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5 Ways to Take Control of LTC Facility Drug Costs

Learn How LTC Operators Are Lowering Their Drug Costs Through Tech and Outsourcing

Greater control of drug costs is vital to improving your long-term care and skilled nursing facility’s profitability and financial stability. As one of the greatest costs in operating a long-term care (LTC) facility, place greater emphasis on finding effective ways to reduce waste, increase rebates, and avoid unnecessary costs when managing your pharmacy relationship.

Here are five ways LTC and skilled nursing operators can take control of their facility drug costs.

1. Identify Drug Manufacturer Rebates To Boosts Profits
  • Long-term care facilities are routinely losing out on thousands of dollars in manufacturer drug rebates.
  • Use technology solutions that scan your invoices, automatically identifying and submitting eligible drug rebates.

Some of the costliest medications on the market become eligible for drug manufacturer rebates, but many LTC and skilled nursing facilities may be completely unaware of these offers. Over time, this can amount to missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars. Deploy software solutions that automatically identify and submit eligible rebates in your pharmacy invoices, saving you hours of tedious, manual work and bringing cash back into your facilities.

SRX’s software automatically identifies and submits every eligible rebate on a facility’s invoice, on time, every time with zero risk and no out-of-pocket costs.

See What Others Have Saved

2. Pharmacy Relationship Software Simplifies Management

Pharmacy relationship software improves operations and reduces costs through the following:

  • Adjudication to ensure formulary compliance, control prescription fill timing, and improve billing accuracy
  • Monthly bill auditing that breaks down total spend, identifies Medicare Part B billables and split-bill opportunities
  • Review and submission of every credit and return
  • On-demand reporting of drug utilization, waste, and OTC usage

Pharmacy management is one of the most complex parts of running a profitable LTC facility. Choosing a software solution that consolidates multiple tasks into a single dashboard is an effective way to get clear reports and data you can use to make important decisions. Automation adds another layer of efficiency and cost savings.

SRX simplifies this down to an almost hands-off experience by automating repetitive, detail-dense tasks. Our line-by-line analysis of pharmacy bills identifies every discrepancy, credit, and savings opportunity. 

It’s easy for busy LTC offices to miss out on opportunities camouflaged within thousands of line items. To date, we have identified over $77 million in cost savings for our customers.

Learn How Much SRX Could Be Saving You

3. Outsourced Advisory Services Give LTC Operators Better Control Over Their Drug Costs

Expert advisors can help with the following:

  • Drug utilization rules and review
  • Reviewing and negotiating pharmacy contracts 
  • Management of waste review, returns, and over-the-counter alternatives

Many LTC facility operators are choosing to outsource their pharmacy management to established experts who can navigate the complexities of long-term care financials amid growing workloads and waning staff. This often proves profitable, allowing facility management to focus on daily operations while complex operations can be streamlined by subject matter experts.

Beyond deploying automation to identify and avoid unnecessary costs, SRX’s advisory services include hands-on support from our experts to set up a facility’s formulary to achieve the lowest net cost. We focus on achieving unparalleled transparency when it comes to negotiating and evaluating pharmacy contracts and perform regular audits to track compliance and formulary efficacy.

See How SRX’s Advisors Can Lower Your Drug Costs

4. Find A Managed Care Management Solution For Skilled Nursing Facilities

At SRX, our Managed care exclusion reimbursements services include:

  • Identification of managed care medication exclusions
  • Managing and tracking carveouts 
  • Prior authorization notifications and reporting
  • Smart dashboard with daily updates of exclusions based on admissions

Managed care reimbursement models prove to be particularly challenging for managing pharmacy spend in skilled nursing facilities. With new admissions and exclusions changing daily, the task of staying on top of every contract is colossal and can create bottlenecks in workflow. Delegate these tasks to technology and advisors that can automate these tasks and provide expert oversight, freeing up staff, empowering managers with timely data, and bringing more cash into your facility.

SRX provides online dashboards to intuitively track exclusions contract-by-contract and identify prior authorizations requiring timely action. Real-time email alerts are sent to designated stakeholders at facilities when our system identifies events (eg. a drug cost that exceeds contract rates) that need attention.

For skilled nursing facilities, SRX provides smart solutions that save staff time, optimize care, and greatly improve reimbursements.

5. Save On Your Employee Prescription Benefits Programs With Arc By SRX

In partnership with SRX, Arc greatly reduces the net cost of employee prescription benefits programs. Arc achieves this by partnering with one of the nation’s largest pharmacy networks to provide robust and customizable benefits plans for employees. Using SRX’s custom-built software in conjunction with access to this cost-effective network, Arc is able to significantly lower the cost of specialty drugs.

Benefits of Arc:

  • Unique pharmacy channels
  • Drug rebates that offset plan costs
  • Customized carveouts for high-cost medications
  • Transparent national pharmacy network
  • Online member portal
  • Flexible co-pay structures & plan designs

Arc benefits employers by lowering their prescription benefits program costs. On average, employers save 22% on their plan costs. Arc does this by carving out specific high-cost medications and enrolling members in alternative programs better suited to their needs.

Learn More About Arc

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Related Articles:

How to Maximize the Rebate Dollars You Put Back into Your Long-Term Care (LTC) Facility

How to Simplify LTC Prescription Drug Spend with Adjudication

Intro to Transparency: Achieving Transparency in Long-Term Care Pharmacy Management


SRX is a technology and advisory company that helps LTC operators realize the lowest net cost on drug costs. We help our customers improve drug utilization, manage pharmacy relationships, reduce costs and waste, and maximize rebates. We are committed to transparency and accountability and guarantee our quarterly rebates are paid on time, every time. 


Learn more about SRX’s cost-saving solutions


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