchasers of all types are referred to as purchasers.
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Dunehew et al. (2005) studied this question.