About DFHC

1. Services and areas of expertise

DFHC have provided a range of education, training and advice to almost 130 companies and/or customers via around 350 different projects, both locally and globally. We pride ourselves on ensuring our customers have tailor-made, individualised information or training which is developed specifically for them. Our priority is to ensure our customers receive the most up to date, evidence based, independent advice possible to allow them to address and solve health related issues, educate staff, develop strategies or promote products that assists our clients to meet their strategic objectives.

The services offered by DFHC are broad and varied and are designed to meet our customer’s needs, from individual one-on-one consultation to large-scale project management. Utilising the depth and breadth of our staff’s extensive practical experience in the health care system, DFHC can provide a range of advice, education and information to our customers.

DFHC have provided advice, participation and education in the following general areas of healthcare, public and private hospital and general practice:

  • State and/or National pharmaceutical tender management, review and advice
  • Advisory board membership; locally, nationally and internationally
  • Drug advice, including new drugs, marketing, strategy, hospital practice, pricing, costing, reimbursement
  • Hospital formulary advice and development
  • Hospital Pharmacy Service operations review
  • Hospital Pharmacy Department management (by negotiation)
  • Hospital Executive Management (by negotiation)
  • Hospital Pharmacy Services tender assistance and support
  • Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare accreditation standards, sepcifically Standard 3.14 - Antimicrobial Stewardship and Standard 4 -Medication Safety
  • Drug costing estimates, analysis and projections
  • Clinical pharmacy and dispensing service review non-hospital
  • Education and training for the pharmaceutical industry, including
    • public and private hospital practice and processes
    • drug formulary processes by State
    • funding mechanisms (including Activity Based Funding models)
    • Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG’s) and patient coding
    • the PBS (Section 85 and Section 100) and how it works in hospitals and in the community
    • National Health Reforms
    • non-formulary drug access processes
    • pharmaceutical tendering processes by State 
    • Drugs and Therapeutics Committee functions
    • hospital structure
    • budgets
    • public and private hospital Key Performance Indicators
    • pharmacy services in public and private hospitals
    • hospital trends and future predictions
    • customer identification
    • hospital drug cost management and reimbursement
    • compassionate drug use programs
    • patient familiarisation programs
    • potential markets
    • do’s and don’ts for hospital representatives
    • new technology, robotics and clinical systems
    • new drugs and therapeutic models, including monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins, biosimilars
  • Education for health professionals, including pharmacology and pharmacy practice lectures relating to medications, emerging therapeutics, new drugs and devices.
  • Chair, facilitators or participants of meetings or advisory boards
  • Project management
  • Drug importation and Special Access Scheme (SAS) drugs
  • Identification of new product needs and opportunities
  • Home health services
  • Membership of steering committees
  • Quality use of Medicines Advisory Boards
  • Medication Safety Advisory Boards
  • Local and national market research
  • Product patent advice
  • Budget management advice
  • Clinical trial review
  • General advice regarding areas of hospital practice, including Hospital in the Home, sterile manufacturing equipment and processes, intravenous line advice, individual patient drug use processes, patient familiarisation processes, quality use of medicines, medication safety, legislative requirements
  • Development and preparation of prescribing protocols
  • Development and preparation of clinical guidelines
  • Advice on individual products
  • Review of conferences for publication
  • Review of detailed clinical documentation
  • Advice on electronic and robotic systems
  • Review of clinical evidence and development of position papers for disease management
  • Educational programs and tours for conferences
  • Advice and support for hospitals underging accreditation via ACSQHC standards

2. Our Customers

Our client base is extensive and varied, and includes globally based pharmaceutical manufacturers and companies all the way to individuals requiring advice and assistance. In the last 6 years, our satisfied clientele has included:

  • Pharmaceutical logistics and wholesaler companies
  • Conference promoters and managers
  • Professional societies
  • Publishing houses
  • Global major pharmaceutical companies
  • Small pharmaceutical firms
  • Boutique pharmaceutical companies
  • Generic pharmaceutical companies
  • Consulting firms
  • Public Hospitals
  • Private Hospitals
  • State health and other government departments
  • Corrections services
  • Disability services
  • Intravenous fluid and manufacturing companies
  • Robotics companies
  • IT and clinical system providers
  • Individual professionals

 

3. Engagement options

At DFHC, we understand that every project or situation requiring advice or intervention is different. On the basis of this, DFHC is able to offer a range of flexible engagement options to meet our customer’s needs.

We can offer:

  1. One-to-one individualised advice or small group discussions / advice, billed on an hourly basis. This can be as short or as long as our client requires. There is no project that is too small for our staff, and we understand that small problems can cause just as much difficulty as large ones can.
  2. Presentations /lectures / training for small or large groups are based on the requirements of our clients, with costs associated with time in preparation and delivery of training or lectures either estimated at the outset or agreed prior or after the presentation. These may be 1-2 hour lectures, half day, full day or multiple day workshops – whatever our client needs.
  3. Engagement for the term of a prospective project (whether this be part time or full time), with costs based on estimated times to complete the project to our client’s satisfaction.
  4. Temporary, part-time engagement for a pre-defined period, with an overall project cost being calculated and agreed prior to commencement.
  5. Full-time, temporary engagement for pre-defined periods, with costs for the project agreed prior to commencement.

 

Estimates will also include any additional costs associated with undertaking any activities on behalf of clients. All costs will be fully documented, itemised and all costs / receipts catalogued and provided to the client as required. This will include:

    • Any costs associated with travel, which can either be organised or paid for by the client or arranged and included in the DFHC invoice. DFHC guarantees that the cheapest airfare / accommodation / meal costs will be used on the client’s behalf for any interstate / overseas travel
    • Any on-costs, such as stationary, printing, phone use, parking, mileage, catering for meetings ect
    • GST (10%)