VerifiedRx

As health systems grow more complex and executive expectations continue to expand, organizations must develop the next generation of pharmacy leaders. Host Carolyn Liptak is joined by Dr. Bonnie Levin and Dr. Cedric Terrell to discuss the growing pharmacy leadership pipeline challenge, the skills today's leaders need to succeed, and practical ways to identify and develop the next generation of pha...

What happens when learners teach learners? Layered learning is a teaching model that brings pharmacy students, residents, and preceptors together in a collaborative learning environment. Our host Carolyn Liptak is joined by Dr. Sarah Eggers Russell, PharmD, BCACP, CPP of UNC Health REX and Dr. Kimberly James, PharmD of UF Health to discuss how layered learning works in pharmacy residency programs...

Direct-to-consumer healthcare is changing how patients engage with care, driven by growing demand for convenience, accessibility, and personalized experiences. VerifiedRx host Stacy Lauderdale is joined by Emily Fitt, Hailey Mulliner, and Heather Pace to discuss the continued rise of telehealth and direct-to-consumer healthcare platforms, the areas experiencing the most growth, and what these evol...

Defining and documenting pharmacist interventions beyond prescription revenue is essential to demonstrating the full value of pharmacy teams. Host Carolyn Liptak is joined by Dr. Karen Thomas from the University of Illinois Chicago and Dr. Thom Platt from UK Healthcare to share insights from a multi-system survey exploring how interventions are captured and used. They discuss the variability in cu...

Alpha-gal syndrome is an emerging and often underrecognized allergy triggered by a tick bite that can cause delayed reactions to red meat and mammalian-derived products. In this episode, host Stacy Lauderdale is joined by clinical experts Zack Stacy and Kyna Henrici to unpack the science behind alpha-gal, its implications in healthcare settings, and the operational challenges providers face in man...

AI is rapidly reshaping pharmacy practice, raising both concern and opportunity for healthcare teams. Vizient host Kerry Schwarz is joined by Dr. Jason Chou, Vice President of the System Pharmacy Service Line, and Dr. Catherine Oliver, System AVP of Clinical Pharmacy Services at Ochsner Health, to explore how AI is improving efficiency while redefining how pharmacy teams spend their time. They dis...

In this episode of VerifiedRx, Carolyn Liptak is joined by Dr. Jennifer Tussey, Senior Specialty Pharmacy Manager at BJC Health, to discuss early experiences with the Medicare Transaction Facilitator (MTF) and the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. From managing complex data flows and delayed payments to coordinating cross-functional teams and evolving workflows, they share practical insight...

Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1 and PD-L1 have transformed the treatment landscape across a wide variety of cancers, becoming foundational therapies in oncology. Dr. Stacey Sobocinski and Dr. Michele Rice join host Dr. Kerry Schwarz to discuss what the new subcutaneous PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors could mean for oncology practice. They cover the three agents that have become...

Dr. Jeni Hayes, Senior Clinical Manager, Strategic Clinical Intelligence, and Dr. Heather Pace, Senior Clinical Manager, Ambulatory Care, join host Carolyn Liptak to discuss the Vizient Winter 2026 Spend Management Outlook, with a focus on pharmacy projections and key changes from prior outlooks. The episode also covers ambulatory care and self-administered drugs, biosimilar therapeutic insights,...

John Schoen, Senior Clinical Manager of Evidence-Based Medicine and Drug Information in Vizient's Center for Pharmacy Practice Excellence and Vizient's vaccine subject matter expert, joins host Stacy Lauderdale to discuss key updates to the CDC's childhood Immunization schedule and what they mean for practice.   Guest speaker:   John Schoen, PharmD, BCPS   Senior Clinical Manager of Evidence-Based...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has finalized the 2026 Outpatient Perspective Payment System (OPPS) rule, with most policies taking effect on January 1, 2026. Jenna Stern, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy at Vizient, joins host Carolyn Liptak, Pharmacy Executive Director in Vizient's Center for Pharmacy Practice Excellence, to discuss key updates to payment pol...

Pharmacy buyers play a critical role in keeping hospitals running—and their partnership with a GPO can make all the difference. In this episode of Verified Rx, Jackie Stokes sits down with Theresa Brown and Michelle Crump, two powerhouse pharmacy buyers and members of Vizient’s Pharmacy Technician Committee, to talk about the tools, programs, and peer networks that help them thrive in their roles....

