By Aaron Denning, Chief Commerical Officer, AllyGPO, and Jennifer Waters, SVP, Retina, BioCareSD

For retina practices navigating today’s complex specialty drug landscape, the relationship with their group purchasing organization (GPO) and specialty distributor (SD) has never been more critical.

Between rising drug costs, biosimilar alternatives, payer pressures, and operational complexity, practices need more from their partners than ever.

They question whether they’re getting it.

As a new alternative in a market primarily dominated by large, traditional incumbents, AllyGPO and BioCareSD have spent the past year visiting community ophthalmology and retina practices of all sizes across the United States, listening to physicians and administrators share their real-world experiences.

What emerged were four consistent themes about how practices feel their GPO and SD partners can effectively support their drug management in this evolving market and maintain their autonomy and economic sustainability in the future.

THE CHALLENGE: VOICES FROM THE RETINA FRONT LINES

The most common insights from retina physicians, clinical managers, and the C-suite were about how the cost of inefficient drug management extends beyond purchasing. They cited concerns about working capital tied up in excess inventory, delays from step therapy and prior authorizations, staff time spent on manual inventory reconciliation, the lengthy timeline for rebate reconciliation and payment, and limited visibility into true net cost recovery.

“We’re tired of opaque pricing structures.” Several practices shared frustrations with unclear pricing, slow rebate payments, and contracts filled with unattainable incentives and backend hidden caveats.

“Our systems don't talk to each other.” Many administrators described needing to use spreadsheets to manually reconcile data across EMR, inventory, and revenue cycle systems, sucking up time and inviting costly errors.

“We need strategic guidance, not just product delivery.” As biosimilars emerge and payer dynamics shift, practices want education and tools that help them evaluate procurement scenarios and intelligently adapt their drug purchasing.

“We want a partner we can trust long-term.” Some practices felt that their GPO and SD partnerships have become increasingly transactional. Others shared growing questions about being locked into multi-year contracts, conflicts of interest that can arise from working with distributors who also own retina provider networks, or being able to maintain their independence.

Practices also shared forward-thinking strategies for maintaining strong relationships with their GPO and SD, and how these partners could help them navigate expanding drug choices, optimize their staff’s efficiency, and maintain their financial health.

FOUR SMARTER DRUG MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

1. Challenger Pricing and Flexible Drug Contracts

Competitive pricing is critical, but not enough. Practices emphasized wanting to avoid one-size-fits-all deal structures and instead adapt terms to their reality, specifically citing the need for:

• Increased clarity around pricing components (e.g., WAC, ASP, purchase price, and rebates)
• Tools to compare pricing apples-to-apples when evaluating distributor options
• Shorter contracts with annual reviews that support changing practice dynamics
• Distribution proposals that avoid unattainable incentives or backloaded “gotchas”
• Models that support diversity, whether a single-site retina specialist or a multi-specialty group
• Annual pricing audits and proactive quarterly reports to ensure margins are maintained

2. Intelligent Inventory Management

Many practices spoke about their desire for a smarter drug management system with predictive suggestions and automation of tasks, highlighting requests for:

• A single source of truth that integrates inventory, EMR, and revenue cycle data
• Systematic step therapy and prior authorization workflows that reduce denials and delays
• Tools that go beyond tracking inventory to mitigate stockouts and manage working capital
• AI that learns from usage patterns and enables predictive ordering from patient schedules
• Clinician-controlled workflow to ensure that medical decisions drive logistics

3. Visibility From Drug Purchase to Payment

You can’t manage what you can't measure. Seeing the full financial lifecycle of each vial is mission critical. Essential analytics capabilities that practices want are:

• Real-time KPI dashboards that track from order to reimbursement without waiting on nightly updates
• Drug-level net cost recovery data showing exactly what they’re earning
• Instant access to trusted data and end-of-quarter decision support to optimize contract performance
• Transparent rebate tracking with clear calculation breakdowns, status visibility, and prompt payment
• Proactive modeling tools to simulate the impact of GPO contract term changes before implementing

4. Transparent Partnership That Builds Trust

Administrators and ophthalmologists shared that their most successful GPO and SD partnerships are those where they can count on:

• A dedicated retina team that understands the unique challenges of community practices and acts as a strategic advisor to help achieve goals
• Practice autonomy to choose the products and partners that best serve patients and clinical needs
• Dependable, personalized service with a clearer picture of distributor pricing and GPO rebates
• Education and tools that help practices adapt to market changes and implement new approaches based on their individual needs
• Responsiveness to technology feedback and agility in delivering timely, meaningful improvements

Openness builds trust. Trust drives loyalty. And loyalty creates long-term value for both sides.

THE CLEAR MESSAGE: IT’S TIME TO RAISE THE BAR

Community retina practices don’t need to accept the status quo. AllyGPO and BioCareSD offer you an alternative for specialty drug management.

Choose a new kind of retina partner who puts your practice first. Flexibility, transparency, and innovation are part of our DNA. Together, AllyGPO and BioCareSD are committed to delivering value from Day One. We work to earn your business every day with competitive pricing, smarter technology, and hands-on support to help drive your practice productivity and financial performance.

Helping practices thrive creates sustainable relationships that benefit everyone, especially patients. Your growth fuels ours.

See the difference for yourself. NewRetinaPartner.com

This resource is provided solely for informational and educational purposes and is intended to reflect a broad range of viewpoints shared by practices. The perspectives summarized herein are anonymized and do not represent the views or recommendations of AllyGPO or any particular practice or group of practices. AllyGPO does not encourage, support, or facilitate any agreement or coordinated action among practices regarding pricing, supplier selection, product utilization, service models, or any other competitive behavior. All purchasing and operational decisions must be made independently and in accordance with each organization’s own legal and compliance frameworks. Nothing in this resource should be construed as offering or providing anything of value in exchange for the referral of business, nor is it based on the volume or value of any referrals. AllyGPO remains committed to full compliance with applicable federal and state laws, including the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute and antitrust regulations

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