Integrating Dispensing Pharmacy Services Into a Urology Group

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Providing optimal, consistent, and comprehensive care for men with prostate cancer, particularly those with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), is every urology group’s mission. One of the strategies for carrying out this mission is implementation of an integrative care delivery model. Depending on the size of the urology group, many services may be available at an individual practice; alternatively, the integration of services may be achieved through close collaboration with other facilities, offices, and health agencies.

With one goal being the provision of the most seamless integration of therapeutics and management, a key component of the integrated delivery system is infusion services. Infusion, whether it be sipuleucel-T or zoledronic acid, currently falls under major medical. Now, with the availability of oral options for mCRPC, urologists are looking for opportunities to directly dispense these agents as part of their practice.

Setting up the availability of these oral agents onsite crosses over into the domain of dispensing pharmacies and specialty pharmacies, and these services come with a lot of nuances. Gary M. Kirsh, MD, stresses that pharmacy board regulations and related state laws will vary, and urology groups must be cognizant of what they can legally undertake in their state.

Larger urology groups may be able to successfully include both these pharmacy services directly in their practice. According to Sanford Siegel, MD, FACS, the integration of these services is just another way that patients with mCRPC can receive all their care within one practice, and remain with the doctor who has been treating them over the years, even if their cancer progresses.