Drug Product File

Alchemy’s Drug Product and Pricing files deliver the most current and user-friendly drug data available today, seamlessly integrated into your system or application. U.S. approved brand and generic prescription drugs, OTC products, herbals, vitamins and nutritional products, medical devices and diagnostic kits are included. All Alchemy database fields are fully compliant with NCPDP telecommunication and electronic prescribing standards. Each component of the file is carefully vetted to ensure that you receive only accurate, relevant data of exceptional quality.

Use the Product File for:

• Prescribing
• Dispensing
• Reimbursement/claims processing
• Pharmacy systems
• Transactional systems
• Physician order entry/EMRs
• Bar coding
• Inventory management
• Formulary development and management
• Personal health records
• Carts and cabinets

Drug Product Data Elements Include:

Drug Pricing File

For dispensing, billing and reimbursement, complete, accurate and up-to-date drug pricing data is critical to your bottom line. Prepare your pharmacy business for constant price fluctuations and the influx of new products into the marketplace with real-time incremental updates offered by Alchemy’s Drug Pricing file. The file may also be used as a resource for conducting profit analyses, guiding purchasing/contracting decisions, and gaining insight into product pricing trends, including historical increases and timing.

Currently available price types are listed below; Alchemy’s flexible architecture also allows for rapid inclusion of new price types as they enter the marketplace.

Price Types Include:

• AWP (Average Wholesale Price) – Remains the primary benchmark for billing and claim
  reimbursement. AWP is supplied for all packages in which the marketing firm reports a suggested average wholesale price
• C-AWP 1.20 and 1.25 (Calculated Average Wholesale Price) – Remains the primary benchmark for billing and claim reimbursement. C-AWP is calculated for those not suggesting an AWP; includes both 20% and 25% markups
• WAC (Wholesale Acquisition Cost) – List price to wholesalers or direct purchasers, not including prompt pay/discounts/rebates
• CMS-FUL (Federal Upper Limit) – CMS pricing for multiple source drugs marketed by two or more manufacturers/suppliers or labelers; available as unit pricing only
• C-CMS-FUL (Calculated Federal Upper Limit) – Based on same methodology CMS uses to
  calculate FUL; useful as early predictor of FUL
• DP (Direct Price) – List price to non-wholesalers, not including prompt pay/discounts/rebates. This is populated for companies that sell both to
  wholesalers and direct to customers
  
  

Our Strengths, Your Solutions

When evaluating Drug Product & Pricing Files, consider the following advantages offered by Alchemy:

Resolves NDC Challenges
How do you keep your data trail accurate if a product or marketer changes while the same NDC is retained? What happens to historical data when an NDC is reissued?

• Alchemy eliminates NDC-related data problems. Gold Standard uses a proprietary identifier to track product/package ID numbers. The NDC is listed only as an attribute of the product, so changes to the NDC are irrelevant to data accuracy and do not impair your ability to use the file effectively
  Alchemy also links old and new NDCs to help you identify and dispense drug products correctly
  Additionally, Alchemy has the capability to report and link together both NDC and UPC codes, as applicable. (Bar coding just got smarter and easier)

Traces Drug Attribute Changes
How can you keep track when a round orange tablet becomes an oval yellow tablet…but the NDC doesn’t change?

• Manufacturers and labelers may change the attributes of their drug products without an accompanying NDC change (for example, a tablet changes color from red to blue; a syrup is reformulated as sugar- free). The result is multiple packages of the same product on pharmacy shelves. Alchemy uses versioning to track these changes, ensuring that you can easily identify the product you are dispensing, even if multiple versions are currently stocked in your pharmacy

Removes Brand/Generic Obstacles
How can you prevent reimbursement problems that occur because a product is listed in your data file as “brand” one day, “generic” the next day?

• Alchemy assigns Brand/Generic status as specified by the product’s marketing firm, rather than applying an arbitrary factor such as price to determine the status
• Alchemy also supplies a License Type field to assist in distinguishing “brand” versus “generic” status. We determine the License Type field by: consulting with the manufacturer regarding how they intend to market the product; referring to the manufacturer’s FDA filing, including NDA, aNDA, Authorized Generic, or Not Applicable; and other market intelligence, as applicable
• In all cases, Brand/Generic and License Type are stable identifiers and will not change once assigned
• Our users benefit from less confusion, more consistency, and the ability to quickly and precisely determine which products are FDA approved so dollars aren’t wasted or misapplied

More Comprehensive Manufacturer Data
Where can you find readily available manufacturer information for labeling purposes?

• Alchemy maintains three separate fields for Marketer, Manufacturer and Contact names, as applicable. With many states now requiring the manufacturer’s name on each prescription label, this information is vital – and it saves our customers from having to expend their own resources maintaining manufacturer information themselves
• Additionally, Alchemy includes an internally developed “parent-child” listing of manufacturer relationships (i.e., ownerships and affiliations) to help our users leverage their purchasing power

More Complete Storage Information
How can proper medication storage be improved in your pharmacy?

• In response to requests from our customers, Alchemy includes instructions for appropriate product storage, both before and after dispensing, in the product labeling. Unique to Alchemy, pre-dispensing storage information helps to ensure that medications are maintained in suitable conditions within your pharmacy for optimal safety and efficacy

“Live” Updates
How can you be sure you’re receiving the most current product and pricing data?

• New technology enables Gold Standard to respond to changes in the drug pricing world more rapidly than other drug databases. We enter price changes into Alchemy continuously throughout the day as they are reported by manufacturers – because delays may cost you money. Every revision in Alchemy is both date- and time-stamped. Our users have the option to update Alchemy within their systems/applications as often as they like
  

Other Advantages for your Bottom Line

• Price Change Indicator - Alchemy tracks whether pricing changes are due to manufacturer reported changes, billing unit changes, or errors. When audits or questions about price discrepancies arise, Alchemy’s price change indicator helps to deliver answers much more quickly and easily
• DESI Indicator - This field in Alchemy ensures that the medication you are dispensing or paying for contains valid CMS values for reimbursement
• Unit Dose Indicator - Helps payers and pharmacies confirm when a product is available only as a unit dose, to avoid unnecessary expenditures on more costly unit dose packaging
• Single Source/Multi-Source Flag - Alerts you that more economical generic products may be available
• Orange Book Codes - Alchemy can accommodate multiple Orange Book Codes per
  product, including 3 byte codes, to help make pharmacists fully aware of potentially less expensive product substitutions

Technical Information

• Alchemy’s Drug Product and Pricing files can be used with Alchemy’s API for
  decision support. The raw product data is also available as a series of pipe
  delimited files that you can import into your existing RDMS
• Fully automated web-based updates require no IT resources or personnel from
  your organization, and may be scheduled as often as desired to suit your needs
• Please contact us for complete technical specifications

Streamline and modernize your organization’s access to product and pricing data with Alchemy Please contact us today: info@goldstandard.com, or call 1-800-375-0943.