Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / Insights Backed by Real Data | SureCast LIVE Part Two

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Insights Backed by Real Data | SureCast LIVE Part Two · Pharmacy Podcast Network

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Speaker 1: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
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Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy podcast Network.
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Speaker 2: Welcome back to shrecast and now here's part two of
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Speaker 2: our broadcast.
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Speaker 3: Bobby, great to see you here at the Sure Cost
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Speaker 3: Insights twenty twenty five. How you doing.
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Speaker 4: I'm great. How are you so happy to be here?
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Speaker 3: Doing really good? In Blue Packs was a diamond sponsor,
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Speaker 3: so we just wanted to thank you for helping to
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Speaker 3: make this the first of their conferences. That it's happening.
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Speaker 3: I think it's going really well. And you kind of
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Speaker 3: told me a story that when you found out about it,
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Speaker 3: you guys were like, that's it, We're in. What was
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Speaker 3: it about the partnership with sure Costs that drew you
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Speaker 3: to this conference.
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Speaker 4: Yeah. So since we've been established fourteen years ago, we've
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Speaker 4: been collaborating with SHRE Costs because we were founded with
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Speaker 4: a kind of a sole focus at the time of
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Speaker 4: servicing long term care pharmacies, and Sure Costs was just
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Speaker 4: a natural partner for that, just because of how much
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Speaker 4: they were serving the market and how they were bringing
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Speaker 4: value to the procurement side for long term care pharmacies.
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Speaker 4: So we've been partner with them all these years, and
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Speaker 4: they've always been so great to work with and really
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Speaker 4: just helping us even as a young company slowly become
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Speaker 4: more established, and now that we've grown quite a bit
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Speaker 4: from where we started. When they came to us and said, hey,
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Speaker 4: we're running our first ever years A conference, we just said,
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Speaker 4: where do we sign?
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Speaker 1: We're ready to go.
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Speaker 3: That's awesome. Yeah, all right, So Paul Shelton introduced me
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Speaker 3: to you, really excited to have an opportunity to talk
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Speaker 3: with you because you have a special interest in the
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Speaker 3: vaccine side of healthcare, and Paul and I constantly talk
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Speaker 3: about long term care pharmacy at home. So talk to
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Speaker 3: me about the blending of all of those pieces of
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Speaker 3: the puzzle and how Blue Packs is helping our pharmacies
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Speaker 3: get into the home when it comes to vaccines.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 4: So we actually were one of the first auxiliary distributors
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Speaker 4: that partnered up with Maderna when they came out with
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Speaker 4: their COVID vaccines. So we've been working with them really
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Speaker 4: from the first year that they went out to the market,
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Speaker 4: and we slowly grew that now to Pfeiser as well,
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Speaker 4: and as an authorized distributor. You know, we can work
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Speaker 4: with any pharmacy in the country, helping them service their
2:45
Speaker 4: you know, GPO direct pricing. But I specifically linked up
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Speaker 4: with Paul. I think it was around six seven months
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Speaker 4: ago when I finally learned about long term Care at
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Speaker 4: Home Network and the amazing work they were doing. And
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Speaker 4: I never even really underunderstood that the market that they're
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Speaker 4: addressing long term care at home is so much wider
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Speaker 4: and vaster than you know, the traditional you know, nursing
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Speaker 4: home settings. And so as we were talking and as
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Speaker 4: I was presenting him with some of like our value
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Speaker 4: proposition around seasonal vaccines, they just seemed to be like
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Speaker 4: this natural link because we were trying to be you know,
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Speaker 4: super flexible and help pharmacies with their specific operational needs,
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Speaker 4: whatever they may be. And so as we were slowly
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Speaker 4: learning about you know, the need for these pharmacies to
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Speaker 4: also have immunization programs at home and the flexibility they
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Speaker 4: needed around that, it just seemed like a great fit
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Speaker 4: because that's how we like to operate and really customize
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Speaker 4: our approach to each different pharmacy partner.
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Speaker 3: What do you see as a challenge for long term
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Speaker 3: care pharmacy or even community pharmacy getting deeper into long
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Speaker 3: from care at home. What stories have you heard that
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Speaker 3: you see challenges to do it?
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Speaker 4: I think the biggest challenge right now is probably education.
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Speaker 4: From what I'm seeing, there's not enough kind of awareness
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Speaker 4: at the community pharmacy level that there's actually so much
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Speaker 4: more of a market that they can address besides like
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Speaker 4: their walk in market, if you will. So I think
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Speaker 4: long Term Care at Home is working, I think right
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Speaker 4: now with close to one thousand pharmacies, but there's tens
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Speaker 4: of thousands of more out there that could be servicing
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Speaker 4: this growing population right this like aging population that not
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Speaker 4: all of them again are going into institutional long term
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Speaker 4: care settings, And so I think a lot of pharmacies
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Speaker 4: are just not aware of their ability to branch out
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Speaker 4: beyond beyond their walls and service like their local community
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Speaker 4: in a way that also makes sense for them as
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Speaker 4: a pharmacy and for their own growth. So I think
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Speaker 4: long Term Care at Home Network is doing a great
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Speaker 4: job in terms of promoting that initiative. I think though
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Speaker 4: it's very early on in its sort of initiative and
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Speaker 4: needs a lot more to catch on in order to
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Speaker 4: get more pharmacies involved. And I think being a combo
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Speaker 4: pharmacy kind of dabbling more in long term care can
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Speaker 4: really help these independent pharmacy viability and their sustainability because
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Speaker 4: you know a lot of them are struggling economically.
