Integrated Specialty Pharmacy Improves Access, Reduces Abandonment | ASHP Midyear 2025

Throughout the coordination of care in health systems today, many gaps exist that impede access to medications. This opens the door for specialty pharmacies to address these gaps and avoid patient abandonment while improving medication adherence.

According to Ginger Thorpe, vice president and general manager of pharmacy solutions in health systems at McKesson, the key gaps in care coordination exist regarding access challenges in 3 specific areas: payer networks, specialized medications, and the sharing of prescription data.

“High out-of-pocket costs are really the primary reason for abandonment,” Thorpe told Drug Topics. “Between high out-of-pocket costs, the patient’s not really understanding what is needed from them as well.”

Regarding a lack of certainty among patients toward their knowledge of medications, specialty pharmacies and the health systems they operate within can find many ways in addressing common patient gaps. However, as Thorpe stated regarding the necessary access areas, health systems must first work together with specialty pharmacy to improve access before patients begin realizing these benefits.

We asked Thorpe about these access gaps and more at the 2025 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition. After explaining both the gaps and opportunities that exist in this space, she also presented how her team at McKesson is making a difference through exclusive access to limited distribution drugs, technologies, and so much more.

READ MORE: ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition

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