Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / Xplore: Growth, Technology, Connections, and Solutions | PrimeRx User Conference Part One

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Xplore: Growth, Technology, Connections, and Solutions | PrimeRx User Conference Part One · Pharmacy Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you for listening to the coverage of the
0:03
Speaker 1: prime Rx Explore Event twenty twenty five user conference. My
0:07
Speaker 1: name is Todd Uri, founder of the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
0:11
Speaker 1: We have an exciting show for you.
0:18
Speaker 2: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
0:21
Speaker 2: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
0:46
Speaker 3: Welcome to Explore twenty twenty five, a three part podcast
0:49
Speaker 3: series produced by the Pharmacy Podcast Network capturing the highlights
0:52
Speaker 3: and insights from the first ever Primarx user conference held
0:56
Speaker 3: October tenth through the eleventh, twenty twenty five, at the Weston,
0:59
Speaker 3: Jersey City. Over two dynamic days, attendees explore the primarx ecosystem,
1:05
Speaker 3: covering long term care models, AI driven patient engagement, DSCSA
1:09
Speaker 3: compliance in the company's first integrated pharmaceutical purchasing workflow. Sessions
1:14
Speaker 3: and workshops focused on emerging trends and continuing education, equipping
1:18
Speaker 3: pharmacies to stay compliant, profitable, and future ready. The event
1:22
Speaker 3: revolved around four key pillars, growth opportunities, cutting edge technology,
1:27
Speaker 3: meaningful connections, and game changing solutions, all designed to empower
1:32
Speaker 3: independent pharmacy owners. Here's part one of our three part
1:35
Speaker 3: series with host Todd.
1:37
Speaker 1: Urie Ashton Morava here at the primar x user conference,
1:42
Speaker 1: the Explore conference.
1:43
Speaker 4: It was so good to run into you.
1:45
Speaker 5: Oh absolutely, Todd, And I have to say that it's
1:48
Speaker 5: the first time I've seen you MCA conference, so I
1:51
Speaker 5: was really impressed watching you up there on stage.
1:53
Speaker 6: So a great job.
1:54
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
1:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's an honor to be here for their inaugural
1:57
Speaker 1: event talking with people that are wanting to level up,
2:03
Speaker 1: and part of that level up is doing things that
2:05
Speaker 1: aren't necessarily just the dispensing fee, but something that kind
2:09
Speaker 1: of dives into disease state management or tracking of a condition,
2:14
Speaker 1: or really doing more for patients. And that's where I
2:18
Speaker 1: Care Plus comes in. So that's kind of why I
2:20
Speaker 1: was excited to see you. I wanted to get kind
2:21
Speaker 1: of an update on the evolution of I Care Plus.
2:25
Speaker 6: Well, I'll tell you.
2:26
Speaker 5: For first thing, just watching Katon CEO primary X on
2:30
Speaker 5: stage and the speakers that we've heard so far, my
2:34
Speaker 5: hats off to them and having their first first ever
2:37
Speaker 5: user conference. I think the focus on non dispensing revenue resonates,
2:43
Speaker 5: especially with what we're working on in the I Care
2:45
Speaker 5: Plus side. A lot of our members align with their users,
2:49
Speaker 5: especially in the state of New Jersey. One of the
2:52
Speaker 5: big programs we launched collaboratively through i Care Plus and
2:56
Speaker 5: IPC Digital Health LLC, which is a sister company to
3:00
Speaker 5: Independent Pharmacy Cooperative, and.
3:02
Speaker 6: We operate, like we've talked before.
3:04
Speaker 5: We are essentially at other business unit that's part of IPC,
3:08
Speaker 5: I'll tell you, you know, with our programs on the
3:10
Speaker 5: payer side, specifically in New Jersey, we teamed up with
3:15
Speaker 5: Clover Health in focusing on adherence fill rates, helping them
3:21
Speaker 5: achieve the star ratings that they need per patient which
3:24
Speaker 5: they classify as a member, and leveraging our mutual partners
3:30
Speaker 5: pharmacy members on the IPC side, and then obviously primar
3:34
Speaker 5: ex users. This is exactly what we've been working towards
3:38
Speaker 5: when we first laid the foundation for IPC Digital Health
3:41
Speaker 5: and the value that we bring to our members. Working
3:44
Speaker 5: with the PMS providers like Primarx is really important. I mean,
3:49
Speaker 5: these guys are really the nerve center of how users
3:54
Speaker 5: operate when we're focusing on whether it's the script fill side,
3:58
Speaker 5: but more importantly now with we know more than ever
4:01
Speaker 5: it's that non dispensing revenue.