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Speaker 3: Share with our listeners who didn't get a chance to
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Speaker 3: come to the sure Cost event the portfolio of Blue
5:33
Speaker 3: Packs Blue Packs Pharma.
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Speaker 4: Yes, so beyond the vaccines that were excited to work
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Speaker 4: within that space, we do have over five thousand skews
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Speaker 4: all dosage forms and therapeutic categories including C three's through fives,
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Speaker 4: So that's like a relatively new program for us. We
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Speaker 4: do operate in every state or DA licensed, obviously NABP accredited,
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Speaker 4: and again as an auxili I like to call us
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Speaker 4: an auxiliary distributor because we really thrive on partnerships with
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Speaker 4: the pharmacy and we're not trying to pitch like the
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Speaker 4: flavor of the moment or some kind of a special
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Speaker 4: deal every time, Like we really try to better understand
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Speaker 4: every pharmacy's needs both operationally and NDC wise and meet
6:22
Speaker 4: them where they're at. So we're kind of taking that
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Speaker 4: approach to how we're doing our business and it's I
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Speaker 4: think it's worked pretty well so far.
6:30
Speaker 3: Have you had any hot chicken or bourbon since you've
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Speaker 3: been here in Nashville.
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Speaker 4: No, I haven't. I only got here yesterday, so I
6:38
Speaker 4: haven't had a chance to go out yet because I've
6:40
Speaker 4: been so busy, and I think that's been one of
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Speaker 4: the great things about the show. We've met so many
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Speaker 4: of our active customers. We've met so many that we
6:50
Speaker 4: don't currently work with, so we've been super busy, so
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Speaker 4: that's been actually nice. But I do hope tonight to
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Speaker 4: go and find a proper chicken sandwich somewhere.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely, the auve. This is so good to talk to
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Speaker 3: you and meet you. Shout out to Paul Shelton for
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Speaker 3: putting us together and thanks for being the show.
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Speaker 4: Absolutely thank you.
7:13
Speaker 3: Hi.
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Speaker 1: This is Brittany Young, sales director, independent pharmacy distributor, and
7:17
Speaker 1: you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.
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Speaker 3: Brittany, we are here in Nashville at the Shortcost Insight
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Speaker 3: twenty twenty five event. It's so good to see you.
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Speaker 1: Good to see you.
7:29
Speaker 3: As I said as I walked past your booth, I
7:31
Speaker 3: can't remember where I meet people, and I think it
7:34
Speaker 3: was where was it was at NCPA, So it.
7:38
Speaker 1: Might have been Independent Pharmacy Distributor NCPA, but not me specifically.
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Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, And I was like, there's so many conferences,
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Speaker 3: so I think this is my fourteenth conference in twenty
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Speaker 3: twenty five, and I keep promising my wife I'll do
7:51
Speaker 3: maximum of eight. So I'm a little past that number,
7:56
Speaker 3: a little fib all right, tell me about independent pharmacy
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Speaker 3: just ditributor and why you guys took the time to
8:02
Speaker 3: come to Nashville to be here at Shircoss.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely so independent pharmacy distributor most of us. Everyone knows
8:08
Speaker 1: us as IPD. We are a independent owned secondary wholesaler.
8:14
Speaker 1: We carry a full line of control C two through
8:17
Speaker 1: C five, OTC's DME, Generics. We're moving into the brand
8:21
Speaker 1: space as well. I think what makes IPD different than
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Speaker 1: a lot of the other wholesalers is that we are
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Speaker 1: independently owned. We have several pharmacies in North Carolina as well,
8:32
Speaker 1: and we have built IPD from the ground up. When
8:36
Speaker 1: I started there nine years ago, we had three hundred
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Speaker 1: drugs and now we have more than six thousand skews.
8:42
Speaker 1: So it's awesome, and we have found a way to
8:45
Speaker 1: work with independence in a special way. And Shircoss was
8:50
Speaker 1: actually the first ordering platform that we have ever worked with,
8:53
Speaker 1: and they are the only ordering platform form that IPD
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Speaker 1: works with. So it's crazy that we're here. That's first show.
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Speaker 1: We're excited. We've met a lot of awesome people. But yeah,
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Speaker 1: I think that is what makes IPD a little different
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Speaker 1: than the other secondaries out there.
9:06
Speaker 3: So tell me about the sectors of pharmacy. So obviously
9:10
Speaker 3: independent community pharmacy, that's like the bread and butter, that's
9:13
Speaker 3: probably like the core. Are you getting into long term care?
9:16
Speaker 3: Are you getting into compounding?
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Speaker 4: Like?
9:17
Speaker 3: Talk to us about the other sectors for sure.
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Speaker 1: So we do service several long term care facilities. We
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Speaker 1: also deal with compounding pharmacies. Not bolt compounding, but we
9:29
Speaker 1: do a lot of Injectable's testofs around being a huge
9:32
Speaker 1: one that we service. Compounding pharmacies with long term care
9:36
Speaker 1: is definitely a sweet spot for us because we do
9:39
Speaker 1: carry that full line of controls and those are obviously
9:42
Speaker 1: needed for those long term care facilities. So yes, absolutely,
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Speaker 1: that is something that we have grown into over the
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Speaker 1: last two years, especially and.
