Helping Pharmacies Combat DIR Fees

Eyad Farah, MBA, Vice President and General Manager, Health Mart Atlas discusses what the company is doing to lower DIR fees for Health Mart pharmacies.

Eyad Farah, MBA: Obviously the DIRs is something that we talk a lot about and we hear a lot about, so I’ll start obviously with the contracting. Health Mart Atlas is engaging with payers and PBMs, so we have the ability, basically, to oversee the DIRs and the contracts. We spend a lot of time making sure that we have the right DIR terms, we have the right metrics, we have the ability to achieve the DIR rebates, and improve the overall reimbursement to the pharmacies. And then we also want to provide them with the right solutions so that they can understand how to influence the DIRs, maximize the value by lowering the DIRs, provide them with the tools so that they engage with their patients, and all the analytics and reporting that they need, basically to improve the overall performance of their pharmacy, the overall performance of the network, and ultimately lower the DIRs that they are being charged.