4:04
Speaker 6: So a lot of how.
4:04
Speaker 5: I care Plus has evolved is really to take advantage
4:08
Speaker 5: and leverage that non dispensing revenue opportunity for our mutual members.
4:13
Speaker 5: So we really struck, we resonated across the healthcare community
4:21
Speaker 5: over the last year. And when you talk about collaborative
4:24
Speaker 5: care programs and value based care and the tools and
4:28
Speaker 5: solutions that I care Plus delivers to our member pharmacies
4:32
Speaker 5: working within the pharmacy system like prim our X, being
4:36
Speaker 5: fully integrated into pharmacy workflow helps us optimize the return
4:40
Speaker 5: on investment that our members are making for these types
4:43
Speaker 5: of programs, and not to mention, it really puts them
4:46
Speaker 5: in a position to successfully operate and reach the goals
4:50
Speaker 5: of a Clover Health type partnership.
4:52
Speaker 6: That's being driven through IPC.
4:53
Speaker 5: So when you ask me how far we've come along,
4:57
Speaker 5: we always talk about our five pillars of you see
5:00
Speaker 5: digital health the product itself, and it's something that our
5:04
Speaker 5: marketing team is working on revamping right now. So hats
5:07
Speaker 5: off to them. I mean, we've firstally laid the foundation
5:09
Speaker 5: of our five pillars. It was all product based, but
5:11
Speaker 5: now obviously we're we've evolved as.
5:12
Speaker 6: It as an entity.
5:13
Speaker 5: So we're we're revamping that strategy, but the product pillars
5:16
Speaker 5: will always be the product pillars. One key product pillar
5:20
Speaker 5: are actually two pillars revolved around telehealth remote patient monitoring
5:25
Speaker 5: and then the tools and solutions that we provide to
5:27
Speaker 5: the pharmacy so they can actually address the non dispensing
5:31
Speaker 5: needs of those members of those patients.
5:35
Speaker 6: And it's gone really well.
5:36
Speaker 5: To be honest, we're very, very impressed with the participation rates.
5:41
Speaker 5: Of course, we can always we can always generate greater volume.
5:44
Speaker 5: That's something we're working on right now. You know, these
5:46
Speaker 5: stores have been through a lot over the years. They've
5:49
Speaker 5: had a lot of programs come their way. They've been
5:51
Speaker 5: made a lot of promises that vendors or health plans
5:54
Speaker 5: that just have not delivered on. And we really found
5:57
Speaker 5: where that problem sits and why that was the case.
6:01
Speaker 5: I think when we at IPC and IPC Digital Health
6:04
Speaker 5: work together and we took the position of administering these
6:08
Speaker 5: types of programs, that's a key conduit. So offering a
6:12
Speaker 5: white gloves solution, it's not just the tool and the solution,
6:15
Speaker 5: it's also the hands on practical touch points that we provide,
6:20
Speaker 5: which has really helped I Care plus brand take off
6:23
Speaker 5: and really kind of continue its steady incline. We're still
6:27
Speaker 5: todd we're still taking baby steps. You know, Rome wasn't
6:30
Speaker 5: invented in a day and the Titanic didn't turn on
6:33
Speaker 5: a time as you know, and just things we've talked
6:36
Speaker 5: about before.
6:36
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm excited to hear more about digging into
6:41
Speaker 1: some of the diccesses of your pharmacies that are using
6:44
Speaker 1: the systems and continuing to expand.
6:47
Speaker 4: I was so excited.