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Speaker 3: As a secondary wholesaler. Are you do you have clients
9:54
Speaker 3: in all fifty states or are you segment into a
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Speaker 3: specific sector.
9:58
Speaker 1: So we service all fifty states, license in all fifty states.
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Speaker 3: Yes, So what's your opinion of the state of independent
10:05
Speaker 3: community pharmacy. What do you think has to be done
10:09
Speaker 3: in order for us to really see the slowing down
10:13
Speaker 3: of pharmacy deserts. So we have to see pharmacies thriving
10:18
Speaker 3: to keep health care services in communities that desperately need
10:21
Speaker 3: their pharmacies. Some of their communities are losing pharmacies left
10:25
Speaker 3: and right. So what do you think has to happen
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Speaker 3: for us to thrive in different communities that are suffering.
10:30
Speaker 1: I think, honestly, independent pharmacies have to come together. For one,
10:34
Speaker 1: I think that margins are extremely, extremely tight, and we
10:40
Speaker 1: have to find a way to fight against that. I
10:42
Speaker 1: think that reimbursements are non existent for a lot of things,
10:46
Speaker 1: and I think that is a big part of the
10:48
Speaker 1: reason why IPD does so well with some of our
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Speaker 1: independent pharmacies long term care, whatever it may be, is
10:53
Speaker 1: because if we can do the price and it's not
10:56
Speaker 1: below our calls, we're going to do it all day.
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Speaker 1: And so I really do think that is everything right now.
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Speaker 1: Every penny matters, and that's what's really important to most
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Speaker 1: of the pharmacies out here.
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Speaker 3: Are you feeding data to pharmacy management systems and then
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Speaker 3: tagging the same data into the sure cost system? But
11:14
Speaker 3: how are you working with those three components? We have
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Speaker 3: the secondary whole so that you we have the pharmacy,
11:21
Speaker 3: we have sure Costs, we have the pharmacy management system.
11:23
Speaker 3: How are you guys tying into that?
11:26
Speaker 1: So, honestly speaking, we push our entire catalog into our
11:33
Speaker 1: EDS system, Shortcolls being the only you know platform that
11:35
Speaker 1: we work with outside of direct ADI. But sure Coost
11:40
Speaker 1: kind of does that work for us? I would say, yeah,
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Speaker 1: they do it, you know, for us for the pharmacies.
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Speaker 3: Very good. That's why I was asking the question because
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Speaker 3: sure Coost does that for other secondaries as well, skipping
11:53
Speaker 3: having to do it manually by the you know, pharmacy
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Speaker 3: owner or whatever that they're doing. Absolutely, so, where do
11:59
Speaker 3: you the future of pharmacy going? Do you see more
12:06
Speaker 3: hands on treatment management? Do you see people do you
12:10
Speaker 3: see them making more cash money on things that aren't
12:14
Speaker 3: necessarily tied to a PBM. Do you see any opportunities
12:18
Speaker 3: for independent community pharmacy.
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Speaker 1: I think both of the things that you just mentioned
12:23
Speaker 1: are very smart and good opportunities that I think a
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Speaker 1: lot of independent pharmacies are already moving towards absolutely, especially
12:32
Speaker 1: when it comes to cash. You know patients that are
12:36
Speaker 1: staying away from the PBMs on specific medications. Obviously it's
12:42
Speaker 1: the only way to stay afloat for a lot of pharmacies,
12:44
Speaker 1: especially smaller volume.
12:45
Speaker 3: Soares right now, All right, what's your next conference that
12:49
Speaker 3: you'll be at in twenty twenty six?
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Speaker 1: So we have a lot coming up. We are actually
12:53
Speaker 1: doing a lot of smaller state show conferences. We've never
12:57
Speaker 1: done that before, so we're excited. So we will be
12:59
Speaker 1: in Colorado at the Colorado Pharmacists Association in Beaver Creek.
13:03
Speaker 1: We'll be there. We're doing Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association in Pennsylvania.
13:08
Speaker 1: We're also going to be at the Pharmacy Profit Summit
13:12
Speaker 1: in Dallas. We'll be there. So we have a lot
13:14
Speaker 1: coming up.
13:15
Speaker 3: We'll be at the Profit Summit as well. Lisa Fast
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Speaker 3: does an amazing job, and we love getting together with
13:21
Speaker 3: people who are creative that want to want to build
13:23
Speaker 3: new ways of running business.
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Speaker 1: That's our This will be our first year there, so
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Speaker 1: we're excited to go.
13:28
Speaker 3: Oh, you're gonna love it. Yes, we're excited, all right, Brittany,
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Speaker 3: thanks you so much for being on the show.
13:32
Speaker 1: Thank you, I appreciate it.
13:39
Speaker 5: Hey guys, this is Basher Abode with the Novo and
13:41
Speaker 5: you are listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.
13:47
Speaker 3: This year we are here at the Sure Cost twenty
13:50
Speaker 3: twenty five Insights event. It's so good to see you.
13:53
Speaker 5: Happy to be here. Thanks Todd.
13:55
Speaker 3: Hey, you and I were talking at your booth and
13:59
Speaker 3: you said something that really piqued my interest about cold
14:02
Speaker 3: chain and about storage and temperature control. Talk to our
14:05
Speaker 3: listeners about the opportunity they have to partner with you
14:10
Speaker 3: for a very specific sector of business.
