SectyrHub^® streamlines 340B program for Midwest medical center

INSPIRATION FOR CHANGE

“Our C-suite acknowledged the complexity of managing our 340B program even before we had software to run things,” says a 340B manager for a Midwest university medical center. “Initially, we managed the program manually with in-house methods.”

The 340B program manager’s medical center is a teaching hospital that trains future physicians and medical professionals. The medical center has over a dozen locations, including centers for emergency medicine and other specialties.

Facing the complexity of compliance

The medical center’s in-house management included storing and transferring its audits on one of the university’s shared computer drives, which contributed to slower file transfer speeds across campus. Another issue with the shared drive, says the 340B Program manager, was being unable to delineate between documents the 340B team prepared for U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration auditors and files the team used for notetaking, research, and internal discussions. The team wasn’t eager to divvy up and store files in multiple systems, either, since that could lead to losing track of supporting documentation. The manager’s team also found it time-consuming and difficult to continually monitor and edit changes with its pharmacy contracts and records in the Office of Pharmacy Affairs Information System, or OPAIS.

“We have child sites and contract pharmacies; each pharmacy chain has a contract at that location,” adds the medical center’s 340B program manager. “If we have to change an address or a location closes, we’d keep track of that by hand to mirror what’s shown in OPAIS.”

According to the 340B program manager, some covered entities might audit OPAIS annually, so months could pass before they would notice a change.

SECTYRHUB PLATFORM BENEFITS

Centralized data management

In July 2021, the medical center implemented the compliance software system called SectyrHub 340B. Made by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Sectyr®, the software provides a centralized source for analyzing and tracking the 340B program data required by auditors from HRSA. The 340B program team also uses SectyrHub’s logic-based, guided workflows for archiving recertifications and corrective plans.

“SectyrHub keeps our policies and procedures, documents, contracts, and everything in one place,” says the program manager. “The software alerts us when we need to make a change to reflect changes in OPAIS or on the HRSA website.”

Audit readiness

SectyrHub 340B collects, organizes, and monitors any of the data the 340B program team would have to provide for a HRSA audit. The team also performs many of its own audits to maintain its level of readiness for the questions a HRSA auditor would pose. SectyrHub gives the medical center 340B program team a simple way to upload the templates and results from their self-audits. The software-as-a-service solution serves not only as a repository for weekly, even daily, audits, but also stores the medical center’s 340B program timelines and tasks.

“Once we develop our program plan, SectyrHub 340B does the thinking and reminding to keep us true to that plan, so we’re audit-ready,” remarks the program manager. “The alternative would be relying on Excel spreadsheets and calendaring tools, which wouldn’t automatically alert us to changes to OPAIS the way SectyrHub can.”

An implementation model designed for sustainability

The medical center’s 340B program manager also sees SectyrHub’s SaaS model as attractive for maintaining the integrity of the 340B program’s record-keeping and audits. The team noted the fall 2022 spate of ransomware attacks on hospital systems from Virginia to Texas. With those attacks in mind, they feel SectyrHub brings an additional layer of security.

“Sectyr’s people are wonderful about following up on our requests, providing training programs, and working with us on the things we’d like to see the software do,” says the program manager.

Once we develop our program plan, SectyrHub does the thinking and reminding to keep us true to that plan, so we’re audit-ready,” remarks the program manager. “The alternative would be relying on Excel spreadsheets and calendaring tools, which wouldn’t automatically alert us to changes to OPAIS the way SectyrHub can.

340B Manager

Midwest University Medical Center

SectyrHub Solution

• SectyrHub 340B

Business Outcomes

• Standardization
• Visibility
• Efficiency
• Sustainability