Overview

Specialty Pharmacy

The Northwestern Medicine Specialty Pharmacy offers convenient access to your specialized medications. Our staff of pharmacists and patient care advocates work closely with your medical team to optimize your healthcare. Our pharmacy assists you by offering:

• Access
• Expertise
• Resources
• Patient Information

Access

We have patient care advocates available to help you every step of the way. Obtaining specialized medications is not always easy. Our pharmacy can coordinate with your private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid to make sure you have access to your medications when you need them.

• Our pharmacy can deliver medications to you while you are on campus to see your physician or coordinate delivery to your home.
• Patient care advocates help take care of the complicated billing process for your specialty medications while working closely with your private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.

Expertise

Many of our pharmacists work directly in Northwestern Medicine specialty clinics, such as those for infectious diseases, transplantation and oncology. Our pharmacists have expertise in these clinical areas, as well as in many other medical specialties.

They are here to counsel you, monitor your medications and help you adhere to your treatment.

• Our staff is composed of highly trained, experienced, certified, and licensed pharmacists and patient care advocates.
• One of our pharmacists counsels you in person when you start a new medication and regularly follows up with you via phone to monitor your treatment.
• We have a vast collection of educational materials to assist you in learning about your medications.
• Our goal is to help you adhere to your medications so that you can improve your overall health.

Conditions We Treat and Services We Provide

We currently provide our services and medications to help treat the following specialties and conditions:

• Allergy
• Dermatology
• Fertility
• Gastroenterology
• Hematology (Oral)
• Hepatitis C
• HIV/AIDS
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Neurology
• Oncology (Oral)
• Rheumatology

Our Process

When your prescription is received by our patient care advocates (PCA), they will begin the process by verifying insurance and providing you with a call to explain our services.

We will explain our ordering and delivery process, discuss insurance copays, and any additional information needed.

We will coordinate with our team and a pharmacist will call you to provide patient education on your specific treatment or to schedule an in-person consultation.

When the preceding steps are complete, medications may be picked up at the pharmacy or delivered to your home.

Northwestern Medicine is URAC accredited for Specialty Pharmacy

As the healthcare system transitions to value-based payment models, pharmacists and pharmacies are becoming increasingly vital members of the patient management team.

The role of specialty pharmacies, which serve patients with complex, chronic diseases, is even more critical to patient outcomes – ultimately driving financial outcomes.

URAC’s Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation helps specialty pharmacies position themselves and demonstrate their value in delivering these specialized clinical services. Many payers and manufacturers recognize the URAC Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation as a key differentiator and independent validation of quality—often including this accreditation as a requirement to participate in their network.

To contact Specialty Pharmacy, please call 312.926.9365.

Northwestern Medicine is ACHC accredited for Specialty Pharmacy

Northwestern Medicine Specialty Pharmacy is accredited by Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) for compliance with a comprehensive set of national standards. By choosing a healthcare provider that has achieved ACHC accreditation you can take comfort in knowing that you will receive the highest quality of care. If you have any concerns about the product or service that you receive from Northwestern Medicine Specialty Pharmacy, you may contact ACHC directly at 855.937.2242.