14:13
Speaker 5: Sure So, I mean, I think we're all well aware
14:15
Speaker 5: in the pharmacy world about the the influx and the
14:18
Speaker 5: growth of the GLP one market. You know, we've seen
14:22
Speaker 5: pharmacies go from you know, filling you know, three hundred
14:27
Speaker 5: prescriptions a week to doing over thirty thousand a week
14:29
Speaker 5: in the span of just a couple of months. So
14:31
Speaker 5: really having your cold chain solidified couldn't be more important.
14:37
Speaker 3: And is it more than GLP one? Is there are
14:41
Speaker 3: there other prescriptions that you see coming from the physicians
14:44
Speaker 3: that the pharmacies are are caring for where the Denovo
14:50
Speaker 3: technology plays in.
14:52
Speaker 5: I mean anything that would require you know, two to
14:54
Speaker 5: day degrees celsius. The most part, I think, just in
14:56
Speaker 5: my role, just with my experience and how esthetics sports
15:00
Speaker 5: and strength sports, We've put testosterone on GP ones like
15:04
Speaker 5: become a little bit of a subject matter expert at
15:06
Speaker 5: our company. So I'm able to walk into the pharmacies
15:08
Speaker 5: and really talk the talk, and I know the business
15:09
Speaker 5: from both sides of the counter.
15:11
Speaker 3: So talk to me about the company's background and how
15:13
Speaker 3: you got into pharmacy in the shirst place.
15:16
Speaker 5: Well, Denebo was founded fourteen years ago by my little brother.
15:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:21
Speaker 5: So we had an uncle several years ago who had
15:24
Speaker 5: a five oh three b compounding essentially you know, cassettes
15:28
Speaker 5: for hospitals, fenceonolam hydromorphone morphine. I was a tech at
15:31
Speaker 5: one point. As a matter of fact, he sold I
15:34
Speaker 5: think over over fifteen sixteen years ago and his really
15:39
Speaker 5: his his investment is portant to his family. So we
15:41
Speaker 5: were able to start a company fourteen years ago and
15:43
Speaker 5: just this year in January, I've been selling commercial fitness
15:47
Speaker 5: equipment again, have known the industry for years. My brother
15:50
Speaker 5: said come on down. I was in LA at the time,
15:52
Speaker 5: said come to Houston. I got a job for you.
15:53
Speaker 5: And here I am.
15:54
Speaker 3: Holy cow. That is so that's a special story. Be
15:56
Speaker 3: able to work with your brother, that's it's incredible. It's incredible.
15:59
Speaker 3: All right, So talk to us about the whole portfolio
16:02
Speaker 3: of what you're doing for pharmacy.
16:03
Speaker 5: So essentially, I mean we can if you have a
16:06
Speaker 5: clean room, a lab, wet lab, if you were even
16:09
Speaker 5: you know, in the cannabis space for the most I mean,
16:12
Speaker 5: if anything you could possibly need, with the exception of
16:16
Speaker 5: the active ingredients, we can provide. So if it's tachi mats,
16:21
Speaker 5: if it's vials, which of course are flying off the
16:23
Speaker 5: shelves right now. If it's cold chain, we've discussed that,
16:26
Speaker 5: if it's environmental monitoring, PPE, you name it. So we
16:29
Speaker 5: really like to consider ourselves a one stop shop for everything.
16:32
Speaker 5: People can consolidate vendors, you have one person to deal with.
16:35
Speaker 5: Makes it a lot easier for our pharmacy partners.
16:37
Speaker 3: All right, So I'm listening. I'm a pharmacy operator owner.
16:41
Speaker 3: Is there a sweet spot that you work in? If
16:44
Speaker 3: it's independent, is if it's long term care, is it
16:47
Speaker 3: combo shops like who are you gravitating.
16:50
Speaker 5: Towards specialty, home infusion and compounding primarily? Are really there
16:55
Speaker 5: are sort of three huge buckets. Are huge verticals in
16:57
Speaker 5: the pharmacy space. I would say long term care. I
17:00
Speaker 5: don't see why we wouldn't be super helpful with that. Obviously,
17:02
Speaker 5: retail we're a little limited on what we could provide
17:04
Speaker 5: outside of some pharmacy bags. But across the board, like
17:07
Speaker 5: I said, compounding, specialty, home infusion are really are are strongholds.
17:13
Speaker 3: Home infusion interests me because I think that is an
17:15
Speaker 3: opportunity for certain independent community pharmacies that want to get
17:19
Speaker 3: into that is do you see that as a separate
17:22
Speaker 3: business unit or do you see it mixed into a
17:25
Speaker 3: community farm?
17:26
Speaker 5: And I think it's it could absolutely be mixed into
17:28
Speaker 5: community pharmacy.
17:28
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
17:29
Speaker 5: I mean it's another it's another revenue stream. Why why
17:32
Speaker 5: wouldn't you you're helping people in their homes instead of
17:35
Speaker 5: having to come to your retail spot. I think it's
17:37
Speaker 5: a it's a brilliant idea to kind of just include
17:39
Speaker 5: it in your in your portfolio.
17:40
Speaker 3: And you guys are supplying all of that supplies to actually.