6:48
Speaker 1: Whoever about remote remote patient monitoring. The future of long
6:52
Speaker 1: term care is going to be long term care at home,
6:55
Speaker 1: and our community pharmacies that are preparing themselves with systems
6:58
Speaker 1: and with drivers delivery, and like they're preparing for that opportunity,
7:04
Speaker 1: you're going to have to have a platform like I
7:06
Speaker 1: Care plus to kind of be a central point.
7:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, we we've come a long way because we we've
7:11
Speaker 5: even learned a lot. Uh you know, our goal was
7:14
Speaker 5: always we drafted business. We're very methodical on how we
7:17
Speaker 5: develop this. And sometimes when you're extremely methodical, you know,
7:20
Speaker 5: there's a lot of disciplines in place, and it does
7:22
Speaker 5: take a little longer to get off the ground. But
7:25
Speaker 5: if you really want that sustainability factor. You have to
7:27
Speaker 5: follow that methodology. If not, what will happen is it's
7:30
Speaker 5: almost like an end capit a story. You just kind
7:32
Speaker 5: of throw something out there and it just it may
7:34
Speaker 5: it may end up in the discount bin after X
7:36
Speaker 5: number of months. And so that that's kind of our
7:39
Speaker 5: biggest fear and our big motivating factor.
7:41
Speaker 6: Don't end up in the discount bin. Been something, you know.
7:43
Speaker 5: Develop something brand that lasts and that's valuable. Value takes
7:49
Speaker 5: off in in in UH, in different parts and in
7:52
Speaker 5: different levels, and it means a lot too. You know,
7:56
Speaker 5: it means something different for each member. And we're talking
7:58
Speaker 5: about independent pharmacy. They all have their own culture, but
8:01
Speaker 5: there are some common denominators.
8:03
Speaker 6: That we all we all appreciate.
8:06
Speaker 5: When you talk about the tentacles that make up I
8:08
Speaker 5: Care plus, yeah, you're right. I mean, we have people
8:11
Speaker 5: that are using our product today, the Solution, and you know,
8:14
Speaker 5: they may not have had a lot of traction on
8:16
Speaker 5: the telehealth side. They may not have been able to
8:19
Speaker 5: they haven't taken the next leap to remote patient monitoring
8:21
Speaker 5: and chronic care management. Yet biggest fear for some of
8:24
Speaker 5: our members are approaching those doctors.
8:26
Speaker 6: But It's like, what of the speakers said.
8:27
Speaker 5: I think it was forgot his name, to be honest,
8:30
Speaker 5: but he owns a love in pharmacies, and I mean
8:33
Speaker 5: he said it best.
8:33
Speaker 6: He said.
8:34
Speaker 5: Look, you know, he's like, take I have fifty patients
8:38
Speaker 5: that this doctor is treating down the road. I take
8:41
Speaker 5: those fifty patients to the doctor and say, look, let's
8:43
Speaker 5: engage in a collaborative practice agreement. I'm already treating these patients.
8:47
Speaker 5: You're treating them. There's certain things that I can do
8:49
Speaker 5: that you don't have time for. Let's get together, let's
8:52
Speaker 5: draft this collaborative agreement, and let's really kind of focus
8:55
Speaker 5: on their outcomes. That is one aspect, you know, one
9:00
Speaker 5: of the tentacles. You know, things like medication delivery, supplement
9:05
Speaker 5: our integration with Uber Direct, which is a sister company
9:09
Speaker 5: at Uber and their Uber Health strategy. You know, we
9:13
Speaker 5: have stores, like I said, that aren't even using the
9:14
Speaker 5: telehealth side, but supplementing the usage of icare plus with
9:18
Speaker 5: medication delivery. We've been able to structure some really competitive
9:23
Speaker 5: pricing models and we're seeing a.
9:25
Speaker 6: Lot of traction there.
9:26
Speaker 5: We also have a cash card, which is the I
9:28
Speaker 5: Care Plus Script Pass script card I mean when we
9:30
Speaker 5: first our real goal was to encapsulate this ecosystem of
9:34
Speaker 5: digital healthcare solutions and build that viable onboarding center called
9:38
Speaker 5: i caare plus Virtual Healthcare Center in the stores. There
9:41
Speaker 5: are stores that have showcased the center, some are seeing traction,
9:45
Speaker 5: others are still kind of building learning. How can we
9:47
Speaker 5: really leverage us within our everyday ecosystem. How can we
9:50
Speaker 5: retain the value that it's supposed to deliver or maximize
9:54
Speaker 5: the value such as the rebates that IPC pays out,
9:57
Speaker 5: our digital health pays out that are tied to those
10:00
Speaker 5: tied to those encounters.
