ASHP Survey of Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Practice: Clinical Services-2024

Results of the second ASHP Survey of Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Practice: Clinical Services are presented.

The 2024 clinical services survey questionnaire was reviewed by a panel of specialty pharmacy experts and reduced to 64 questions. The convenience survey sample of 298 unique health-system specialty pharmacies (HSSPs) was compiled from ASHP member lists, the presence of specialty pharmacies indicated in previous ASHP surveys, and outreach to ASHP member organizational leaders. The survey was hosted using Qualtrics.

The response rate was 23.8% (71/298). Most respondents reported dispensing less than 45,000 specialty prescriptions annually, have offered specialty pharmacy services for more than 7 years, and are part of an academic medical center. Over half of HSSPs (61%) reported being able to fill less than half of the specialty medication prescriptions at their health system, most commonly due to payer network restrictions. HSSPs provide many access-related services to all patients of the health system regardless of their ability to fill the specialty prescription, and most respondents (77%) reported offering services beyond basic specialty medication prescription fulfillment. Most HSSPs reported tracking patient response to therapy using disease state-specific outcomes and documenting all interventions in the electronic health record. HSSPs heavily contribute to the field of specialty pharmacy through research and education.

The HSSP model is a continually maturing, integrated advanced practice model focused on providing patient-centric care to all health-system patients regardless of network status, yet access to fill prescriptions written at the health system remains limited.