Pharmacy Purchasing
What you pay for drugs is only part of the equation. What you're losing without the right controls is the other part.
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The Challenge
Pharmacy purchasing is one of the largest and most complex expense categories a health system manages. Contract portfolios span hundreds of drugs, dozens of suppliers, and multiple GPO relationships, and the assumptions underneath those contracts change constantly. Prices shift, shortages redirect purchasing to higher-cost alternatives, rebates go uncaptured, and compliance failures erode the savings your contracts were designed to deliver.
Most pharmacy teams are managing purchasing operationally, not strategically. Price verification, failure-to-supply tracking, rebate reconciliation, and purchasing surveillance are time-intensive disciplines that internal teams rarely have the bandwidth to execute at the level the spend warrants.
Why This Matters Now
- Drug price volatility and shortage conditions are pushing purchasing toward higher-cost alternatives without systematic tracking of the impact
- Rebate programs are frequently underutilized due to eligibility gaps, documentation failures, or lack of proactive reconciliation
- Failure-to-supply clauses in contracts go unenforced without dedicated surveillance, leaving recoverable value unclaimed
- Inventory carrying costs and waste are rising as par levels go unreviewed, and high-cost drug management lacks structure
- GPO contract compliance is assumed rather than verified, creating exposure across the portfolio
How We Help
Acuvance Coker brings structure and analytical discipline to pharmacy purchasing across your entire portfolio. Our work includes:
- Contract management across direct agreements, GPO relationships, and purchasing alliances to ensure your portfolio is performing as designed
- Purchasing surveillance to monitor compliance, flag off-contract spending, and maintain visibility across the portfolio on an ongoing basis
- Inventory management, including par level review, high-cost drug oversight, waste control, and shortage management protocols
- Rebate program optimization to identify eligibility, close documentation gaps, and ensure your organization is capturing the full value of negotiated programs
- Price verification to confirm contracted pricing is being honored at the NDC level and identify discrepancies before they compound
- Failure-to-supply tracking and enforcement to hold suppliers accountable to contract terms and recover value when commitments are not met
What Makes Our Approach Different
The purchasing decisions your team makes concerning contract structure, GPO strategy, and inventory management directly impact formulary performance and 340B program integrity. We bring those connections into the work rather than treating purchasing as a standalone cost-reduction exercise.
Our team works at the NDC level, where discrepancies live, and contract terms determine rebate eligibility. Our analysis focuses on shortage-driven substitutions that create cost exposure aggregate reporting won't surface.
We stay engaged through implementation, not just assessment. Surveillance, reconciliation, and corrective action are part of how we work, not add-ons.
What You Gain
- A purchasing function connected to formulary and 340B goals across the pharmacy enterprise
- Confirmed contract compliance and price accuracy across your purchasing portfolio
- Recovered value through proactive rebate reconciliation and failure-to-supply enforcement
- Reduced off-contract spending through ongoing purchasing surveillance
- Reviewed par levels and high-cost drug management protocols that reduce waste and carrying costs
- Shortage management processes that protect clinical continuity without defaulting to the highest-cost alternative
Why Trust Coker
For more than three decades, Coker has been a trusted partner to healthcare leaders and investors, delivering clarity, compliance, and confidence through every stage of the transaction and beyond.
Positive outcomes are possible for you and your patients.
We approach every engagement with a results-driven mindset, leveraging our deep industry expertise and data-driven insights to develop strategies that drive meaningful, measurable improvements in performance.
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Solutions We Offer
We partner with clients to navigate the dynamic challenges of managing a high-performing physician enterprise.
