How has IMS delivered outstanding results? Ultimately, by
helping our customers win recognition for transforming
their health-related service and capabilities.
DEA Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act Support
Situation: Congress passed the Combat Methamphetamine
Epidemic Act (CMEA) to fight meth trafficking.
Problem: Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine (E/PSE) are the
primary ingredients in meth, as well as in common over- thecounter
and prescription medications. To implement aspects
of the CMEA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) needed to estimate the legitimate medical need for
E/PSE in order to establish import and production quotas.
These estimates had to be highly defensible as they would be
used in regulating industry.
Solution: IMS built a customized three-tier model based
on its assets covering dispensed prescription drugs, medication
sales, and occurrences of medical conditions. With this
model, IMS was able to produce a verifiably
accurate assessment of legitimate needs for E/PSE.
CMS Survey of Retail Prices, Payment and Utilization Rates, and Performance Rankings
Situation: The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) requires
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
to conduct a monthly survey of retail prices, report payment
and utilization rates by states, and rank states on their payment
rates for the 50 most widely prescribed drugs compared
to the national retail survey prices.
Problem: CMS did not have the data in-house to meet the
requirements of the DRA, nor the resources to engineer a
survey as described by the legislation that would meet the
specified requirements.
Solution: IMS designed, deployed, and operates a system
to estimate the national average retail price for all prescription
drugs. This system leverages IMS’ prescription data
collection infrastructure, utilizing a multi-stage process to
produce highly accurate estimates of national average retail
drug prices.
Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Transformation
Situation: AMEDD required data analysis and decision
support in order to comply with Base Realignment and Closure
(BRAC), Army Modular Force (AMF), and Army Grow
the Force initiatives.
Problem: AMEDD needed to determine the universe of
authoritative data available to support its initiatives, identify
potential process improvements, and recommend corresponding
automated information solutions.
Solution: IMS conducted an analysis and developed an “as
is” model of the AMEDD BRAC Program Management
Office (PMO), its staffing processes, existing data sources, and
analytic tools. It then designed a “to be” model with recommendations
for creating an AMEDD Transformation Directorate,
developing automated web-enabled data analytics and
reporting, and creating integrated process teams.
The Air Force Medical Service (AF MS)
Situation: AFMS is one of the largest health plans in the
world with over 3.2 million beneficiaries at over 72 healthcare
operating locations throughout the world.
Problem: AFMS wanted to build a process improvement
infrastructure (leveraging technology for communication,
collaboration, and decision support) that would enhance the
effectiveness of its senior leadership, corporate management,
operational managers, and care providers.
Solution: For the past eight years, IMS has partnered with
AFMS to provide metric definition, data acquisition and
management strategies supporting strategic and operational
reporting, and business intelligence. AFMS and IMS have
worked to improve service delivery, financial and business plan
performance, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction.
As a result, AFMS is one of the few large health plans which
can empirically document significant improvements over the
past decade.