Six Steps to Getting Started with cloud-based 340B Solutions

The following key topics are discussed in this blog. They are

• Listing your 340B needs and success criteria
• Considering all factors in the total cost of ownership
• Taking your 340B software for a test drive before you buy

When Choosing a cloud-based 340B software, you want to be sure to check off the following six steps:

1. Evaluate your 340B needs.
2. Migrate your data or start fresh.
3. Establish success criteria.
4. Evaluate cloud-based 340B solutions.
5. Calculate your total cost of ownership.
6. Set up a proof of concept (POC).

This blog guides you through these six critical steps to choosing a cloud-based 340B solution. It starts with evaluating your 340B business needs and ends with the process of testing your top choice. By the end of this blog, you\’ll have a plan to help you choose the next 340B solution with confidence.

Step 1: Evaluate Your 340B Business Needs

The 340B Software that’s right for you should meet your current needs, such as 340B drugs may be used only for patients who meet specific eligibility requirements,
manage a replenishment model, and the entity tracks data feeds (such as inpatient or outpatient status, patient and prescriber eligibility, clinic location, Medicaid status, drug identifier, and quantity dispensed) and sends these data into billing software, software should be flexible enough to accommodate your future needs.

Therefore, consider the nature of the data, the skills and tools in place, usage, the plans for your business, and how a 340B Software can take your business further than you imagined. Data What types of data must the 340B database contain? At what rate is new data created? How often will 340B data move in the repository? What crucial information can’t you access today?

Fits with existing Skills, tools, and processes What tools need to connect to the database? What skills from your current IT team apply to the various cloud-based data sources? What procedures will cloud-based 340B solutions impact?

340B Usage Which users and applications will access the database? What types of reports, both scheduled or random, will you run? How much data would you need to access? How often? How will workloads vary over time? What performance requirements do your users and applications require? Ideally, how many users should access the 340B software but don’t today due to resource constraints?

Resources What human resources are available to manage the 340B software? How much investment do you wish to make to monitor and manage availability, performance, and security?

Step 2: Migrate Your Data or Start Fresh

Cloud-based project starts with platform assessment. The assessment may address the cloud migration path from the load process design to data models and development life cycle. Here are the key considerations:

• Is this a brand new 340B implementation? If so, it often makes sense to design the project to take full advantage of the capabilities of cloud-based 340B solutions rather than carry forward an implementation with lots of constraints.
• How satisfied are pharmacists with your current software? Great satisfaction may indicate it’s best to maintain the existing implementation. Low levels of satisfaction suggest that change is inevitable.
• What aspects of the current 340B deployment aspects were designed? Tools and processes are designed to work around resource constraints. Avoid the disruptive effort required to add capacity or optimize the cost may be unnecessary for a 340B cloud solution.
• How do present users access the data? Users and applications that primarily rely on 340B industry-standard interfaces. Leveraging industry standards will experience a significantly less chance to adapt to a new approach.
• How are your 340B reporting and analytics will change the future? A Solution built to evolve is less likely to be replaced sooner than expected.
  Suppose you have a large and complex 340B environment. In that case, you may want to migrate a small part of the system to get comfortable with using cloud-based 340B solutions. Then you can iteratively expand your cloud footprint.

Step 3: Establish Success Criteria

How will you measure the success of moving to a new cloud-based 340B solution? Choose the critical business and technical requirements. Criteria should focus on the following. They are

• Accuracy for 340B Invoice
• Replenishment order
• Purchase Order synchronization methods
• Interface with drug manufacturers to communicating about backorders
• Slow-moving drugs
• Ingesting continuous process from 340B switch provider
• Performance of the 340B loads both real-time and batch.
• Concurrency, primarily when you perform 340B real-time adjudication in multiple POS terminals,
  simplicity, and total cost of ownership.
• Suppose your new cloud-based 340B software has capabilities that weren’t available in your previous system. These capabilities are relevant to evaluating your new solution’s business and technical success, be sure to include them.

As you establish the success criteria of your new solution, determine how you’ll measure that success:

Determine which criteria are quantifiable and which are assessed qualitatively.
Determine how you will measure the quantifiable criteria.
Figure out how you will assess the qualitative criteria.

Step 4: Evaluate Cloud 340B Solution

Cloud 340B Optimizes time to value, so you can begin to reap the\nbenefits of your new 340B software as soon as possible.\n

Once you determine your 340B business needs and success criteria, you are ready to start evaluating solutions. In my earlier blogs, I have described the differences between available options in detail. As you compare different solutions, make sure they meet the following criteria.

Develop a comprehensive checklist. Use your list of 340B Pharmacy Business needs and your criteria for success as a starting point. But don’t overlook the positive qualities of your existing software as well that are non-issues for you now. In other words, make sure the new cloud-based 340B solutions can do everything your current 340B software does. But better, and that it overcomes the drawbacks of your existing software.

” If you do a POC with multiple 340B vendors, try to use the same checklist for each”

Integrates structured and sem-structured data, stores it all in one place, and avoids creating the data silos. Figure out how you will assess the qualitative criteria. Guards against data loss and enables you to recover lost data quickly streamlines the data pipeline. The new information is available for analysis in the shortest possible amount of time.

Step 5: Calculate Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of your 340B Software (340B TCO)

Companies typically calculate the TCO over the expected lifetime of the 340B Administrator software, which is commonly one to four years.

If your choice of a cloud-based 340B solution comes down to price, consider the total cost of ownership. For a conventional 340B software (On-premises type), the total cost of ownership includes the following expenses.

The software license is typically based on the number of claims processed, number of transactions processed, or number of users operating the software.

Hardware – Servers, storage devices, networking, switch, cords, peripherals, etc.,

Office space to house the servers and peripherals. Streamlines the data pipeline so that the new data is available for analysis in the shortest possible amount of time. Electricity to run the hardware and keep it under a specific temperature. Administration and Maintenance of Software, hardware, etc., Data Security – password protection and encryption.
Creation of development, UAT and production environments, Scalability Support of the data center.

Step 6: Setup up a Proof Of Concept (POC)

Cloud 340B POC

Investigate different cloud-based 340B solution options, view demos, ask questions, and meet with each vendor’s team. You should do a proof of concept (POC) before deciding which to choose. A POC is a testing solution to determine how well it serves your need and meets your success criteria. Think of it as a test drive. It typically lasts a day or two, but it can be conducted over several weeks. You request a POC from the prospective vendor with the general understanding that if the solution performs satisfactorily, you will buy the 340B administrator software or any product.

Now it is your chance to think outside the box. Consider what else you could do above and beyond what you do today. If you had this cloud-based 340B solution in place, what additional business value could this system deliver?

Contact our team for onboarding Cloud 340B