Beyond Dispensing: Building Health System Value Through Pharmacy Partnerships

Summary

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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: Beyond Dispensing: Building Health System Value Through Pharmacy Partnerships

Date: September 12, 2025
Host: Lucas Voss (A), Becker’s Healthcare
Guest: Eric Huckins (B), VP of Business Development, Lumicera Health Services

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Brief Overview

This episode offers an in-depth discussion on the evolving role of pharmacy partnerships in health systems, focusing on overcoming challenges in specialty pharmacy, 340B programs, and technology. Eric Huckins draws on his experience at Lumicera Health Services to share how strategic collaborations empower health systems to care for their own patients, navigate accreditation hurdles, respond proactively to market forces, and build sustainable, value-driven pharmacy programs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Lumicera’s Mission and Specialty Pharmacy Landscape (00:44–02:10)

• Lumicera’s Background:
  • National specialty pharmacy, majority owned by SSM Health (a 24-hospital system).
  • Known for transparency in pricing (cost-plus model) and standing as the first/only transparent cost-plus specialty pharmacy managing both brand and generics.
  • Growth achieved through national scale, technology, and close health system partnerships.
• Quote:
  • "We've really helped by partnering with [SSM Health] as our first health system partner to help them grow and expand and leverage some of Lumicera's national size, scale, [and] technologies." (B, 01:40)

2. Major Challenges Facing Health System Pharmacies (02:10–04:27)

• Access-to-Care Barriers:
  • Many health systems are unable to fully dispense or manage medications for their own patients due to payer contracting limitations.
  • Integrated, in-house pharmacy access results in superior outcomes due to better information sharing and coordination.
• 340B Program Volatility:
  • Manufacturer restrictions and policy changes threaten the intended function of the 340B program, which serves under-resourced patients.
• Quote:
  • “...not being able to be dispensed and managed by the pharmacy program within their four walls...is a major challenge and hurdle that a lot of hospitals face today.” (B, 02:51)
  • "We know when it’s all managed within the same patient care team… it just provides a higher touch and better health outcomes for the patients, which is the ultimate goal.” (B, 03:18)

3. The Power and Practice of Partnerships (04:27–07:54)

• Mission Alignment:
  • Lumicera's model draws health system partners with its focus on transparency and elevated service quality.
  • Leveraging national scale allows even smaller systems to benefit from aggregated buying power and vendor relationships.
• Value Delivered:
  • Assistance with payer access, optimizing 340B program execution, accessing limited distribution drugs, and network integrity.
  • Support around accreditation, especially in rare/orphan drug and oncology spaces, helping meet the distinct requirements of modern specialty pharmacy.
• Philosophy:
  • Not a one-size-fits-all partnership; each health system is evaluated individually to maximize tailored value and accelerate their pharmacy journeys.
• Quote:
  • "We've also been able to leverage a lot of the buying power and scale for a lot of drug purchases..." (B, 05:12)
  • "Every health system is very different and has unique needs... that's been our approach." (B, 07:28)

4. Strategic Forward-Thinking for Health Systems (07:54–10:47)

• Proactive Planning:
  • Margin compression, particularly in specialty pharmacy, is driving innovation in purchasing and operational models.
  • Embracing biosimilars: These not only broaden access but also yield financial savings for health systems and their affiliated plans.
• Focus Areas for the Future:
  • Preparing for the influx of rare and orphan drugs, cell/gene therapies, and their attendant specialty requirements.
  • Emphasis on data partnerships, manufacturer relationships, and advanced accreditations to remain competitive and effective.
• Quote:
  • “Biosimilars have been a great, great emergence into the market to get our patients more access and also create savings for whether it’s their own employees or...partner payers…” (B, 08:53)
  • "...the frontier of specialty, the specialty of today and the future." (B, 09:33)

