Reviving Access, Reclaiming Revenue

Lesley Pink: Hi, and welcome to the first episode of The Strategic Dose: Driving Your Pharmacy Mission. I’m Lesley Pink, your host. Today I’ll be talking with Melissa Pitsoulakis, Vice President of Marketing at VytlOne, and Tom Sullivan, Senior Director of Editorial Services at Sage Growth Partners, a healthcare growth strategy and marketing company. Sage performed a second annual survey on behalf of VytlOne to find out what hospital and pharmacy leaders think about improving community access to pharmacy services. Sage put together a report on this survey called Reviving Access, Reclaiming Revenue: Strengthening Hospitals and Communities Through Strategic Pharmacy Expansion. Today we’ll be talking with Melissa and Tom about the survey and report. Welcome, Melissa. Welcome, Tom.

Melissa Pitsoulakis: Hi. Thanks for having us.

Lesley: To start off — why did you decide to do this survey in the first place? Why is this survey so important?

Melissa: When we first started out on this journey and trying to decide what’s the right way to understand what hospitals, health systems, and executives need and want, partnering with Sage, we came up with this survey. We went out to 100 different health system executives across the country at a variety of hospitals and health systems to really understand their needs a little bit more. And we thought the report was so telling it was worth publishing and sharing. So in our second annual, it was great to start to see trends, and we hope to continue this into years to come. For us, it was really getting some deeper insight into what those hospitals and health systems are looking at, and then being able to share that out in a way that really highlighted to others who might be experiencing the same thing — and that there is a solution out there that VytlOne is really set up to help with.

Tom Sullivan: Just building on that, Melissa — the research we conducted in 2024 for the first report really illustrated an evolving landscape. Two-thirds of leaders revealed plans to expand pharmacy services, but here’s where the conundrum comes in: fewer than one-third were very confident that they could effectively meet that demand within the next three to five years. What we really found in the 2024 data was an overarching need to transform pharmacy services. Many are underperforming cost centers. They should really be strong revenue streams. So moving into the new survey, the benchmark report, actually even more leaders are telling us that they plan to expand pharmacy services. We set out to gauge the current state of hospital pharmacy services, and as Melissa mentioned, we’ve seen some trends. One of the foundational ones is the growing urgency to expand community access to pharmacy services. There’s a duality there — yes, hospital leaders have opportunities to fortify the bottom line by expanding pharmacy services, but the overall community benefits as well. It’s tempting to think of that as something of a soft metric, but our research shows that it really resonates with executives.

Lesley: Talking about the stats from the 2025 version — 70% of hospital leaders thought pharmacy access would have a positive impact on overall community health outcomes. Why do you think they feel this way?

Melissa: I’ve been in the pharmacy space for 20 years, and I think the term “pharmacy desert” has been out there for a long time, but you’re really starting to see an urgency around that now. There are more pharmacies closing than ever before. I think there was just a recent announcement — I think it was a chain in Arizona, Lesley, I can’t remember exactly —

Lesley: Arizona.

Melissa: Yeah. They’re closing, and so the demand for pharmacy isn’t going away. Patients need their prescriptions. They need more than they ever have — and here it is, the service that can help support that is shrinking. So hospitals are feeling that directly, whether that’s because there’s now non-adherence, people can’t get to their medications, or they can’t afford them. It just becomes more challenging and more difficult. That has a direct impact on those communities and those hospitals. We’re really seeing that in the survey — they know there’s the demand, the need, the support, and yet they are kind of now stuck holding the bag and trying to figure out how they solve for it going forward, knowing that the pharmacy space is starting to shrink. Tom, I don’t know if you have any other thoughts.

Tom: Part of the impact of that shrinking is that executives would describe pharmacy access in their community as more than half would say “fair” at best, and only one-third would describe it as “excellent.” So you can really see that playing out in real time — what you’re saying, Melissa: the pharmacy deserts, the lack of access, and at the same time more demand than ever for pharmacy.

Lesley: And as we talk about more demand for pharmacy — we’re talking about expansion of services. In 2025, 46% of executives said they would most likely expand those services in the next three to five years. That number is up from 37% in 2024. But at the same time, not a high number of them were confident in meeting that demand — in fact, in 2025 only 18% were confident, down from 29% in 2024. Why the drop?

Melissa: We just talked about pharmacy deserts, but I think when you also begin to think about adding pharmacy — or really just executing pharmacy well within your hospital — pharmacy is hard. There’s a lot to it. It’s not simple and straightforward anymore. Being an expert in that space, doing it well, capturing those prescriptions, making sure you’re in networks, making sure you’re getting the limited distribution drugs or even specialty medications — that can probably feel a little daunting. And they don’t always have the expertise to do that.

I know in the report there was a question around the significant barriers to advancing and expanding your hospital pharmacy, and a big one was bandwidth — and getting staffing right, finding pharmacists, finding pharmacy techs. Between that and competing leadership priorities — hospitals are not just worried about pharmacy. There are a lot of other challenges to running a hospital, and pharmacy may not be at the top of the list. There was also a question regarding getting outside and expert help, and more hospital leaders are open to that, which is great to hear, because there are deep benches at places like VytlOne to support that.

Tom: Melissa, you mentioned the word “daunting,” and I think that really came out in the survey findings because they know they have to do this. Workforce shortages are problematic across all of healthcare, and pharmacy services and pharmacies are no exception. At the same time, the leaders tell us that they lack visibility and they lack real-time data to truly understand what’s happening at the pharmacy level. One example is script leakage. Without the information that’s actionable to change script leakage or to address script leakage, they’re losing money. So they know they have to expand. They have plans to expand. But at the same time, they’re losing money in doing that, and they know they need to course correct.

