WELCOME TO VACCINE ADVANTAGE
Vaccine Advantage has developed numerous alliances with national buying and distribution companies, thereby gaining discount pricing for our member physicians on most items that their practices need to purchase on an ongoing basis. Our largest discounted buying program is our Vaccine Advantage Program. Vaccine Advantage analyzes our member practice’s vaccine buying habits, product usage, cost and inventory control systems, analyzing both pros and cons.
Under the program we work with each practice and its vaccine clinicians to understand the strengths, weaknesses and goals of the practice’s immunization efforts. Among other items we focus extensively on the practice’s consolidation of brand use, consistency of product use, lower shot requirements for patient comfort, reduced staff time mixing solutions, and inventory management. We will meet with your current manufacturer’s representatives to determine if further savings are available under their product services or if change should be considered. We then design a program that maximizes the practice’s reimbursement/cost profile to allow the practice to improve the practice’s operating cash flow and achieve the greatest bottom-line earnings from its immunization programs. After we present our recommendations to the practice, we work hand in hand with the practice to modify the program as the practice desires and implement the final agreed upon buying strategy for the practice.
We also keep our member practices abreast of product promotions coming from the various manufacturers and advise our members whenever a new program is offered from the manufacturer.
Members typically save 20% to 30% per year on their annual vaccine purchases (based on full CDC immunization schedule), and can save more on some individual products. Family and specialty practice savings are the same per vaccine with overall savings dependent on their volume and breadth of vaccines purchased.
Under our buying program, you get the following benefits:
- Immediate savings – on one or more individual vaccines
- No participation fees
- Small minimum orders
- Prompt pay, Internet order discounts and special manufacturer promotions as available
- Order directly from the manufacturer or your distributor
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my Practice is a Member of an IPA or Network?
Vaccine Advantage works with many hospitals and IPAs. In fact, there can be added benefits for individual practices that are affiliated with a hospital or IPA.
How Much Will Our Practice Save on the Vaccine Program?
Vaccine Advantage pediatric members typically save 20% to 30% per year on their annual vaccine purchases (based on full CDC immunization schedule), and through greater use of combination vaccines coupled with the change of buying habits, savings could exceed 35%. Family and specialty practices savings are the same per vaccine with overall savings dependent on their volume and breadth of vaccines provided.
How does the Savings Program Work?
We work together to build the best purchasing strategy for your practice, which may include access to contracts with various vaccine manufacturers. There are no participation costs for the practice and the savings are immediate. Member practices continue to order directly and orders are shipped directly to you. Vaccine Advantage provides updates on new products, market trends, product promotions, cost updates, and other relevant vaccine topics.
What is the Vaccine Advantage Savings Program?
Vaccine Advantage has developed a unique vaccine purchasing program which provides physicians substantial group savings on vaccine purchases, thereby increasing your operating margins on pediatric, adult, travel and flu vaccines. While there are a number of vaccine programs in the market, Vaccine Advantage’s program is unique in its ability to develop purchasing strategies tailored to the needs of a practice resulting in the lowest possible price and achieving the greatest margin. Our management and ownership team includes practicing physicians who constantly provide us with feedback on what is and is not working and thoughts on how to achieve better results. We help members determine the financial and operational implications of their choices.
GROUP PURCHASING SERVICES IN ACTION
Recently we completed a vaccine and other product analysis of a physician owned pediatric practice. To create the best vaccine program for the practice we conducted a number of meetings with representatives from the three (3) largest vaccine manufacturers and then we made recommendations to the physician leadership regarding their vaccine buying alternatives. Our analysis revealed that concentrating the buying primarily with two of the manufacturers would decrease the practice’s annual vaccine costs by approximately $106,000. The vaccine savings ranged from 16% – 27%, depending on the brand. Lastly, we returned to the practice to assist with the annual flu dose order for quantity and vendor selection. With the large number of manufacturers making flu products for different age patients, and with different administration options (mist vs. injectable), a thorough analysis was required. On the surface it appeared that buying from a manufacturer, other than the one who’s product was purchased last year, would result in the greatest annual savings for the 2012-2013 flu season. However, due to the shortened flu season experienced this year a large volume of the prior year’s doses remained in stock. The return policy of the current flu vendor provided a large credit that could be applied to the next year’s flu order. This resulted in approximately $25,000 savings to the practice by modifying the original savings program we had put in place to account for this one-time event.
We also worked with the staff managing the vaccine supply and helped them understand how adjusting the timing, frequency, and volume of order placement. Proper management of the timing of purchases can result in a substantial cost reduction in annual cash outflows but still ensure no shortages of vaccines throughout the year. We then looked at the practice’s overall supplies purchasing program and worked with the practice to achieve substantial savings on the practice’s non-vaccine supplies by changing the supplying vendor in some cases and recommending alternative products in other cases. And then as a final step, we worked with the practice to develop and implement an inventory tracking, ordering and control system to maximize the ongoing savings.