I just saw your question!
The price we have from PharMEDium for hydromorphone PCA is $18.00; Ameridose is $17.25 and the dating is 60 days from date of admixing.

Name of Facility: PORTER

City, State: acute care

Years as a Buyer: 9+

The main reasons I switched from PharMedium to Ameridose was the pricing and the dating on the bags. I get at least a two month dating on bags instead of a couple weeks with PharMedium. Also I talked to Alan and told him what I wanted to pay and we agreed on a price per bag that I was very happy with. I received the product at a much better price and I can have it on the shelf a little longer with no waste. It is so easy to go on line and order and I have the product in just a couple days. Ameridose is the way to go.

Years as a Buyer: 19+ tx 34+

Hi Everybody,

I just wanted to thank you all for your feedback in regards to Pharmediam. I actually called the other company Ameridose and they were AWESOME !!!!!!. They were able to help me with everything and even offered a whole host of medications that my director did'nt even know was commercially available and they had great dating and customer service. We are a small hospital and we don't have a 24h pharmacy so volume commitments with contracts are out of the question for us. I am actually making up a list of other things to run by the forum so I will be in touch.

City, State: Acute Care

Years as a Buyer: 1

Tom,

Glad to have you on board and participating in the forum.

I didn't catch where you work?

Regards,

SA

Name of Facility: St. Joseph

City, State: Acute

Years as a Buyer: 14

We have used Pharmedium the past few years. They have a great online ordering system (including CSOS). We purchase Oxytocin, magnesium, morphine and dilaudid PCA's.

Everyone has commentted on how much better the expiry dating on Ameridose is so much better than Pharmedium. When I asked this very question to Ameridose, the only documentation they could supply was one study that shows their product was still 99% potent. Keep in mind that the testing is done in a controlled enviornment. They do not take into account temp flucuations during transport (they sit on a delivery truck in the hot sun). Pharmedium's testing is much more scientific and they can back it up too.

Bottom line. We stuck with Pharmedium for the safety of our patients. I do not see how one company can offer 21 days and another company 45 days.

Name of Facility: University Community Hospital

City, State: Hospital

Years as a Buyer: 3+

Dear Brian,

We at Mass General Hospital also consider patient safety our number 1 priority in fact we have had teams tour the Ameridose facilities and they are second to none in terms of producing quality products and great service.
They back up all their products with an extensive testing program that is above and beyond the industry standard.
We know this because we do a very detailed analysis of their policy, procedure, quality and safety before we are willing to use any product on our patients compounded by an outside vendor.
Needless to say, we are very confident and extremely satisfied with the many products that we receive from Ameridose.
Just an FYI, Ameridose received a favorable review from the FDA in December of 2007 (482). Have you asked the other vendors out there for their reports? If you did a fraction of the homework that we have, you’d see that many of the other vendors have received negative reviews (483’s).

Also, I thought this was NOT a forum for promoting one vendor over another. I think choice is a good thing for our hospital and hope that in the future these posts will be more informative than promotional.

Name of Facility: Massachusetts General Hospital - 1000+ beds

Years as a Buyer: 9

Dear Claudio,
This is a forum to express views, which is what I did. It is very presumptous of you to say that I have only done a "fraction" of the homework that you have done. That was just very judgemental on your part.

Also, concerning your last paragraph, this forum has a great collection of people with many different views and practices. I was not Promoting one vendor over another as you, again, presumed. My opionion was asked for and I gave it.....just as MANY other participants did prior to my comment about Pharmedium and Ameridose. I would be happy to entertain business with Ameridose so long as they can provide the extensive back up dating to their products.

So, with that being said, it sounds like you are promoting Ameridose.

At any rate, thank you for sharing you knowledge with the rest of us.

Name of Facility: University Community Hospital

City, State: Hospital

Years as a Buyer: 3+

I thought I was the only one who reacted to Claudio's remarks.
The original question asked for our experiences with PharMEDium. I think that's what all the following postings dealt with--our experiences with compounding companies. I see no promotion of one over another, just opinions based on our dealings with either PharMEDium or Ameridose.

How else do we share information except by drawing on what we've learned being in the trenches day in and day out?

I hope everyone continues to freely express their opinions, questions, concerns in this forum. I have learned so much and , I hope, have been able to give back a little.

Name of Facility: PORTER

City, State: acute care

Years as a Buyer: 9+

I have been using this website for many purposes and found the discussions to be helpful. However this section has led me to participate only because I feel sharing pricing in this forum goes beyond sharing experience. What our GPO and others work out on pricing is out of our control but should remain confidential. Each facility has their own ability to negotiate price and should try.
Our Director contracts with Pharmedium because the value in the product by them goes beyond what we could ever get from another compounder. I asked our director at one point to look into another compounder NECC/Ameridose. She felt that there there was misrepresentation on their products and shelf life.I had asked for product info and every time I had a question they could not answer, they lowered the price. To me and my director, Pharmedium has not misrepresented what they have to offer or has never done anything to make me believe that I should look anywhere else.

So my opion is that Pharmedium has been a good choice for us and we will stick with that.

Name of Facility: Upper Eastside Regional

Years as a Buyer: 14

Point taken and you're right, pricing is subject to individual contract negotiations.
I'm glad you mentioned it. I needed a reminder that sharing in generalities is preferred.
Thanks!!

Name of Facility: PORTER

City, State: acute care

Years as a Buyer: 9+