Cost Per Patient Day
What is your pharmacy PPD actually worth?
Your numbers, our math, no gate. See what your current cost per patient day means in annual dollars, and what each increment of improvement is worth at your census.
Your numbers
Use the all-in number from your invoices: medications, fees, and per-diem charges combined, divided by patient days. If you cannot compute that from your current invoices, that is itself a finding.
What that means in dollars
At your census, every improvement in PPD is worth:
Where PPD improvement actually comes from: a formulary sized to your census, fill cadence set clinically instead of per-claim, rejections prevented before the order is signed, and pass-through rates with no margin inside the claim.
This is arithmetic on your numbers, not a savings promise. Before go-live we baseline your actual metrics, and after go-live we report against them, so any improvement we deliver is measured, not estimated.
Your Number Is Yours
There is no universal PPD target. There is only yours.
Two well-run hospices can carry very different pharmacy PPDs and both be right. One covers broadly as a matter of mission, or because generous coverage is how it competes for referrals in its market. Another runs leaner because its census and service area call for it. Coverage philosophy, patient mix, and competitive landscape all move the number, and none of them are wrong.
That is why we do not arrive with a target. We start with your goal, whatever it is, and tailor the approach to it. And here is the part that surprises people: efficient ordering and prescribing moves PPD at any coverage philosophy. A hospice that covers generously still wins when the right order goes through clean the first time, at the contract rate, with the rejection that never happened.
Cover more, cover lean, or somewhere between: efficiency is how you hit your number without compromising the philosophy behind it.
Where PPD improvement actually comes from.
Not from a slogan. From specific mechanics, most of which run at the moment of the order.
Efficient ordering and prescribing
The largest lever, and it works at any coverage philosophy. When coverage, contract price, and prior authorization status surface at the moment of the order, the right medication in the right form goes through clean the first time. No off-formulary surprises, no rework, no second fill to fix the first.
How the platform works →A formulary sized to your census
Not narrowed to protect a vendor per-diem, not widened to feed claim margins. Built with your clinical team around what your patients actually need, and adjusted when they need something else.
Why our model has no position on your list →Fill cadence set clinically
Stable patients on 30-day fills where appropriate instead of automatic 14-day cycles. Fewer fills, fewer deliveries, fewer dispensing fees, same care.
The days-supply incentive, explained →Rejections prevented, not processed
Every rejection that never happens is a phone call nobody makes, a delivery that is not delayed, and a claim that does not need rework. Prevention is cheaper than resolution at every step.
Why rejections start as missing answers →Pass-through rates with nothing inside the claim
The rate the pharmacy is paid is the rate you pay. No spread, no markup, no margin that grows with your spend.
How we make money instead →The Number Behind the Number
A low PPD can still be an expensive pharmacy program.
The invoice is not where pharmacy costs end. A hospice with an enviable PPD can still be paying heavily in the currencies that never hit the pharmacy bill: rejections resolved by phone, nurses waiting at pharmacy counters, families waiting on fills that should have arrived, and the family experience scores that follow from both. Those costs land on your clinical capacity and your reputation instead of your invoice.
That is why our baseline measurement before go-live covers more than spend: rejection rates, time-to-fill, prior authorization turnaround, and the operational friction your team absorbs. The same numbers get measured after, so you can see the whole cost of the program move, not just the invoice.
PPD, answered directly.
What is PPD in hospice pharmacy?
PPD is pharmacy cost per patient day: your total pharmacy spend, including medications, fees, and any per-diem charges, divided by your total patient days for the period. It is the standard way hospices normalize pharmacy cost across census sizes, and the number most pharmacy contracts and board conversations are built around.
What is a good pharmacy PPD for a hospice?
There is no single right number, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes one without looking at your program. PPD depends on what your hospice chooses to cover, your patient mix, and the competitive landscape you operate in. Some hospices cover broadly as a mission and referral differentiator and carry a higher PPD on purpose. The better question is whether your number matches your goals, and whether you can see what is driving it.
How do you lower PPD without narrowing what patients receive?
Mostly through efficiency rather than restriction: surfacing coverage and price at the moment of prescribing so the right order goes through clean the first time, setting fill cadence clinically so stable patients are not cycled through unnecessary fills, preventing rejections instead of resolving them, and paying pharmacy claims at pass-through rates with no margin inside. Hospices that cover generously can still run an efficient program.
Bring your number. Tell us your goal.
A short discovery call is enough to talk through your PPD, your coverage philosophy, and what an approach tailored to your goal would look like.
Schedule a Conversation