Buyer Pharmacy

SEH Saint Elizabeth Medical Center•Edgewood, KY

About The Position

The Pharmacy Buyer manages daily purchasing, procurement, and inventory needs for St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s inpatient and outpatient Pharmacy departments, ensuring clinicians have reliable access to pharmaceuticals, supplies, and services. The role oversees pharmacy procurement processes, ordering, receiving, storage, inventory maintenance, accounting, and recordkeeping, while coordinating with procurement staff across the health system and serving as a liaison between Pharmacy leadership and external wholesalers, vendors, and manufacturers. The Pharmacy Buyer maintains inventory controls, optimizes automated inventory systems, monitors pricing and purchasing agreements, identifies cost-saving opportunities, and helps resolve urgent supply requests, backorders, shortages, and allocations. The role also supports recall response, expired-product disposal, annual physical inventory, formulary maintenance, contract and pricing reviews, and evaluation of the financial impact of purchases. It ensures compliance with applicable controlled-substance requirements, the 340B program, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), and other pharmacy policies and regulatory standards. The position also requires respectful, compassionate interactions with patients, families, visitors, and employees.

Requirements

High school diploma.
Documented on-the-job training in procurement, purchasing, inventory management, operations, business, finance, and accounting functions in organizational settings.
Eligible for applicable state Board of Pharmacy registration.
Knowledge of purchasing, procurement, and inventory management.
Proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite, especially Excel.
Two years of experience in supply chain management, procurement, or pharmacy purchasing/inventory management in a hospital or retail setting.
Familiarity with EMR programs such as Epic Willow, FSCM platforms such as PeopleSoft, wholesaler ordering platforms such as ABC Passport, 340B split-billing software such as Sentry, inventory management systems such as Talyst or Logistics, and other IT resources supporting procurement.

Responsibilities

Oversee processes related to the Pharmacy division’s procurement function.
Monitor the ordering, receipt, storage, and maintenance of pharmaceuticals, supplies, and purchased services.
Coordinate daily communication with Pharmacy procurement staff across the health system.
Track accounting and recordkeeping for products supplied or dispensed by the Pharmacy division.
Maintain relationships with external wholesalers, vendors, and product manufacturers, and act as a liaison between them and Pharmacy leadership.
Ensure pharmacy supply channels are optimal for cost and operational feasibility.
Work with Pharmacy leadership to address urgent supply requests, backorders, shortages, and product allocations.
Maintain inventory control through par-level settings and inventory-turn optimization.
Optimize automated inventory control systems and storage units; manually audit and track on-hand quantities for critical and high-cost items.
Participate in the annual physical inventory near the end of each fiscal year for Finance reporting.
Ensure accurate processing of purchase orders and invoices and validate pricing against contractual agreements.
Identify cost-saving opportunities and educate and coach staff on assessing opportunity costs.
Monitor the interception and response to drug recall notifications.
Coordinate the collection, handling, and disposal of expired products.
Ensure legal and regulatory compliance in controlled-substance procurement, handling, storage, and tracking.
Collaborate with the health system’s Supply Chain department on centrally sourced products.
Use and maximize enterprise software and other tools as directed by the health system.
Assist with formulary maintenance and assess financial impacts and values related to drug and supply purchases.
Evaluate contracts and other procurement-related pricing arrangements.
Comply with 340B program policies and provisions and the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).
Consult Pharmacy leadership as needed regarding Board of Pharmacy and Drug Enforcement Administration implications for drug procurement.
Stay current with other policies and regulatory standards related to Pharmacy practice.
Perform other duties as assigned.
Demonstrate respect, dignity, kindness, and empathy toward patients, families, visitors, and employees.