Lp. Forrester et al., PHARMACY MANAGEMENT COMPANY-NEGOTIATED CONTRACT FOR DRUG INFORMATION-SERVICES, American journal of health-system pharmacy, 52(10), 1995, pp. 1074-1077
University-based drug information services provided on a contractual b
asis to the pharmacies of a pharmacy management company are described.
Allied Pharmacy Management, Inc. (APM), the manager of 34 institution
al pharmacies, 3 community pharmacies, and 6 long-term care and infusi
on therapy pharmacies, determined a need to contract for the services
of a drug information center. Centers meeting basic criteria were invi
ted to submit proposals. After careful research and negotiations, APM
chose the University of Tennessee Drug Information Center for a one-ye
ar contract beginning in November 1992. Services provided under the co
ntract include drug information consultations, formulary drug class re
views, new drug monographs, drug-use evaluation (DUE) criteria, litera
ture reviews, and newsletters. Seven months after the contract went in
to effect, APM-affiliated pharmacy directors stated that they were eit
her satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of the answers to dru
g information requests, the newsletters, and the drug monographs and a
greed overwhelmingly that the contract should be renewed. The contract
has been renewed for second and third years. During the first year, t
he drug information center answered 155 questions and took 121 hours t
o do so. In the second year there were 244 questions, requiring 161 ho
urs. In year 1 there were 21 formulary class reviews, 6 newsletters, 5
new drug monographs, and 1 set of DUE criteria. There have been 20-25
literature searches during each contract year. The drug information s
ervices provided by a university-based drug information center under c
ontract with a pharmacy management company satisfied the directors of
the affiliated pharmacies.