In a continuing effort to reduce the cost of care and to provide patients with the pharmaceutical products they need, Piedmont Healthcare has joined Civica, the nonprofit generic drug company whose mission is to reduce chronic drug shortages in the United States.

In 2019, Civica is committed to delivering to its members at least 14 drugs, which are used daily by hospitals in emergency care, surgery, pain management and in treating hypertension. Earlier this year, Civica announced that it would provide two antibiotics, Vancomycin and Daptomycin, through a partnership with Xellia Pharmaceuticals to its members in the third quarter of 2019.

This new effort is similar to other Piedmont efforts that have led to reducing the total cost of care trend. These other efforts include process re-engineering, investing in lower-cost access options, such as primary care, and harvesting the operating economies associated with scale. In addition, through Piedmont’s Strategic Transformation and Resource Stewardship (STARS) initiative, Piedmont has recorded more than $400 million in savings and revenue enhancements since the program’s inception in 2015.

“At Piedmont, as a nonprofit, we take the responsibility of local access to care, as well as being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us, extremely seriously,” Piedmont Healthcare President and CEO Kevin Brown said. “Not only will our membership in Civica allow us to ensure that our front-line care providers have the drugs they need to provide high-quality, patient-centered care but it also means that we will be able to do so in a cost-conscious manner.”

In January, the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists released a report that found that average total drug spending per hospital admission increased by 18.5 percent between FY 2015 and FY 2017 and that almost 80 percent of hospitals found it extremely challenging to obtain drugs experiencing shortages. In addition, almost 80 percent also said that drug shortages resulted in increased spending on drugs, to a moderate or large extent.

Piedmont’s membership in Civica will help to mitigate a portion of the increasing cost of drugs.

“We are thrilled to welcome Piedmont as a partnering member of Civica,” said Martin VanTrieste, CEO of Civica Rx, whose organization counts more than 30 health systems as members, representing 900 U.S. hospitals. “Drug shortages have become a national crisis where patient treatments and surgeries are canceled, delayed or suboptimal. We thank Piedmont for joining us to make essential generic medicines accessible and affordable.”