When Family is the Patient: Building a Pediatric Specialty Pharmacy for Seamless, Compassionate Care

A prominent children’s hospital in the southern U.S. identified a critical need to establish a specialty pharmacy program. While their retail program was adequately serving patients, the hospital was experiencing leakage in specialty prescriptions and delays in access.

The hospital partnered with Visante to develop a specialty pharmacy program designed to increase continuity of care, simplify provider processes, improve patient access, and support often overwhelmed families.

The Challenge: Disconnected Care

The lack of a specialty pharmacy program caused several challenges, including:

• Loss of specialty prescriptions to external pharmacies, impacting both continuity of care and revenue.
• Delays of up to 2 to 3 weeks for medication access due to external prior authorization and communication barriers.
• Fragmented workflows between retail and specialty pharmacy services.

“With pediatric patients, the stakes are especially high. Parents needed to feel supported, and care teams needed real-time visibility and communication across systems,” said Angie Amado, Senior Director at Visante. “That’s where we came in.”

The Solution: An Extension of an Already Expert Team

The hospital was in need of embedded pharmacy expertise to support both providers and families. Visante partnered closely with the hospital to build and implement a specialty pharmacy program as an extension of their existing retail model. Here’s how:

• Strategic planning and proposal development, including detailed ROI modeling and resource needs.
• Leadership engagement and executive buy-in to champion the program from the top down.
• Hiring and onboarding of a dedicated specialty pharmacy team (leaders, pharmacists, and technicians).
• Workflow integration from prescription initiation to billing and fulfillment.
• On-site and embedded pharmacy services for seamless clinical collaboration.
• Staff education and cultural shift to align everyone on the value and function of a specialty pharmacy.

“The highest priority was continuity of care,” Amado emphasized. “By embedding pharmacists into clinics, the care team becomes whole. That’s a game-changer—especially for pediatric families navigating complex treatments.”

The Results: Simple, Seamless Support for Families

With Visante’s guidance, the hospital implemented a fully integrated specialty pharmacy program that delivered meaningful results:

• Improved access and reduced delays: Patients no longer wait weeks for specialty medications and providers can call an internal line and get real-time updates.
• Higher patient and family satisfaction: Embedded pharmacy support gives families peace of mind and consistent communication.
• Above-projection financial performance: The program exceeded revenue expectations and improved overall 340B optimization.
• Increased medication capture and adherence rates: More prescriptions are filled in-house, and patients are staying on therapy.

“It’s all about the kids,” said Amado. “From the moment a prescription is written to the moment a parent picks it up, the family should feel confident. That’s what this program was built for.”

Built to Last: A Trusted Partnership in Pediatric Pharmacy

The hospital continues to collaborate with Visante to expand specialty pharmacy services, optimize 340B performance, and explore new care delivery models for rural and out-of-state patients.

Together, we’re not just improving systems—we’re reimagining what compassionate, coordinated care means for pediatric families. This partnership is a shared commitment to making every child’s health journey as seamless as possible.

“The team at [the pediatric hospital] was phenomenal,” Amado noted. “[The team lead] laid the groundwork, rallied the troops, and made sure every piece of the puzzle fit together. That kind of leadership is what made this program a success.”

Looking to integrate specialty pharmacy into your healthcare system? Get in touch with Visante’s expert team today!