SureCost

Machine learning drives one module inside a platform that carries value without it. Drug Shortage Insights runs prediction models trained for more than a year on procurement activity, vendor signals and shortage outcomes across more than 1,600 customer pharmacies, producing daily risk ratings for each NDC, shortage duration forecasts and confidence scores. That module is sold on its own, it is the newest of the three in Smart Supply, and it does not exist without the model.

The rest of the platform works by rules. Purchase Manager recommends items through the buyer's own cost, compliance and preference rules, Compliance Insights checks purchases against contract terms loaded into the system, and Inventory Manager reorders at set thresholds, with demand forecasting from usage history described only in general terms. Most of the daily value a buyer sees, price comparison, one purchase order and invoice matching, comes from integration and rules rather than inference.

People decide on shortage alternatives, while one automated path is left undefined. Each organization sets its own threshold for acting on a shortage signal, confidence scores and the trend data behind each prediction are visible to users, and alternatives appear with primary vendor items first and the secondary market one toggle away. When a buyer passes on a recommended item, the platform asks for a reason and tracks the effect on cost of goods sold. SureCost calls confidence scores a tool for calibrated decisions, not a guarantee.

The open piece is automation. Connected to Inventory Manager, rising shortage risk adjusts par levels automatically, and par levels drive automated cycle orders, with no approval step or limit described for that chain. Marketing for the module promises buyers will know exactly how long each shortage will last.

The approach and its data sources are named; the model type, versions and update cadence are not. SureCost describes its shortage prediction model as trained continuously for more than a year on procurement activity, vendor signals and shortage outcomes from more than 1,600 pharmacy customers. Inputs named for live predictions are National Shortage Data, wholesaler feeds and fulfillment rates, vendor availability trends and partner network data, refreshed daily.

Outputs are a critical, warning or stable rating per NDC, a duration forecast, a confidence score defined as the model's certainty that a disruption will deepen or persist, and a flag when a stable NDC sits in a product group under stress. Users can view the trend data behind each prediction. Inventory forecasting from usage history is described in general terms only.

The forecasting model is SureCost's own, trained on its customer network, which keeps the model layer short; the hosting layer is unnamed. SureCost describes the shortage prediction model as built through more than a year of training on its own customers' procurement data and names no outside model provider. The service terms permit aggregate use of subscriber data without subscriber identifiers, and that pooled data is what trains the model.

The privacy policy lists only categories of service providers that may receive information, including cloud computing, data storage, data analytics and product engineering services, and says nothing is shared with unaffiliated third parties. No subprocessor list, cloud host or region is named, and the wholesaler, shortage and partner vendor feeds arrive under arrangements that are not described.

Named customers carry savings and time figures with no dates or denominators, and the shortage model has no measured result. Harrison Memorial Hospital, an independent Kentucky hospital, reports $232,000 saved in five months and daily ordering cut from nearly two hours to five to ten minutes. HAC Pharmacies reports about $200,000 a month saved over four months, iCareRx four to four and a half staff hours a day across two locations, and Smith Pharmacy more than $200,000 a year.

Platform figures add 2 to 5 percent savings on cost of goods sold, which the company bases on retail customer averages, plus $400 million or more in total savings, 6 to 30 times return on investment and a 10 to 20 percent cut in inventory costs. For Drug Shortage Insights, the company says detection often comes up to two months before FDA acknowledges a shortage, with no backtest, hit rate or false alarm rate behind the claim.

A categorical rule governs pooled use of customer data, without a retention schedule behind it. The service terms let SureCost use subscriber data in aggregate only without reference to the subscriber's demographics, vendors, purchasing organizations, account or specific pricing, and bar disclosure of a customer's data in detail outside the company. The shortage model is trained on that kind of pooled procurement activity across more than 1,600 pharmacies.

Retention is stated only for compliance records and personal information. DSCSA data is kept for six years if the customer asks within 90 days of termination and may otherwise be removed, and personal information is kept as long as legal obligations require. Nothing addresses safety engineering for the model, such as how a bad forecast is caught or how a safety event is handled, and nothing addresses patient data.

A privacy policy reaches the software, and no HIPAA or business associate position is taken. The policy covers the website, the mobile app and related products and services, and describes SureCost as a processor acting only on the customer's instructions for information users submit, unless a data processing agreement sets other terms. The service terms keep customer data, prices and other information the customer's exclusive property.

Neither document mentions protected health information. Whether the platform handles it is left open: most of what it processes is purchasing, contract and inventory data, but integration with pharmacy management systems, ordering from dispensing trends and patient level demand forecasting for long term care point toward patient linked records in some deployments. No business associate agreement is offered or described.

SOC 2 is named without a report type, date or route to the report. SureCost calls its SOC 2 protection verified and Inventory Manager SOC 2 certified with enterprise level security, and there is no trust center, security page or attestation letter to open. No HITRUST or ISO 27001 claim is made.

