Establishing On-Site Pharmacy Services in a Community Health Center: A Case Study

This NYHealth-supported case study by Callen-Lorde Community Health Center examines the benefits and challenges of establishing an on-site pharmacy as well as the various attributes that will affect a health center’s pharmacy program choices.

When Callen-Lorde Community Health Center contemplated whether to establish an on-site pharmacy to enhance its offering of comprehensive patient services, a range of factors needed to be considered. After weighing the options, Callen-Lorde decided to implement an on-site pharmacy. A Federally Qualified Health Center, Callen-Lorde provides more than $4.4 million of uncompensated care to uninsured patients each year, many of whom are living with HIV and are on expensive medications.

This report looks at the opportunities contained in the 340B Drug Pricing Program, a Federal program that allows health centers to offer deeply discounted medications to their patients; how patient populations and payer mixes will affect pharmacy programming decisions; and provides an example of the sort of planning and financial projections required to succeed in bringing a concept to reality.