WPRX’s Contract Compliance and Why It Makes a Difference

Pharmaceutical companies function within a highly regulated and complex industry environment, where every detail matters and directly impacts the livelihood and health of the consumers taking the medications.

While pharmacovigilance in a pharmaceutical company aims to ensure medicines are both safe and effective, contract compliance ensures that documentation, including contracts and serialization, reflect proper pricing, terms, regulations, and agreements.

At Westminster Pharmaceuticals, our superior contract compliance maintains our organizational integrity as well as the integrity of our products and all partner relationships and is a cornerstone of our company values that ensures safe and accessible medications.

Contract Compliance - What is It?

Contract compliance, and pharmaceutical compliance in general, is a multifaceted discipline that covers a range of tasks and operations. It involves confirming customer pricing for vendors, managing various Medicaid contracts and verifications, maintaining vendor contract integrity, and the serialization and tracking of products through the supply chain.

A pharmaceutical contract compliance specialist must be able to juggle these broad-reaching tasks with efficiency and with ease, as mistakes within contracts and documentation can lead to serious regulatory consequences as well as patient risk. 

What Contract Compliance Looks Like at WPRX

At Westminster Pharmaceuticals, our contract compliance department is headed by our contract compliance specialist, Christal Standen. Christal has been with the company for over six years and has displayed unwavering dedication to her role. 

Each day, Christal manages a number of different tasks and rotates through processes pivotal to Westminster’s operations, especially those pertaining to our relationships with vendors and product tracking. 

The start of Christal’s day usually looks similar – she arrives at her office and begins working through emails, which are typically general questions on orders or inquiries from customers.

Another task that makes up a large portion of Westminster’s contract compliance role is managing chargebacks, in which vendors submit chargeback requests for sales that have occurred on their end with Westminster's products so they in turn are awarded their contract price in place. It’s up to Christal to review these chargeback requests and either approve or deny them. 

She also provides weekly reporting that documents all vendor submissions per contract and product, which allows Westminster's sales team to evaluate which products are moving the fastest through the supply chain and those that might need to be reevaluated.

The other two areas of focus within our contract compliance department are serialization and Medicaid.

With serialization, Christal must create serial numbers, track, and trace all items through the supply chain to remain compliant with the FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). All vendors must receive specialized data for new shipments coming in, so Christal ensures this information is verified and dispersed in a timely manner. Serialization also involves reviewing the current data consistently to avoid any mistakes or loopholes within the software.

Westminster Pharmaceuticals currently has contracts with 180 different Medicaid programs, spanning all fifty states. Each of these programs presents reimbursement claims to Westminster, and it’s Christal’s job to manage these claims and confirm that Westminster pays out the proper percentage to each state program. With around 80-85% of our pharmaceuticals approved by Medicaid and frequent new product launches, there’s also the ongoing task of getting these new products listed correctly.

Why WPRX Compliance Is Best

All pharmaceutical companies have some level of a compliance department, but our contract compliance at Westminster Pharmaceuticals stands out, not only because of the expertise and dedication that Christal brings to her role, but also because of the unwavering standards that we set and adhere to as a company.

First and foremost is Christal’s extensive history of varied clerical work and customer service, which positions her as the ideal person to manage a role that is so detail-oriented. Her multi-tasking skills and ability to pivot in the face of challenges (or constant regulatory and contract changes) serve her well in this fast-paced and ever-changing role.

There’s also the benefit of greater access to Medicaid-approved and compliant products that we pass on to vendors, which provides peace of mind, knowing these products will move due to their high demand while also helping people in extreme need.

We’re sticklers about the little details, like making sure we meet all FDA timelines not just on time, but ahead of time, which is another one of our many competitive advantages.

Contract Compliance Cause and Effect: A Better Pharmaceutical Partner

Westminster Pharmaceuticals is growing steadily and rapidly, with an expanding product base, and with it, our compliance is also getting sharper, more responsive, and more agile. We set lofty goals, and always reach them, never allowing the company or our products to become stagnant. We are progressive and agile, never getting stuck in our old ways and moving forward every day to provide greater, more timely access to safe and affordable drugs.

At the end of the day, we go above and beyond compliance to protect ourselves, our partners, and ultimately, all of the consumers and patients who use our pharmaceuticals. 

To learn more about these advantages and more, reach out to a Westminster team member today.