17:44
Speaker 5: Get everything everything from a to zy.
17:46
Speaker 3: It's incredible. It's been fun, all right. How does a
17:49
Speaker 3: listener reach out to what's the best place to get
17:52
Speaker 3: a hold of you?
17:53
Speaker 5: But sheer at denovomed dot com. Now my name is
17:55
Speaker 5: very complicated. Uh so I think Bash it's my nickname.
17:59
Speaker 5: And then and ir at denovomed dot com.
18:02
Speaker 3: Denovomed spell that for the listeners.
18:04
Speaker 1: D I N O V O m ed dot com
18:08
Speaker 1: dot com.
18:08
Speaker 3: You got it, very good. Thank you so much, Bash
18:11
Speaker 3: for being on the show.
18:11
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me man.
18:12
Speaker 5: I appreciate it. That's fun.
18:19
Speaker 2: Hi, this is Jason Dana Coosta from Horizon Pharmacy and
18:23
Speaker 2: you are listening to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
18:29
Speaker 3: Hey Jason, great to hear your voice here on the
18:33
Speaker 3: shirt Cost Insights twenty twenty five. How are you.
18:37
Speaker 2: I'm doing really well. How about yourself?
18:39
Speaker 3: I'm doing great, all right. So talk to me right
18:43
Speaker 3: out of the gate. Talk to us about your pharmacy.
18:45
Speaker 3: Describe to us the setting, what you focus on, and
18:50
Speaker 3: what your plans are for twenty twenty six.
18:53
Speaker 2: Excellent. We're a pretty unique pharmacy. Our business model is
18:57
Speaker 2: a little different. We're a social enterprise that is owned
19:00
Speaker 2: by three community mental health centers in Rhode Island, and
19:04
Speaker 2: the majority of business that we do is with the
19:07
Speaker 2: community behavioral health center. So we do a lot of
19:09
Speaker 2: substance use, a lot of behavioral health services. It's probably
19:13
Speaker 2: about seventy five to eighty percent of our client base.
19:16
Speaker 2: But what's unique about us because we are a social enterprise.
19:20
Speaker 2: When all our work is done in addition to making
19:22
Speaker 2: sure the right medication as the right dose at the
19:24
Speaker 2: right time for those people using a packaged medication system,
19:27
Speaker 2: when all of our work is done, all the profits
19:29
Speaker 2: go back into the community. So our motto is your community,
19:33
Speaker 2: our pharmacy. So it really helps about one thousand people
19:38
Speaker 2: a year get free or subsidized behavioral health and substance
19:41
Speaker 2: juice care.
19:42
Speaker 3: That's incredible. So I was in the substance Abuse Opioid
19:47
Speaker 3: Use Disorder realm for about four years. We had eighty
19:51
Speaker 3: five centers throughout the country all medication assistant treatment and
19:55
Speaker 3: when I came in, it was my job to marry
19:58
Speaker 3: our services with outpatient situations or emergency room situations. And
20:04
Speaker 3: what we found was is when we started getting a
20:07
Speaker 3: pharmacist involved with their therapy and started being a little
20:11
Speaker 3: bit more holistic and more three sixty degree care. We
20:15
Speaker 3: were talking about diabetes or hypertension or something else that
20:19
Speaker 3: was part of the total treatment. The outcome was better,
20:22
Speaker 3: the attitudes were better. People felt that they weren't being
20:25
Speaker 3: judged because they were being talked with by a provider
20:29
Speaker 3: that was focused on everything instead of just honing in
20:32
Speaker 3: on their addiction that they had. And I really learned
20:36
Speaker 3: a lot from that position, and that's why I wanted
20:38
Speaker 3: to talk with you. I want to know behavioral health
20:41
Speaker 3: and pharmacists. There's always been a firewall. By my experience,
20:46
Speaker 3: been in healthcare now for about twenty years, and there's
20:48
Speaker 3: not enough pharmacists in behavioral health specifically, and I think
20:52
Speaker 3: with psychotropics and the sensitivity of titration from one med
20:56
Speaker 3: to another, I think there's such a huge opportunity in itsolutely.
21:01
Speaker 2: I mean fundamentally, we were births from four community mental
21:05
Speaker 2: health centers, now three because a couple of them has merged.
21:08
Speaker 2: So our work has always been very, very focused in
21:11
Speaker 2: connecting the pharmacists as part of the care team that
21:15
Speaker 2: is at each one of my owners, but we're trying
21:17
Speaker 2: to take that even further. So for example, you're asking
21:20
Speaker 2: earlier about what's happening for twenty twenty five and twenty
21:23
Speaker 2: twenty six. I was very pleased to join the organization
21:28
Speaker 2: about three years ago, and one thing we put in
21:30
Speaker 2: place this past year was twofold. We're training all of
21:33
Speaker 2: the techs that are in our team with mental health
21:36
Speaker 2: first aid training both adult and children. So we require
21:39
Speaker 2: the adult children they often volunteer to do so they
21:42
Speaker 2: know the experience that's happening right at the front line
21:45
Speaker 2: for those clients and what's happening for the nurses and
21:48
Speaker 2: caregivers there. And then we're also encouraging all of our
21:52
Speaker 2: pharmacists we have seven to actually become board certified specifically
21:57
Speaker 2: in behavioral health services. So we're going to underwrite both
22:00
Speaker 2: their training materials and the actual cost of the test
22:04
Speaker 2: so that they have that additional skill to help our
22:07
Speaker 2: facilities with that which they don't have to. Of course,
22:10
Speaker 2: they can take diabetes if they're interested, or some other comorbidity.
