A guide to Specialty Pharmacy
Specialty pharmacies are different from traditional pharmacies. These pharmacies coordinate the different aspects of patient care and medical assistance. A specialty pharmacy majorly provides specific medicines that are suitable for serious illnesses. Basically, specialty pharmacies have medicines for illnesses requiring complex therapies.
Relationship between specialty pharmacy and compounding pharmacy:
Specialty pharmacy is essentially not different from compounding pharmacy. Personalized medications are available at specialty pharmacies. The only difference is that specialty pharmacies have specific drugs that are suitable for complex treatments. On the other hand, compounding pharmacies are not rigid in the list of drugs available with them.
Benefits of Specialty Pharmacies:
Specialty pharmacy is a unique type of pharmacy. It has many benefits, such as:
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Comprehensive Data - A wide range of data is available with specialty pharmacies. Every patient's details are available at specialty pharmacies. These details are useful for better analysis of patients.
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Relationship with Consumers - Specialty pharmacies interact with each and every consumer. This interaction builds a personal connection between consumers and pharmacists. Thereby, making it easy for patients to adapt to compounding pharmacies.
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Provider-Pharmacist relationship - Pharmacists are usually in touch with providers. They are well aware of the preferred treatments of doctors. This makes it relatively easy for pharmacies to guide patients in a better way.
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Disease related benefit - Specialty pharmacies focus on efficient management of diseases. It aims at reducing or delaying the onset of a serious illness.
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Quality of Life - The essence of specialty pharmacies is betterment of patients. Each and every specialty pharmacy aims at improving the quality of life for patients. The idea is to improve the health levels of patients along with controlling the overwhelming costs of specialty medicines.
Which medicines are available at specialty pharmacies?
Specialty pharmacies list only those drugs that are complicated. These drugs are usually injectable medications. Almost all the specialty pharmacy drugs are effective for treating chronic illnesses.
The drugs available at specialty pharmacies have high-cost. High cost medicines are those priced at greater than $1,000 for 30 days supply. These drugs are also highly complex.
Specialty pharmacies usually have high-touch medicines. Basically medicines that require temperature control, have specific handling procedures, and require compliance monitoring are high-touch medications.
Point of Caution:
Specialty pharmacy is a field of compounding pharmacy with very-low competition. As a result, drugs available at specialty pharmacies must be opted with caution.
Medications at specialty pharmacies are costlier because of low-competition. While specialty pharmacies have drugs suitable for chronic illnesses, it is important to be sure of the quality of drugs available at specialty pharmacies.
Conclusion:
Specialty pharmacies are a different concept. They have been available in the market for quite some time. These pharmacies work for the benefit of patients.
This branch of pharmacy comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. For those with chronic illnesses, specialty pharmacies are the go to place. The drugs available at specialty pharmacies vary from the commercially available drugs. Hence, if you are looking for a pharmacy that focuses on quality of service then specialty pharmacies are the place to visit.
