DSCSA: What is your pharmacy’s level of readiness?
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by Dr. Alex Toth and Laisha Daley<br/>
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Laisha Daley is the Chief Marketing Officer of InStockRx.<br/>
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If you are a Community Pharmacy Owner or Pharmacist in Charge looking for new strategies to improve your margins, this is for you.<br/>
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Independent pharmacies are getting their ducks in a row…<br/>
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This November is likely to be a hectic time of year for pharmacy owners and operators across America, but it will not necessarily be due to the election cycle or Thanksgiving holiday. By November 27th, pharmacies must have their systems in place for tracking and tracing medications to adhere to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).<br/>
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As our team at InStockRx meets with independent pharmacy owners and operators from around the country, DSCSA is certainly a subject that is top of mind. Many pharmacies have selected, or are in the process of selecting, platforms that help them achieve the objective of end-to-end track and trace verifications at the package level.<br/>
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…and the deadline is approaching rapidly.<br/>
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With T-minus 6 months until the stabilization period ends for pharmacies to fully comply with DSCSA, and no intentions by the FDA to further delay the enforcement of said requirements, now is the time for pharmacies to get the necessary processes and systems in place. For an independent pharmacy, we understand the challenges of dedicating time and resources to implement and test these systems, much less time to understand its impact on their existing workflows. Procrastination will not be a pharmacy’s friend here. Pharmacy owners must act now to implement and ensure these systems are operational before the November 27th deadline.<br/>
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The files you can’t produce can be held against you.<br/>
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While not part of the original intent of the Act itself, the fact is that other players in the pharmacy ecosystem are leveraging the files created for the purposes of DSCSA compliance for a different context of use – sometimes to the detriment of the pharmacy. Files that cannot be produced electronically to verify a medication’s legitimacy are likely to result in a high penalty for the pharmacy through PBM audits and claw backs.<br/>
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InStockRx continues to lean into the DSCSA requirements.<br/>
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As a marketplace and platform that facilitates the exchange of surplus inventory between pharmacies, we are not only helping pharmacy owners improve cash flow and profitability, but we are also doing it in a way that helps our member pharmacies ensure compliance with DSCSA. We complement the capabilities of a pharmacy’s existing provider for DSCSA, so that the supply chain remains intact, and documents are readily accessible for pharmacies when needed. We have made a conscious and intentional choice to lean into the DSCSA requirements, specifically for the transactions that occur on our platform, because we believe the cost of non-compliance for an independent pharmacy is far too great. Pharmacies are continually under pressure (see our last article), so we are doing our part to help alleviate some of that pressure.<br/>
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What is your level of readiness?<br/>
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We would love to hear where your pharmacy is at in its journey to readiness with DSCSA. What steps have you have taken thus far, and what concerns do you have? We invite you to share in the comments below or send us an email at info@instockrx.com.<br/>
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Are you ready to turn your problem inventory into cashflow, with the confidence in knowing your marketplace transactions comply with DSCSA? Click here to get started with InStockRx. <br/>
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by Dr. Alex Toth and Laisha Daley<br/>
<br/>
Laisha Daley is the Chief Marketing Officer of InStockRx.