In Part 2 of the 2026 pipeline series, host Carolyn Liptak welcomes Dr. Amanda Frick, Senior Clinical Manager, Strategic Clinical Intelligence at Vizient, to explore the advanced therapies pipeline: cell therapies, gene therapies, tissue-engineered products, and combination advanced therapy products. The discussion explores major pipeline trends, six leading products to watch, and the growing inno...

If you're wondering which therapies may influence care delivery, budgets, and decision making in 2026, the pipeline offers an early preview and it points to a year defined by innovation. We're seeing new first in class treatments, thoughtful next generation agents, and a biosimilar market where fewer launches are offset by important competitive shifts driven by recent approvals. John Schoen and He...

Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) committees historically operated at the individual hospital level but have evolved into enterprise-wide governance programs due to health system expansion, unprecedented clinical and financial complexity of care, and the emergence of high impact and novel therapeutics. To address this, the Vizient Center for Pharmacy Practice Excellence convened an expert panel...

Artificial intelligence, or, AI is on everyone's minds, and we're all still figuring out how to trust it, teach it, and use it responsibly. Today we take a deep dive into how AI is affecting the education of current and future pharmacy students. With us is Jennifer Trujillo, associate Dean for education and professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharm...

From CAR-T therapies to viral vectors, cell and gene treatments are redefining the boundaries of pharmacy practice—but with innovation comes complexity. Host Carolyn Liptak welcomes Dr. Mark Wiencek, Principal Microbiologist with the Technical Services Group at Contec, and Dr. Amanda Frick, Senior Clinical Manager of Market Intelligence at Vizient, to break down the challenges of compounding these...

New data from the summer Vizient Spend Management Outlook show that in the inpatient space, high-cost drugs, especially CAR-T treatments like Yescarta and Breyanzi are major drivers of drug spend. To help offset these costs, certain therapies may qualify for additional reimbursement through the New Technology Add-On payment (NTAP), a program that supports innovations that substantially improve car...

As the Drug Supply Chain Security Act dispenser exemption period winds down, the Vizient Standards implementation team announced an important change to the Vizient Global Location Number (GLN) Management program. The data standards team will inactivate unmanaged GLNs, which will impact pharmacies and other providers who are not currently managing their Vizient assigned GLNs. Two experts leading th...

The Joint Commission’s updated accreditation manual is designed to simplify requirements, enhance clarity, and better support healthcare organizations in survey preparation. In this episode of VerifiedRx, host Carolyn Liptak is joined by Dr. Robert Campbell of the Joint Commission and Diana Scott of Vizient to unpack the most significant changes. From the shift to National Performance Goals and me...

Drug diversion threatens patient and staff safety—and preventing it requires a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach. In this episode, Dr. Ruth Igwegbe and Shealee Mitchell of JPS Health Network join host Carolyn Liptak to share how their organization transformed a fragmented diversion process into a high-functioning, collaborative program. From building trust with frontline teams to using AI so...

The Vizient Summer 2025 Spend Management Outlook (SMO) provides an integrated perspective on trends, factors and future expenses providers will face across the various dimensions of healthcare. In this episode, Dr. Carina Dolan and Dr. Jeni Hayes join host Carolyn Liptak to discuss pharmacy insights from the SMO including declining drug price inflation and how autoimmune conditions have surpassed...

Drug shortages continue to be a significant issue in the healthcare system, affecting various aspects of patient care and imposing substantial costs on hospitals and health systems. According to Vizient's 2024 drug shortages survey, U.S. hospitals are spending approximately 20 million hours annually managing these shortages, resulting in nearly $900 million in associated labor costs. The survey hi...

We all know that clinician burnout negatively impacts the quality of patient care. That's why pharmacy residency accrediting bodies now emphasize resident well-being and professional sustainability as core components of residency training earlier in clinician careers. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Accreditation Standards for PGY1 and PGY2 Pharmacy Residencies include a f...

Information on COVID vaccines is moving fast. On May 27th, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID vaccines will no longer be universally recommended for healthy children or healthy pregnant women. That's a big shift, and understandably, it's raised a lot of questions. We're going to cut through the noise and take a look at where things really stand, who's getting vaccinated, how...