340B Close-Up

An Interview with PDMI 340B Director, Tom Bielawski

Q - In a general sense, what is 340B?

340B is a program funded by the federal government designed to help non-profit and government-owned health care organizations to acquire prescription-drug related cost savings. These reserves are intended to offset indigent care costs, provide medications to their most needy patients at reduced price, expand service offerings, and to possibly even utilize self-insurance options for their own employees whose prescriptions qualify under HRSA 340B guidelines.

Q – Who is PDMI and what is your role in 340B?

Since 2011, PDMI has been supporting its clients with 340B services. We do so by supporting our entity partners as a 340B third party administrator for their retail contract pharmacy programs. This applies to all eligible, covered entity types, in a service area spanning six different time zones.

Q – There are many 340B service providers available in the marketplace, what makes PDMI’s program different?

Most importantly, PDMI’s 340B solution starts with a complete HRSA-compliant program, allowing our partners to uniquely configure each contract pharmacy relationship within the HRSA regulatory procedures and their specific program requirements. We have assisted our 340B partners in numerous HRSA 340B audits with over 90% having a no findings result.

Next, PDMI’s 340B team does not operate out of a call center. Every one of our 340B partners have an experienced Account Manager and Account coordinator that works with them from program inception, through implementation, then at go live and beyond. Our 340B partners deal directly with their Account Managers and Coordinators through their direct phone numbers and email address. They never have to call and explain their program to the person on the other end of the line or, most importantly, who they are.

Because of this direct relationship with Account Manager and Account Coordinators PDMI’s 340B team can quickly implement new partners, as well as make timely adjustments to current partner’s programs. PDMI will also perform a feasibility analysis before program enrollment, or as live changes are contemplated, this allows our partners to understand the costs, efforts, and savings they can see with a live 340B program. Furthermore, we will perform this same analysis for our current partners when they are looking to adjust their program. That way they can see how the adjustment will affect their savings before the adjustments are put into production.

Lastly, with PDMI’s knowledge base, we can execute a fully integrated cash payer program for our 340B partners, allowing them to share their 340B savings with their most needy patients. Our integrated approach utilizes one common data set, and we support both the point of sale and batch processing internally.

Q – Sounds good, anything new with PDMI’s 340b product that will expand your service offerings?

With PDMI owning 100% of our 340B software, and it being solely housed at PDMI, we can be quick and nimble in reaction to regulatory updates, or partner program requests. Additionally, we can continually make updates to enhance our solution to assist our partners, and their contract pharmacy partners with their 340B savings and cash flows, as well as giving them more control and flexibility over access to 340B pricing and replenishment. As an example, we will be deploying a replenishment based 340B model which will be a significant cash flow and predictability forum for CE’s and independent and small pharmacy chains in mid-June 2021.

Q - How else is PDMI unique in its provision of 340B services?

We have several industry distinguishers, including:

  • 340B Software – 100% PDMI Ownership
  • Qualification Engine
  • PDMI Integrated Point-of-Sale/Retrospective Capabilities
  • Direct Account Management/Customer Service Access
  • Timely NEW Partner Implementations

Also, PDMI keeps a close watch on governmental updates potentially impacting 340B providers. Specifically, the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, is a source of constant oversight and review by our internal team. “We always have an ear to the ground on these regulatory matters, since we are committed to doing all we can in support of protecting entities covered under 340B. Making sure our clients have the best opportunities to offer assistance to their clients and simultaneously experience growth as a business is what we do best.,” said Tom Bielawski, Director of the PDMI 340B Management service line.

We’re proud to share a quote from one of our longest tenured clients, who referred to us this way: “PDMI’s outstanding service and tremendous technical effort is the best we’ve seen from a 340B vendor. No wonder PDMI’s got such a good reputation among TPAs.”

Q – If anyone would like to discuss more or initiate/expand their revenues, how may they reach out to PDMI?

Yes, they can visit our website at pdmi.com/340B or they can reach out to me directly.