5. The Importance of Proactivity (10:47–end)

• Host’s Reflection:
  • Emphasizes the difference between reactive and proactive approaches in adapting to the shifting landscape.
• Closing Thought:
  • Building value in health system pharmacy is a journey—one best navigated with foresight, adaptability, and reliable partnerships.
• Quote:
  • "Proactive versus reactive is such a big piece to this conversation." (A, 10:47)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On In-House Care:
  • “...provides a higher touch and better health outcomes for the patients, which is the ultimate goal.” (B, 03:18)
• On the 340B Challenge:
  • “[We] help to educate and position health systems to ultimately take care of those underserved patients and utilize the program as is intended.” (B, 04:13)
• On Tailored Partnerships:
  • “Every health system is very different and has unique needs... that’s been our approach.” (B, 07:28)
• On Biosimilars & Cost Pressure:
  • "Biosimilars have been a great, great emergence into the market..." (B, 08:53)
• On Future Specialty Trends:
  • "...the frontier of specialty, the specialty of today and the future." (B, 09:33)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:44 – 02:10: Eric Huckins’ background and Lumicera’s approach
• 02:10 – 04:27: Key challenges—access to care, 340B volatility
• 04:27 – 07:54: Partnership models and what makes them succeed
• 07:54 – 10:47: Strategic advice for health systems (margin compression, biosimilars, specialty drug pipeline)
• 10:47 – 11:00: Host’s wrap-up and the importance of proactive strategies

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Summary

This episode distills timely insights for health system leaders navigating specialty pharmacy’s complexities. Strategic partnerships—like those offered by Lumicera—can help organizations overcome access barriers, regulatory headwinds, and shrinking margins. By focusing on flexibility, transparency, and forward thinking, health systems can retain more specialty prescriptions, leverage new therapeutics, and ultimately improve outcomes and value for their patients and communities.

Transcript

[A]

Hi everyone, this is Lucas Voss with Beckers Healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Beckers Healthcare podcast series. It's great to have you. Really exciting topic today. We're talking about how health systems can strengthen their specialty pharmacy Strategy and navigate 340B Accreditation Technology Channel. There's lots to talk about there through strategic partnerships. And I'm very excited to be joined by Eric Huckins, vice president of business development at Lumisera Health Services. And Eric, thanks for being here today. It's great to have you.

[B]

Oh, Lucas, thanks for having me.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. For our audience, could you just introduce yourself a little bit, Give our audience an overview of your work in healthcare, what you do. We'd love to hear from you.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So my title is vice president of business development at Lumisera. So I get the pleasure of working with other great organizations, other health systems to really help them grow. Lumicera has been around for 10 years. We're a national specialty pharmacy. We started by servicing navitus patients which for those unaware who navitus is. Navitus is a transparent pass through pbm. We are the first and we say only transparent cost plus specialty pharmacy that we're aware of that does both brand and generics specialty. We've been that way since we opened the door. We're majority owned by SSM Health, large 24 hospital health system based in central Midwest US and you know, we've really helped by partnering with them as our first health system partner to help them grow and expand and leverage some of Lumicera's national size scale technologies to really help them as a health system grow and expand. And that happened about five years ago. And that's really what has sparked us to now help many other health system partners grow and expand their pharmacy programs and specialty pharmacy.

[A]

And I know we'll dive into some of those partnerships in a little bit here to talk about what they do and how you've seen them evolve. But I want to level set our audience a little bit. I know in the intro we mentioned all these things that are going on, right? Accreditation, technology challenges, partnerships, those are all important things. And the specialty pharmacy landscape is certainly evolving very fast every single day. And I'm wondering, being in the space all the time, what do you see as the biggest challenges health systems are facing today in that space?

[B]

Yeah, I mean it seems silly, but one of the biggest challenges we see is health system pharmacies and specialty pharmacies in particular, being able to take care of their own patients. Patients come in and see the specialists within their. Within their clinics, within their hospitals, and then to not be able to be dispensed and managed by the pharmacy program within their four walls, within their health system, is a major challenge and hurdle that a lot of hospitals face today. So a big component of that is really the access to different payers in different contracting and different components that allow health systems, specialty pharmacies to service and dispense their own patients. So that's a major part of what we do, is help health systems take care of their own patients, get access to be able to service those patients within the walls, because we know when it's all managed within the same patient care team, within the same electronic medical record, it just provides a higher touch and better health outcomes for the patients, which is the. The ultimate goal. The other big challenge we see and have seen, I think that really resonates with a lot of our health systems right now and has over the last few years is around 340B is a lot of the manufacturer programs and restrictions, and the volatility in that space has evolved. So that's a major component of what we do, is help to educate and position health systems to ultimately take care of those underserved patients and utilize the program as is intended. So that, that's another big key challenge.