22:15
Speaker 2: My goal is to give more education opportunity to our
22:18
Speaker 2: pharmacists so they can lean in and really help those people.
22:21
Speaker 2: And interestingly enough, you mentioned MAT as a program. Recently,
22:25
Speaker 2: Rhode Island has become a CCBHC state. What that means
22:29
Speaker 2: is a certified Community Behavioral Health Center, which is a
22:33
Speaker 2: certain set of programs nine specific services that have to
22:37
Speaker 2: be provided. Among them is MAAT. So now all of
22:40
Speaker 2: them have to provide at the outpatient mat services, which
22:46
Speaker 2: is helping us integrate as a pharmacy with them, because
22:49
Speaker 2: of course there's going to be a short script there
22:51
Speaker 2: somebody that's just needed. Here's your initial one or two
22:54
Speaker 2: to help you with your alcohol treatment. Here's the rest
22:56
Speaker 2: of your script, and then here's to a program that
22:59
Speaker 2: can help you provide services around that. And then when
23:02
Speaker 2: I identified that CCBHC was rolling out in the state of
23:07
Speaker 2: here in Rhode Island, we made a very concerted effort
23:10
Speaker 2: to engage many of the substance shoes providers, those places
23:13
Speaker 2: that are typically going to get referenced from the CCBCHC
23:16
Speaker 2: that twenty one or twenty eight day facility that'll help
23:19
Speaker 2: them detox. And what we found is oftentimes no surprise.
23:24
Speaker 2: I'm sure if you've done this work that sometimes the
23:27
Speaker 2: first time going into the program doesn't work. It sometimes
23:30
Speaker 2: takes two or three to do that. But if we,
23:33
Speaker 2: as the Horizon Pharmacy, are engaged with all of these
23:36
Speaker 2: different substance shoes providers. We have their history, so they
23:41
Speaker 2: may join Zenia as one of them that's there, or
23:44
Speaker 2: the ASU two months later, or another one that we
23:48
Speaker 2: have ad care. Either way, we already have their record,
23:52
Speaker 2: so we're able to actually help the facilities coordinate these
23:55
Speaker 2: individuals to get them well. So it is super super
23:59
Speaker 2: important Horizon and Pharmacy to be deeply integrated with all
24:02
Speaker 2: of the service providers and the behavior all and Substance
24:05
Speaker 2: Use area and Rhode Islands. That's where we serve because
24:08
Speaker 2: we know we have that back end knowledge about the client.
24:12
Speaker 2: Really specifically, that helps the caregivers at that point of
24:15
Speaker 2: contact where they're now engaging maybe the second and third
24:19
Speaker 2: time to become well. And I believe strongly that that
24:23
Speaker 2: actually helps the success rate for people to get to recovery.
24:28
Speaker 3: That's a really good example of how pharmacists can be
24:32
Speaker 3: part of those care teams and Aly, you seem to
24:35
Speaker 3: be leading with pharmacists in some ways, which I think
24:38
Speaker 3: is tremendous. I want to talk to you about shirt
24:41
Speaker 3: costs specifically, how is your organization leveraging the data analytics
24:46
Speaker 3: extraction technology to get more out of not only your
24:50
Speaker 3: data but being a little bit more efficient in your operations.
24:57
Speaker 2: Short costs has been a tremendous god Send I think
25:01
Speaker 2: is a very fair statement at this particular point, you know,
25:03
Speaker 2: because we are a social enterprise and ultimately owned by nonprofits.
25:09
Speaker 2: To say that we're really thrifty and not that all
25:12
Speaker 2: pharmacies aren't really thrifty. It's very tight margin. We've been
25:15
Speaker 2: hearing conversations about this at the conference all day today,
25:18
Speaker 2: about managing your ingredient costs or your cost.
25:22
Speaker 5: Of good sold.
25:23
Speaker 2: But there's an added thing in Horizon Pharmacy because every
25:25
Speaker 2: time we give up one of those dollars, it's actually
25:28
Speaker 2: one person less who can get for your subsidized care.
25:32
Speaker 2: So it's made our culture much much more sensitive about it.
