Goal Alignment Improves Pharmacist-Manufacturer Collaborations, Care

Collaboration between health system specialty pharmacies and manufacturers can be valuable, but it’s crucial to approach that collaboration with goals aligned.

“We have shared goals of improving patient outcomes, improving access to medication, and really understanding the patient experience,” said Autumn Zuckerman, PharmD, BCPS, CSP, Director, Health Outcomes at Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy. “When you’re designing a collaboration, particularly around outcomes research, making sure that you’re both [the pharmacy and the manufacturer] doing it for the same reasons, and that you agree on what the project will be” is key to a project’s success.

Equally important, Zuckerman said, is that health systems share their capabilities—especially around data. “What data do we have, how do we use it? How do we interact with patients?” Zuckerman asked. Helping manufacturers understand the answers to these questions can improve the collaboration. Listening and understanding the needs of the manufacturer also lends itself to success.

Zuckerman sat down with Drug Topics at AXS24, the Asembia Specialty Pharmacy Summit, held April 28 to May 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Click here for more of our coverage from AXS24.