Oseltamivir Phosphate
Staff Supply

The expiry of any healthcare organization’s oseltamivir phosphate stockpile is inevitable, and that’s the best possible scenario because it means that during its lifecycle, the local population did not face a flu pandemic.

In Ontario, Trillium Health Partners’ (THP) Director of Pharmacy, Allan Mills, and Veronique Briggs, Director, Pharmacy Services, Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) recently found their organizations in that very position. They knew they had to take immediate action to protect staff in the event of a future flu pandemic to ensure they were healthy and able to care for the patients that depend on them.

“An onsite medication stockpile is an integral part of our local strategy for managing a pandemic at our hospitals and, has been for almost a decade, because we know the time between the first identification to the significant event is typically relatively short and insufficient to source and coordinate the necessary supplies,” says Mills. “Ideally, we’d buy it only when it’s needed, but if thereis a true worldwide pandemic, the stockpile is the only way to guarantee we have it at hand.”

At KHSC, the stockpile was set to expire midwinter at the very height of flu season, which meant Briggs had to secure a new supply as soon as possible.

KHSC had already launched its own RFP process, but turned the RFP over to HealthPRO the moment that the option became available in an effort to save resources.

“HealthPRO was able to leverage its buying power and save me the additional time, stress and effort that would have been required to put together the final contracts, so I knew I was right to hand it off to their team,” says Briggs. “This is exactly what HealthPRO was created to do and that’s where their primary value lies.”

Trillium Health Partners knew it needed a competitive process that ensured the best possible value when approaching multiple manufacturers and delivered the absolute transparency governing bodies demand. Mills opted for a HealthPRO contract because he knew they had the vital pharmaceutical expertise and that their national scope maximizes the volumes and subsequently their negotiating power and leverage.

“We benefitted from the collective wisdom of HealthPRO’s pharmaceutical team as well as their RFP and contract negotiating systems,” says Mills. “Normally, we’d have two to three people working on a contract like this, typically a mix of pharmacy and procurement, who would devote up to 25% of their time to it, depending on what stage we were at.”

HealthPRO did the research, issued the RFP, validated and scored the supplier responses, as well as initiated and managed any communications with suppliers.

“We gained a solid, definable process that we knew was compliant,” says Mills. “It also delivered real value which was highly relevant given the dollars we’d be spending.

Based on the information available to us, we’re assured the contract actually delivered prices that were significantly below list.”

As a result of the oseltamivir phosphate contract, Trillium Health Partners and its staff can rest assured they’ve taken every one of the prudent steps required to protect staff during an outbreak situation.

“Thanks to HealthPRO, our organization, our healthcare providers and our patients are secure, and we’ve averted the significant corporate risk and public relations challenge we would face if we didn’t have oseltamivir phosphate on hand in the event of a pandemic,” says Mills.

Peace of mind and public image are vital when managing the health and availability of the healthcare workers and medical staff that patients depend on. As a result of the HealthPRO contract, both Briggs and Mills and their respective teams know that in the case of a flu pandemic, at a moment’s notice, the medication is on-site and at hand.