[A]

And I know that you've touched on it a little bit in the intro too. Again, partnership is such a big part of who you are, right. And what you do and the work that you're doing. I was wondering if you could touch a little bit on the. Some of the work you've been doing with other health systems, what that looks like, and maybe also touch on the partnership aspect of that too. Why that's so crucial.

[B]

Yeah, well, I think it starts a lot about our organization's missions and really the conception of how we started was built around two things. One, being more transparent in the pharmacy landscape and two, providing higher quality of service, taking care of patients. And that really resonates with health systems. So it's been a great marriage across a lot of our health system partners. Being able to leverage some of Lumicera's technology that we built in place for our national patients that we serve has really worked well within the health system specialty pharmacy program. We've also been able to leverage a lot of the buying power and scale for a lot of drug purchases, but other vendor components that are critical in shipping medications, storing medications, handling that, that we've been able to essentially give, whether you're a small health system, a Large multi state health system able to pool some of that buying power specific to the specialty pharmacy and ambulatory pharmacy programs that maybe some other buying groups and GPOs don't offer. We've been able to add a lot of value to our, to our partner pharmacies. Through that way. We've been able to also identify large network integrity and capture ability for patients. Whether that's the payer access piece, whether that's, you know, ensuring that 340B program is being utilized, whether that's limited distribution, drug access, all of those are critical components that we, we help leverage our perspectives, our experiences, our contracts, our size to help those health systems grow and build out those programs in a more accelerated fashion. So that's been a critical piece. Some of that also includes accreditation support and being able to get the multiple accreditations, or whether that's rare and orphan oncology distinctions, some of these other niche accreditation distinctions that are being required by certain payers and certain plans to ensure you can take care of those patients. Those are all kind of critical ways that we help partner with health systems. You know, I think there's other, many other organizations that do an excellent job. We've, we've really taken the approach, as you know, there's not one solution for or that works for every health system. Every health system is very different and has unique needs. What based on their, their patients, based on their services that they offer as well as how developed they are in their specialty pharmacy journey. So really that's been. Our approach is, you know, we take a look at that health system and figure out where we can add value that fits best with them and accelerates their growth of taking care of more of their own patients.

[A]

And I think journey is a great word as you've mentioned. Right. There's so many challenges that you have to almost go on this journey to be able to tackle them all, which is I think so key. And I'd love to know, as we close out our conversation today, what should health systems be thinking about as they are on this journey? Right. And they go on this journey in the near and distant future. Really, what should health systems be thinking about?

[B]

Yeah, I think some of the things we've been positioning and trying to get health systems to think ahead and kind of be two steps ahead so that they're prepared. One is margin compression across pharmacy spend, particularly around specialty. So that's where we've really been creating solutions that help health systems buy better in specialty. Particularly thinking ahead on how biosimilars play into the financial landscape. Biosimilars have been a great, great emergence into the market to get get our patients more access and also create savings for whether it's their own employees or their own health plans or their own partner payers that they work with, some of these innovative solutions have opened the doors for health systems to once again take advantage and be able to take care of more of their own patients and grow and then reinvest those services into their pharmacy program. So that's one big piece is around kind of buying, purchasing and kind of trying to combat some of the margin compression that we see and are expecting to continue to see. Another is really looking at that specialty and just pharmacy drug pipeline. You see the majority of products that are launching our specialty. A large component of those are in the rare and orphan cell and gene space. And that's really kind of the frontier of specialty, the specialty of today and the future. Considering what where specialty was 5, 10, 15 years ago, we really are helping health systems be in a good position to take care of those patients and have the capabilities to manage these new innovative treatments in specialty. As I alluded to, some of that is around accreditations, but a big component is around the data and partnerships with manufacturers that are launching these new innovative products. So those are probably two of the conversations we're having the most as we're trying to position our health systems for the growth ahead in the future.

[A]

And I love that you mentioned that proactivity piece in the beginning, right? Proactive versus reactive is such a big piece to this conversation. Eric, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. Great insights. Thanks for being here.

[B]

Yeah, thank you so much.

[A]

It's great to have you. We also want to thank our podcast sponsor, Lumicera Health Services. You can tune into more podcasts from Baker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast [e-mail].