CHICAGO, Dec. 5, 2011 /CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM/ — UHC, an alliance of the nation’s leading nonprofit academic medical centers, announces the launch of RxLINK™, UHC’s online tool that gives hospitals unprecedented insight into their pharmacy price performance. RxLINK™ provides UHC pharmacy supply chain members with a better understanding of industry pricing levels and offers a realistic view of pricing by manufacturer, therapeutic class, drug, pharmacy location, and class of trade.
The application, developed by Novation, UHC’s supply contracting company, allows users to quickly gain insight into national pharmacy pricing levels by comparing an individual member hospital’s pharmacy pricing with that of hundreds of other health care organizations. By accessing these data sets, users can identify cost reduction opportunities and use that knowledge to negotiate better pricing. An RxLINK™ application for mobile devices will soon be available to UHC pharmacy supply chain members.
Features of the tool include:
- Comparison of performance with that of other organizations
- True market view of both contract and noncontract items
- Pricing and performance detail down to the individual product level
- “Price leveling” opportunities within the organization for pharmacies within the same class of trade
- Monthly updates for accurate analysis
“For hospitals today, it is critical that we effectively and efficiently manage price,” said Sam Carros, pharmacy manager, Greenville Hospital System. “RxLINK™combines UHC’s extensive, national database with Novation’s experience in spend analytics. This combined strength allows RxLINK™to give me complete visibility not only into my own hospital’s drug spend but also into industry-wide pharmaceutical pricing. This type of visibility is invaluable for my organization.”
For more information about RxLINK™, visit the UHC Web site.
About UHC
UHC is an alliance of the nation’s leading nonprofit academic medical centers, which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. Based in Chicago, Ill., UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 115 academic medical center and 258 affiliated hospital members through its renowned programs and services in the areas of comparative data and analytics, performance improvement, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Formed in 1984, UHC’s membership includes more than 90% of the nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States. For more information, visit uhc.edu.
About Novation, Winner of the Ethics Inside® Certification
Founded in 1998, Novation is the leading health care supply contracting company for the more than 65,000 members of VHA Inc. and UHC, two national health care alliances, and Provista, LLC. Novation provides alliance members with sourcing services, as well as information and data services. Based in Irving, Tex., Novation develops and manages competitive contracts with more than 600 suppliers. VHA, UHC, and Provista members used Novation contracts to purchase nearly $40 billion in 2010. Novation recently earned the coveted Ethics Inside® Certification from Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think tank dedicated to the research and promotion of best practices in corporate ethics and compliance, and is the only health care group purchasing organization to earn this distinction.
SOURCE UHC; Novation