The privacy policy describes reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards, and notice to affected individuals after a breach where harm is likely or the law requires it. The service terms condition the warranty on the customer following the security procedures in the product documentation. For a platform holding contract pricing, rebate terms and purchase history across more than 1,600 pharmacies, the scope and period of the SOC 2 examination are the missing pieces.

No device claim is made, and the product is scoped as purchasing and inventory software. The regime it works inside is the federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act, which FDA enforces: the DSCSA packs retrieve EPCIS transaction data from compliant vendors, capture 2D barcode data at receiving and on transfers, quarantine noncompliant items and keep six years of records.

The service terms place DSCSA obligations on the pharmacy, with the customer releasing SureCost from liability for them. Drug reference content from First DataBank inside the software carries its own disclaimer that the information is advisory and does not replace clinical judgment. Shortage alternatives are equivalent NDCs within a product group, chosen by the pharmacy team rather than applied by the system.

Nothing describes how the shortage model is tested or monitored. No backtest, calibration result, false alarm rate or missed shortage rate is offered, and performance is not broken out by drug class, manufacturer concentration, supplier type or pharmacy setting, the places a model trained on pooled network data could perform unevenly.

The one performance claim, detection up to two months before FDA acknowledges a shortage, measures lead time in one direction and says nothing about warnings that never became shortages. SureCost does say confidence scores are not a guarantee and shows users the historical trend behind each prediction, which helps a buyer judge one forecast at a time without showing how the model performs overall. No governance framework, review process or responsible AI policy covers the model.

Users can trace each forecast to its trend data and override a recommendation with a recorded reason, and nothing contractual stands behind the forecast itself. SureCost describes confidence scores as not a guarantee.

The service terms warrant only that the software performs as its documentation or demonstration indicates, exclude responsibility for incorrect data from third party sources, and promise to attempt to correct other incorrect data at SureCost's own cost. Liability is capped at fees paid in the prior 12 months and excludes consequential losses and lost profits. The company indemnifies the customer for patent or copyright claims and for its own gross negligence or willful misconduct. Outages get a 48 or 72 hour remedy window, a commitment tied to uptime rather than to output.

Integration runs mostly to trading partners rather than record systems, and no system is named. SureCost cites more than 350 prebuilt connections to wholesalers, including the three national distributors, GPOs, specialty and regional distributors, manufacturers and secondary market sources, and lists pharmacy management systems, accounts payable, ERP and EHRs among its integrations.

The service terms describe pharmacy management system integration for pricing and on hand updates, and Inventory Manager sends receiving acknowledgments back to the pharmacy system, which makes that link two way. The DSCSA packs pull EPCIS v1.2 or later transaction data from compliant vendors. The full vendor list sits behind a request form, and no pharmacy management system, EHR or ERP is named, so a buyer cannot confirm its own systems before contact.

A single hosted service runs in a browser with mobile apps for iOS and Android, and the residency commitment covers personal information only. The service terms say nothing beyond an internet connection and a browser is needed, and set 99 percent annual uptime with ordering responses averaging three seconds or less. The privacy policy, which reaches the software, commits to processing and storing personal information within the user's country of residence.

Pharmacy purchasing, pricing and contract data carries no stated location, hosting provider, region or tenancy model, and the policy names only categories of service providers such as cloud computing and data storage. Where the shortage model runs and whether customer data is separated by tenant are not stated.

Add on prices and the unit of charge are stated, while the core platform and the shortage module are priced by quote. The DSCSA compliance packs run $29 per pharmacy per month for receiving or for transfers, or $49 for both.

The service terms set a monthly subscription per pharmacy that includes unlimited secondary vendors, reporting, external invoice capture, pharmacy management system integration for pricing and on hand counts, and unlimited mobile device licenses, with invoices due in 30 days and a 1.5 percent monthly late fee. Compliance Insights comes with Purchase Manager at no extra cost, Inventory Manager is an add on module, and Drug Shortage Insights can be bought alone. Scanners and other hardware are extra, and any fee a trading partner charges to connect passes to the pharmacy. Buying starts with a demo request.

Coverage is named across pharmacy settings, with customer stories behind purchasing and inventory and none yet behind shortage forecasting. SureCost sells to retail, long term care, specialty and health system pharmacies, inpatient and ambulatory, and tailors features to each: 340B, WAC and GPO accounts in one view for health systems, patient level demand forecasting and cycle fill for long term care, and daily margin dashboards for retail.

Case studies cover a health system (Harrison Memorial Hospital), long term care operators (PharMerica, Guardian Pharmacy Services, SpecialtyRx) and retail pharmacies (HAC Pharmacies, iCareRx, Smith Pharmacy, The Prescription Center). Drug Shortage Insights is offered to all three settings with no named deployment so far. The product carries no clinical scope; therapeutic alternatives are surfaced for the pharmacy team to choose among.