A Win For Cancer Patients: First-of-Its-Kind Collaboration Between National Oncology Pharmacy Nonprofit and PBM

CAZENOVIA, N.Y., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NCODA, an organization dedicated to providing oncology patient-centered care, today announced a groundbreaking new partnership that opens the door for streamlined delivery of oncology treatments and improved patient care. The collaboration between NCODA, the leading nonprofit association for patient-centered medically integrated oncology practices, and Prime Therapeutics (Prime), a leading pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) serving more than 33 million members, represents a revolutionary shift in how cancer patients can receive their life-sustaining medications.

"This is a game changer. The result of this collaboration will without question enhance patient experience, improve health outcomes, and streamline the delivery of care for providers while reducing overall cost of care," said Michael Reff, Founder and Executive Director of NCODA. "Empowering accredited pharmacies to work directly with patients and providers and go beyond the first fill will be transformative for patient care. We're confident that Prime's new IntegratedRxtm network participation requirements will revolutionize the future of oncology pharmacy."

NCODA acted in 2014 to develop an effective model that enables oncology practices to go beyond the first fill. One of the tools used in this model is NCODA's Cost Avoidance and Waste Tracker, a tool that has proven to enhance compliance, interventions, and the patient experience. Along with NCODA Quality Standards in place and the use of the CAWT tool, clear results were shown to payers at a local level showing that it makes more sense to keep and fill prescriptions at the individual practice. This innovative model gained attention, enabling other medically integrated oncology practices across the country to follow suit.

Today NCODA is announcing the first-ever collaboration with a PBM so the patient-centered model can be provided on a much larger scale. Through the collaboration, Prime will prefer NCODA's recently announced Center of Excellence (CoE) Medically Integrated Pharmacy (MIP) Accreditation Program as a requisite for its IntegratedRx credentialing program.

The CoE MIP Accreditation Program is based on compliance with the American Society of Clinical Oncology/NCODA Patient-Centered Standards for Medically Integrated Dispensing. Key focus areas of the program include medication adherence, patient education and safety, cost avoidance and waste reduction, continuous quality improvement, financial assistance, and patient satisfaction.

"This program is a win-win-win for everyone," said Jim Schwartz, RPh, NCODA President. "Allowing credentialed and accredited medically integrated oncology pharmacies to consistently fill medications for their patients will provide better patient outcomes and lower costs for the patient, practice, health plan, and employer. The MIP Accreditation Program is an unprecedented initiative that will change the way oncology patients receive their medication."

Full details of the partnership and accreditation program will be shared at the NCODA Fall Summit in Scottsdale, AZ, from October 20-22.

For more information or to enroll in the program, visit ncoda.org/accreditation.  

About NCODA
NCODA, the National Community Oncology Dispensing Association, is a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering medically integrated oncology practices to deliver positive, patient-centered outcomes by providing leadership, expertise, quality standards, and best practices. For more information about NCODA, its Executive Council, and general updates, visit www.ncoda.org or follow @NCODAorg on Twitter.

SOURCE NCODA