10:02
Speaker 6: We can do that.
10:02
Speaker 5: Within our member co op, we have we have stores
10:05
Speaker 5: that are just killing it when it comes to the
10:07
Speaker 5: cash card.
10:08
Speaker 6: They obviously have a patient base and.
10:10
Speaker 5: They're they're, you know, they're comparing the the reimbursement that
10:13
Speaker 5: they're getting for on the cast side, we have stores
10:17
Speaker 5: that are now really starting to take advantage of patients
10:19
Speaker 5: that need prescription refaills and are just leveraging the platform
10:24
Speaker 5: on the telemedicine site, leveraging our telemedicine doctors.
10:27
Speaker 6: Uh, just for those types of.
10:29
Speaker 5: Scenarios and uh and then they're like we said we're
10:31
Speaker 5: just scratching the surface with remote patient monitoring, but we
10:34
Speaker 5: have officially launched. There are stores that are learning what
10:37
Speaker 5: it takes to adopt our policy and procedure guide. It's
10:41
Speaker 5: it's it's getting your store in the right position to
10:45
Speaker 5: be able to do what the speaker said today at.
10:47
Speaker 6: The primary X conference.
10:48
Speaker 5: Look at your look at your patients that are in
10:51
Speaker 5: the system, tie them to the local doctors, and don't
10:54
Speaker 5: be afraid to go to the doctor and say, I'm
10:55
Speaker 5: already treating these patients. But we can do so much more.
10:57
Speaker 5: And I can really and I can generate revenue from that.
11:00
Speaker 5: I have the onboarding center at the store. I have
11:03
Speaker 5: access to interoperable blood pressure devices that I can get
11:06
Speaker 5: through a wholesaler that's driving this program. I have the data,
11:09
Speaker 5: and most importantly, we have an innovative provider of these
11:13
Speaker 5: services that's put the pharmacist front and center to create
11:18
Speaker 5: the care plan and approve the care plan, so doctors don't.
11:20
Speaker 6: Have to do that anymore.
11:21
Speaker 5: And that's a big difference between what our platform does
11:25
Speaker 5: and what traditional platform RPM platforms don't. Traditional RPM platforms
11:29
Speaker 5: are built around the doctor and only the doctor, and
11:32
Speaker 5: so what happens is doctors can take two to three
11:34
Speaker 5: weeks just to go into the system, create a care
11:36
Speaker 5: plan for a patient, and then pool the caregivers and
11:39
Speaker 5: all the providers together versus the IICARE plus program where
11:43
Speaker 5: the pharmacist is the primary caregiver or the pharmacy staff
11:47
Speaker 5: or whoever they delegate to to administer the program at
11:51
Speaker 5: store level. They can go in there, they can create
11:54
Speaker 5: the care plan very easily, they can adopt it into
11:57
Speaker 5: the system, and before you know it, you have this
11:59
Speaker 5: brand new case and you have the CPT codes built
12:01
Speaker 5: into the platform that they can set up billing against. Now,
12:05
Speaker 5: Collaborative practice agreements are designed so doctors pharmacists get together,
12:12
Speaker 5: they agree on certain principles. Many of our pharmacies already
12:15
Speaker 5: have CPAs with doctors for vaccination administration. In this case,
12:20
Speaker 5: all they have to do is add an extra bullet
12:22
Speaker 5: point that basically says, hey, we're also going to focus
12:25
Speaker 5: on these conditions. Let's say in our case hypertension, this
12:28
Speaker 5: is the split and fee. And then all our pharmacies
12:31
Speaker 5: do is pull a report based on all the automated
12:34
Speaker 5: data that gets registered into the report. They send it
12:37
Speaker 5: over based on the number of encounters that have persisted.