Lesley: You mentioned the data part. I think one of the most surprising things from the survey for me — I think it was 10% feel like they have full visibility into their insights and kind of understand why they’re not getting the prescriptions they could at their pharmacy. Which I thought was really interesting — just 10%. I thought it would be higher. But it’s clear that the missing data piece could really help them understand what they’re missing. We have a quote in the report from our President of Pharmacy Services, Joel Wright, and he says, “No money, no mission.” I think that speaks volumes — there’s a place and a pocket out there within your health system that you can probably start driving some of that incremental revenue that maybe you just haven’t been able to tap into before. That data piece was really telling.

I wanted to have a question on that as well. When it comes to capitalizing on revenue and capitalizing on cost savings associated with pharmacy, it shows that there’s room for improvement. What does this mean? Can you explain?

Tom: I’ll paint with something of a broad stroke here, but as you noted, the research shows plenty of room for improvement. It breaks down into two categories. One is capitalizing on cost savings, and the other is capitalizing on revenue-generating opportunities. We looked at these across limited distribution drugs, contract pharmacy, pharmacy network access, and commercial access to payers.

One thing that was really surprising is that only 16% of the survey participants say their hospital pharmacy capitalizes extremely well on revenue when it comes to commercial access to payers. And here’s the real rub: that’s the highest ranking out of all those categories I just mentioned. No more than 20% capitalize extremely well on any revenue opportunities. So again, this ties back to where we are at a pivotal point of expanding pharmacy services but not capitalizing on cost savings or revenue opportunities. Not to be too repetitive here, but again, back to that word “daunting,” Melissa.

Melissa: For me, the report just continues to illustrate — I don’t know, conundrum is the right word. It is daunting. There are pharmacies closing. There’s patient needs. There’s this need for incredible expertise to do this right and well — and yet there’s this kind of, “I can’t even get to it right now,” right? That’s what some of these executives might be thinking. So there’s just so much opportunity. If anything, what this report highlights is that there’s so much more they can go out and think about, and honestly, with the right partner, do it really well and fast. This isn’t something that has to take three years. This can take three months. There are components they can begin to execute on right away with support.

Tom: Well, you mentioned partners, and identifying the right partners was a big part of this research. This is pretty obvious, but what hospital leaders are looking for in a partner is just expertise that they’re lacking themselves. That’s foundational. We talked about the falling confidence between 2024 and this year’s research in terms of meeting pharmacy demand. That does come from a lack of visibility into their pharmacy. With millions of dollars going out the window, they really have to address this now — and that’s where they need a partner who brings that needed visibility, whether it’s robust real-time data, analytics, or other technological infrastructure. Hospitals need help with this. As you said, it’s hard.

Melissa: We asked the executives how much money they thought they were missing out on, and I think they said it was around a million. That was super surprising to me because I know we know that number is very low. They’re probably missing out on many millions more. So I think they’re underestimating what their pharmacy can do for them. That’s the compelling part about bringing in a partner who has the data, the know-how, the expertise to get it done and get it done fast.

Lesley: Melissa, you talked about some of the surprising things that you found in the report. What are some other surprising things that you found, Tom?

Melissa: I think the other big one for me that stood out was — 92% of leaders say that transforming their pharmacy services can be a competitive differentiator for their hospital. It can be something that really attracts patients. It can be something that maybe even attracts their staff — if they have the last mile right there on site, that pharmacy. Really being able to coordinate benefits and care, transition care for a patient who’s leaving the hospital with a pharmacy or pharmacy staff to make sure that patient knows exactly what to take when they get home, how to take it, what they should do if problems arise — really maintain and emphasize good adherence from the beginning. To me, that was really surprising. They know it can be a competitive differentiator. They know they’re probably leaving money on the table. They know it’s a need in their community — and yet they still feel stuck. So that really stood out to me. Tom, I don’t know what else stood out for you.

Tom: Well, actually, the flip side of the 92% saying it’s a competitive differentiator is that maybe there’s a missed opportunity, because only one in five have a defined pharmacy strategy that they consider to be aligned with their broader financial goals. We’ve talked about money going out the window — four in 10 hospitals are losing more than a million every year through their pharmacy. As you noted, Melissa, it may be even more than that. So there’s really this gap between competitive differentiator and a real strategic plan to leverage it as a competitive differentiator. That was one of the surprises that leapt out at me in the research.

Melissa: I will say too — at one point we asked them to talk about the top services, and a lot of the top services that jumped out continued to be around patient care. You know, this idea that it’s all about the money is absolutely not true. Patient care is still very much top of mind for them, and how the pharmacy can help bolster patient care — kind of provide that bridge between hospital and home. What does that look like? I was happy to see that patient care still remained at the very top of the list for things they were considering. And if I can make a shameless plug for VytlOne — part of what we do here is create those programs, services, and people to make sure that we’re really a strong part of the healthcare team at that hospital, in a way that just supports the patient when they’re in the hospital and then heading home.

Tom: Another telling statistic that is maybe surprising and maybe should not be surprising — 85% of the executives currently do not have real-time data and analytics into what’s happening at the pharmacy level. This year they say they want access to real-time data. 85% is a nice juicy number, but it’s also clearly indicative of where our research shows this market is headed.

Lesley: Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you, Melissa and Tom, for joining us for the first episode of The Strategic Dose and talking about this survey. Please join us in February for our next podcast. And if I can make a quick plug for where the report is — it is on vytlone.com in our resources section. So take a look, check it out, download it, and see all the great information for yourself. Thanks again.

Melissa: Thanks, Lesley.

Tom: Thanks, Lesley.