25:36
Speaker 2: And then to come across something like sure cost that
25:39
Speaker 2: is able to bring in various secondaries and have the
25:43
Speaker 2: knowledge around your initial PBA so that you're able to
25:48
Speaker 2: manage it and then maximize your profitability, you know before
25:52
Speaker 2: your other operating costs. Of course, has not been a
25:56
Speaker 2: small feat. I mean we're just about a year using
25:59
Speaker 2: the product now. We started October first, but really started
26:03
Speaker 2: humming with it, I would say in February, and just
26:06
Speaker 2: to give you a small example. Our pharmacy shelves about
26:09
Speaker 2: eighteen hundred or so generics, which is where the PVAs
26:13
Speaker 2: make the most of their money. But also as most
26:15
Speaker 2: of our business we've probably shrunk it. I have solid
26:19
Speaker 2: twenty five to thirty percent. That will free up a
26:22
Speaker 2: lot of dollars that now can be reutilized to make
26:26
Speaker 2: our pharmacy more efficient because there's lots of new technology
26:29
Speaker 2: in various ways we're doing that, but also frees up
26:31
Speaker 2: the opportunity to make distributions to our three mental health
26:34
Speaker 2: service provider owners. That literally impacts somebody who's going to
26:39
Speaker 2: get direct care that otherwise would not, so I couldn't
26:43
Speaker 2: do this without sure costs. It's definitely made our operation
26:46
Speaker 2: more efficient and sincerely has made me more encouraged to
26:50
Speaker 2: expand our operation because I know, with things like the
26:53
Speaker 2: IRA forthcoming and all those various changes that way above
26:57
Speaker 2: my pay grain in our little pharmacy in Rhode Island,
27:02
Speaker 2: I know part of the success is going to be,
27:04
Speaker 2: you know, basically being able to grow the business. I'm
27:07
Speaker 2: in the tiniest state in the Union. It's thirty five
27:11
Speaker 2: to forty miles across in either direction, so being able
27:14
Speaker 2: to not only show that we're an efficient operation on
27:17
Speaker 2: a very important thing to do buying your inventory. That
27:21
Speaker 2: frees up the pharmacist team to work at their highest
27:24
Speaker 2: scope of service to help the facilities. And that is
27:30
Speaker 2: the ultimate selling point. I can open lots of doors
27:32
Speaker 2: for new businesses, but I'm not a pharmacist. I'm an
27:35
Speaker 2: accountant by training on the CEO for the organization. It
27:38
Speaker 2: is ultimately the relationship with our pharmacy team. How those caregivers, doctors,
27:46
Speaker 2: nurses can get a fast answer to a question, can
27:49
Speaker 2: understand the drug utilization challenges, or to make a simple
27:54
Speaker 2: change with the best medication because something is stocked out,
27:58
Speaker 2: not being busily figuring out how to wait cash flow
28:02
Speaker 2: the next month. Yeah, because sure cost is making all
28:05
Speaker 2: things available. That releases a lot of mental load. That
28:09
Speaker 2: allows our pharmacy to work at the highest scope of
28:11
Speaker 2: their services. And it's one of those things that you
28:15
Speaker 2: don't necessarily it's not easy to draw a direct line
28:18
Speaker 2: to see that. You know, it's not like one of
28:21
Speaker 2: those direct savings, but I can tell you out of
28:23
Speaker 2: twelve months of using this software, it is absolutely doing
28:28
Speaker 2: that my pharmacists are able to engage in work that
28:32
Speaker 2: I would call truly pharmacists work, and not necessarily an
28:36
Speaker 2: accountant or an inventory manager's job. And oftentimes you need
28:41
Speaker 2: their expertise to make sure you're buying the right NDC
28:43
Speaker 2: for a variety of clinical reasons. But it takes the
28:46
Speaker 2: math challenge out of it, the finding the thing challenge
28:49
Speaker 2: out of it, the compliance where are we sitting right
28:52
Speaker 2: now part of it. It automates a significant amount of thing.
28:56
Speaker 2: It truly like it says cutting eye to say AI
28:59
Speaker 2: to to lots of different things. But I feel confident
29:03
Speaker 2: that because of short costs is no doubt about that
29:04
Speaker 2: Horizon Pharmacy is engaged actively in AI as a solution
29:09
Speaker 2: for our organization and those who we serve.
29:12
Speaker 3: Jason, this has been wonderful to add you into the program.
29:16
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for sitting down with me and
29:18
Speaker 3: sharing this. I want to invite you to this week
29:20
Speaker 3: in Pharmacy and so we can dig you more into
29:23
Speaker 3: behavior health specifically, So hope, hope you'll come back.
29:26
Speaker 2: I would happily do so. I will give you my
29:28
Speaker 2: card when we're done and I'll befully get chat again.
29:30
Speaker 3: Thank you, Jason.
29:36
Speaker 6: Hello, It's Scott Whitnabel with Independent Pharmacy Cooperative IPC and
29:40
Speaker 6: you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
29:46
Speaker 3: Hey Scott, welcome. Hey, we're at the Shirt Cost event
29:49
Speaker 3: here at Shirt Cost Insights twenty twenty five. The first
29:53
Speaker 3: thing that I want to talk to you about is
29:54
Speaker 3: technology being used and leveraged in independent community pharmacy. It's
29:59
Speaker 3: a big heart of IPC strategies. Talk to us a
30:03
Speaker 3: little bit about that.
30:04
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, first of all, Ton, thanks for having me,
30:06
Speaker 6: and you know, technology is one of the reasons we're here.
30:10
Speaker 6: We're fully behind members using technology where they can. I
30:15
Speaker 6: know that inventory management is a big topic here and
30:19
Speaker 6: going into the new year. It's really important to leverage
30:24
Speaker 6: the technology that you have in your pharmacy out there
30:27
Speaker 6: to ensure that you're ordering the amounts that you need,
30:32
Speaker 6: that you're tracking your inventory urns, and then what the
30:35
Speaker 6: cost of that inventory is because that's cash sitting on
30:40
Speaker 6: your shelves. And we've referenced that recently in our Buying
30:45
Speaker 6: Smarter series on our blogs on our website, So you know,
30:50
Speaker 6: we believe greatly in that and using technology can be
30:55
Speaker 6: very helpful and many of our members are looking for
30:59
Speaker 6: those solutions, so it's great to be here hear about
31:01
Speaker 6: how people are using it now, so that we can
31:05
Speaker 6: spread the word and get people in touch with the
31:07
Speaker 6: right products and folks to help them.