12:41
Speaker 5: All of our encounters are consistent with what CMS requires
12:45
Speaker 5: for appropriate billet. The doctor bills, then the pharmacy bills
12:49
Speaker 5: the doctor. So I know, I kind of it rolled
12:51
Speaker 5: right off my tongue, but that's how simple we've developed
12:53
Speaker 5: this program. We have to preserve the integrity of the brand.
12:57
Speaker 5: So obviously, if there are that are not paying the
13:00
Speaker 5: pharmacies back for their work that they're doing, and believe
13:03
Speaker 5: it or not, these are some things that I've heard
13:04
Speaker 5: have happened with traditional models. We also credential the doctors,
13:08
Speaker 5: but the differences is that the doctor comes in under
13:11
Speaker 5: the pharmacy clinic as opposed to traditional model models, the
13:14
Speaker 5: pharmacy was registered to the physician's clinic. That was very
13:18
Speaker 5: hard to make happen. And these are things that we realized.
13:22
Speaker 5: These are things that we noticed. Those were the details
13:25
Speaker 5: that we analyzed and said, it can't operate that way.
13:29
Speaker 5: If we're going to be another me too, this isn't
13:31
Speaker 5: going to work. We have to put the power of
13:34
Speaker 5: remote patient monitoring and telehealth in the pharmacist hands, in
13:38
Speaker 5: the pharmacy staff hands.
13:39
Speaker 6: The other thing that we one of the reasons.
13:41
Speaker 5: Why We're here obviously to support PRIMARX, but it's the
13:44
Speaker 5: integration into the workflow of the access tool. So there's
13:48
Speaker 5: the pharmacy system that software, there's the physician EMR that software,
13:54
Speaker 5: and then there's what we call middlewares, right, the software
13:58
Speaker 5: that sits in between the two. That's what I can
14:00
Speaker 5: plus is when you talk about remote patient monitoring, it's
14:03
Speaker 5: a fully, fully fleshed out solution that sits right in
14:08
Speaker 5: between the two. Plus, I didn't even mention the payer yet.
14:12
Speaker 5: Payers have no way of interacting with pharmacies at all,
14:16
Speaker 5: and when they do interact with the pharmacy system, they
14:19
Speaker 5: don't always execute because they don't really know our pharmacies the.
14:22
Speaker 6: Way we do. That's why IPC.
14:26
Speaker 5: Sits as kind of like that that middle custodian to
14:30
Speaker 5: help triage those programs.
14:31
Speaker 6: And we've invested heavily in that.
14:33
Speaker 5: I mean personnel, the personnel on my team specifically the
14:36
Speaker 5: costs involved with investing in those types of resources to
14:40
Speaker 5: basically cater to the pharmacy for successful cases that are
14:44
Speaker 5: being processed through remote patient monitoring. That is something we
14:48
Speaker 5: committed to, and that is the non dispensing side of pharmacy.
14:52
Speaker 6: That we're heavily focused on at IPC.
14:55
Speaker 5: We've got the drug distribution side, which is a very
14:58
Speaker 5: strong part of our program, and it's it's really what's
15:00
Speaker 5: made IPC what it is today, and then all the
15:03
Speaker 5: other benefits that IPC offers. And then there's the adherent
15:06
Speaker 5: side of the world. Digital health sits on the adherent
15:09
Speaker 5: side of the world. We have the dispensing side, and
15:12
Speaker 5: we have the non dispensing side, and that's really what
15:14
Speaker 5: it's boiled down to.
15:14
Speaker 1: Time. That's great. Ashon Morava here at the Explore twenty
15:19
Speaker 1: twenty five in Jersey City, Thanks so much for sitting
15:22
Speaker 1: down with us anytimetime. Here at Explore twenty twenty five,
15:31
Speaker 1: the primary X user conference. I'm here with Leo Johnny
15:34
Speaker 1: from drug Lift. Welcome to the show, Leo.
15:37
Speaker 7: Thank you for having me.
15:38
Speaker 1: Todd, All right, let's jump right in. What does drug
15:41
Speaker 1: Lift do? How does this application? How's this system? How
15:45
Speaker 1: does it fit in the realm of our independent community pharmacies.
15:49
Speaker 8: Yeah, great question.
15:50
Speaker 7: So just to give you a little backstory, we launched
15:53
Speaker 7: in COVID time June twenty twenty one. It was a
15:56
Speaker 7: complete shutdown. What we really do is we help out
16:01
Speaker 7: pharmacies get patients their medication. We are a door to
16:06
Speaker 7: door delivery service. Today we work with over six hundred
16:09
Speaker 7: pharmacies in New York City and surrounding areas. Actually, this
16:12
Speaker 7: is our first show ever to date.
16:14
Speaker 8: We've grown.
16:15
Speaker 4: Congratulations, Yeah, thank you.
16:17
Speaker 7: We've grown entirely from word of mouth, just warm referrals
16:21
Speaker 7: from our existing clients. What really made us stand out
16:25
Speaker 7: from everybody else.
16:26
Speaker 8: That was in the spaces. Even though we do deliveries.
16:29
Speaker 7: We really act as a customer service company first. We
16:33
Speaker 7: really go above and beyond to ensure that patients get
16:36
Speaker 7: their medication delivered in a professional manner and that the
16:40
Speaker 7: pharmacy has a seamless experience because deliveries is tough, especially
16:45
Speaker 7: in New York City, and it's much easier for pharmacies
16:49
Speaker 7: to use a service like ours rather than hiring a
16:52
Speaker 7: bunch of drivers because now they have to manage a
16:54
Speaker 7: fleet of drivers or a driver doesn't show up, or
16:58
Speaker 7: by using a company like us, a pharmacy can deliver
17:01
Speaker 7: much further than they otherwise would with their own drivers,
17:05
Speaker 7: because we deliver pretty much everywhere in the Tri state area.
17:08
Speaker 1: Okay, I want to talk about the ecosystem, which is
17:10
Speaker 1: known as long term care, pharmacy at home and the
17:14
Speaker 1: expansion of home care services, which is the future.
17:18
Speaker 4: It's we're not at the pinnacle of.
17:20
Speaker 1: Baby boomers from a demographic perspective. I think we hit
17:24
Speaker 1: that in the next ten to fifteen years. Okay, so
17:28
Speaker 1: now we have this runway to get prepared for more
17:31
Speaker 1: home care, for more home delivery. So talk to me
17:35
Speaker 1: how you help a community pharmacy kind of navigate and
17:38
Speaker 1: restructure maybe some of their workflow or maybe how you're
17:42
Speaker 1: tying in with their pharmacy management system.
17:44
Speaker 4: But talk to us about that side of the logistics.
17:46
Speaker 7: Yeah, so we are. This is the Primary X conference.
17:50
Speaker 7: We're fully integrated with Primary REX. Essentially, the pharmacy will
17:55
Speaker 7: set up deliveries, whether it's in many cases home care.
17:59
Speaker 7: We do work with home care first pharmacies. They'll set
18:03
Speaker 7: up the delivery in their system, which automatically creates a
18:06
Speaker 7: delivery ticket.
18:06
Speaker 8: In our platform.
18:08
Speaker 7: At that point, the driver will go pick up from
18:11
Speaker 7: the pharmacy at the pharmacy's specified time, and then the
18:15
Speaker 7: delivery will occur by that driver to the patient's home
18:18
Speaker 7: and in many times given to either the nurse aid
18:22
Speaker 7: or whoever's helping out the patient.
18:25
Speaker 4: Very good.
18:25
Speaker 1: Okay, So also describe I'm a busy community pharmacy owner.
18:32
Speaker 1: I'm here maybe in New York City or a suburb
18:35
Speaker 1: of New York or New Jersey, very busy.
18:39
Speaker 4: How do I tell me about an implementation program?
18:41
Speaker 1: How do I go from not really having a good
18:44
Speaker 1: delivery system or I'm trying to do it myself but
18:46
Speaker 1: it's not really what I want it. How do you
18:49
Speaker 1: strip out my existing infrastructure and what I'm used to doing,
18:53
Speaker 1: and how do you inlay and put in drug life
18:56
Speaker 1: our drug Lift?