31:09
Speaker 3: It's been busy time here in Nashville. It's been so
31:12
Speaker 3: good to see you and your team here.
31:14
Speaker 1: We have a lot of.
31:14
Speaker 3: People at your booth. Talk to me about twenty twenty six.
31:18
Speaker 3: We're winding down. I think I've been to like twelve
31:20
Speaker 3: or fourteen conferences this year. I see IPC everywhere. Last
31:24
Speaker 3: conference I saw you guys at was MCPA. But talk
31:27
Speaker 3: to me about what we're doing moving forward to be
31:31
Speaker 3: more profitable in the new year.
31:33
Speaker 1: Great question.
31:34
Speaker 6: So there's a couple things that come to mind. Recently,
31:37
Speaker 6: within the last half an hour, I had a member
31:39
Speaker 6: ask how do I know what to do to be
31:43
Speaker 6: ready for DSCSA. So that's the first thing. You know,
31:46
Speaker 6: there's a lot of information out there, and i'd encourage
31:49
Speaker 6: you to go to our website ipcrx dot com and
31:54
Speaker 6: we have some information, webinars, blogs, some resources that can
31:59
Speaker 6: get you down the right track. And then you know,
32:02
Speaker 6: of course, always reach out to us with questions. Secondly, though,
32:06
Speaker 6: with MTF I that's the medication. I'm sorry Medicare Transaction Facilitator.
32:15
Speaker 6: I get questions about that daily, Todd. You know, it's
32:18
Speaker 6: really important to be prepared for that. So if you
32:20
Speaker 6: haven't signed up again, go to our co op connection
32:24
Speaker 6: page where we have blogs and webinars and different resources
32:28
Speaker 6: that can get you connected and be prepared for that.
32:32
Speaker 6: So that I'll relate it back to inventory. The ten
32:37
Speaker 6: drugs that are on the list, you want to be
32:39
Speaker 6: prepared to make sure that you can capture the rebates
32:42
Speaker 6: when they're available, and prepared now for the impacts to
32:48
Speaker 6: cash flow as well as managing your inventory needs. There've
32:53
Speaker 6: already been several whack decrease announcements that have hit the
32:58
Speaker 6: marketplace on on some big brand name drugs out there,
33:03
Speaker 6: you know. So if you haven't heard about these, reach
33:06
Speaker 6: out to your primary wholesaler, your buying group, or feel
33:10
Speaker 6: free to contact us at IPC and we can we
33:12
Speaker 6: can help guide you through that. And secondly, after cash flow,
33:17
Speaker 6: the next thing to look at is understanding how those
33:21
Speaker 6: changes will impact your primary supply agreement because those primary
33:25
Speaker 6: vendor supply agreements typically have quarterly changes that can activators
33:33
Speaker 6: that can can reassign your cost of goods, especially from
33:37
Speaker 6: one quarter to the next, so you know, in a nutshell,
33:41
Speaker 6: understanding what the impacts of those are is going to
33:44
Speaker 6: be really important to help you manage your cash flow
33:48
Speaker 6: going into the new year.
33:50
Speaker 3: So, Scott, what I really appreciate about IPC is the
33:53
Speaker 3: fact that it's member owned. So if you're a pharmacy
33:56
Speaker 3: owner and you're in a specific state, maybe that state
34:00
Speaker 3: has different regulations or something that's changing things, you can
34:04
Speaker 3: come together as as a whole organization, ask good questions,
34:10
Speaker 3: get other pharmacy owners give you some advice as to
34:13
Speaker 3: what's happening. But I like the fact that that that
34:16
Speaker 3: you're giving me information with with kind of red flag saying, hey,
34:21
Speaker 3: be on the lookout for this. When does those things
34:24
Speaker 3: go into effect for the new year.
34:26
Speaker 6: By the way, well, you're the deadline is approaching for MTF,
34:30
Speaker 6: so you really need to get signed up very soon
34:34
Speaker 6: so that you can begin to capture those those rebates,
34:38
Speaker 6: and you know, make sure you do it before the
34:41
Speaker 6: end of the first week of December so that it's
34:42
Speaker 6: done and you're ready to go for those MTF rebates
34:47
Speaker 6: and then the others. You know, there isn't a set
34:51
Speaker 6: deadline on when you're what you have the whole first
34:56
Speaker 6: quarter to adjust to the impact on your cost of
34:59
Speaker 6: good and that's where programs like Sure Costs and IPC
35:05
Speaker 6: Warehouse can help you along the way. So don't be
35:09
Speaker 6: afraid to come to us and ask questions. And if
35:12
Speaker 6: we don't know the answer to have the insight into
35:16
Speaker 6: your primary agreement, you know, maybe we can get you
35:21
Speaker 6: the questions that you need to be asking of the
35:24
Speaker 6: people that can get you that information.
35:26
Speaker 3: Excellent, Scott, Thank you so much for being part of
35:29
Speaker 3: the show. Thank you for your support of the Pharmacy
35:31
Speaker 3: Podcast Network, and we can't wait to work with you
35:34
Speaker 3: more in twenty twenty six. It's great to be here.
35:36
Speaker 3: Thanks again, thank you.