18:57
Speaker 7: Yeah, great question actually, and the way that we do
19:00
Speaker 7: it is pretty simple. You go on our website drug
19:03
Speaker 7: lift dot com. You click the contact sales button, You
19:07
Speaker 7: fill out the small questionnaire which is basically pharmacy name,
19:11
Speaker 7: pharmacy phone number, address, and the personal contact. Somebody from
19:14
Speaker 7: our team reaches out, I want to say within an.
19:17
Speaker 8: Hour or two.
19:18
Speaker 7: At that point, we create an account and boom, you're
19:20
Speaker 7: ready to go.
19:21
Speaker 8: There's no learning curve.
19:22
Speaker 7: It's as simple as you set up a delivery, we
19:25
Speaker 7: handle everything else. We offer same day delivery and next
19:29
Speaker 7: day delivery. Pharmacies have the ability to select a time
19:32
Speaker 7: window as well, so if a patient is going to
19:34
Speaker 7: be home between certain hours, we'll ensure that we deliver
19:37
Speaker 7: within those hours. And at that point the pharmacy really
19:41
Speaker 7: the only thing that they have to focus on is
19:43
Speaker 7: just in terms of what's happening inside the pharmacy, and
19:47
Speaker 7: let us handle what's happening.
19:48
Speaker 8: Outside the pharmacy.
19:50
Speaker 7: At all times, we're in constant communication with the pharmacy.
19:53
Speaker 7: The pharmacy has final say when it comes to everything.
19:56
Speaker 7: If for whatever reason, a patient is not home, a
19:59
Speaker 7: member of our team context of pharmacy asks us to
20:02
Speaker 7: call the patient. We do whatever it takes to ensure
20:05
Speaker 7: that the patient gets their medication delivered on time and
20:09
Speaker 7: gets the care they need.
20:10
Speaker 1: So LEO, that's kind of like the customer service piece
20:13
Speaker 1: that you're speaking to exactly.
20:14
Speaker 7: So you know, it's very easy to say that we're
20:16
Speaker 7: a delivery company, but we wouldn't have gotten to the
20:21
Speaker 7: growth that we've achieved in the last four and a
20:24
Speaker 7: half years if it wasn't for this extra layer of
20:27
Speaker 7: a very hands on, in depth customer experience.
20:30
Speaker 1: Okay, you ready for a curve bob, let's go all right,
20:32
Speaker 1: here we go.
20:33
Speaker 4: So uber Health Lift Health.
20:36
Speaker 1: Some of these big multi billion dollar transportation companies are
20:40
Speaker 1: getting deep into patient care delivery, taking people to their
20:46
Speaker 1: doctor's appointments, you know, kind of like white glove service,
20:50
Speaker 1: you know, and some people can afford it, Like some
20:52
Speaker 1: people out there have the money to be able to
20:54
Speaker 1: kind of invest in this. Do you ever see like
20:56
Speaker 1: the evolution of a drug lift getting into additional services
21:01
Speaker 1: in the future where you might be doing like a
21:03
Speaker 1: patient delivery to a Dirk doctor's office or something.
21:07
Speaker 7: I never want to say never, however, that's certainly not
21:10
Speaker 7: our focus today. Uber has their strengths, Lift has their strengths. Again,
21:17
Speaker 7: never say never. We've been contacted regarding if we offer
21:22
Speaker 7: these services. However, right now our focus is certainly on
21:26
Speaker 7: continuing to do what we currently do good at, which
21:29
Speaker 7: is ensuring that patients get their medication delivered to wherever
21:33
Speaker 7: they are on time.
21:35
Speaker 1: All right, Pharmacy owners, listen, if you have your own
21:38
Speaker 1: delivery drivers, if you are thinking about this, I want
21:43
Speaker 1: you to do a cost analysis. Call up the drug
21:46
Speaker 1: Lift team drug lift dot com. Let them know that
21:50
Speaker 1: you heard the show at the Explore twenty twenty five
21:54
Speaker 1: podcast follow up show, Reach out to Leo and the
21:57
Speaker 1: team and get your own information to see if this
22:00
Speaker 1: can help you.
22:00
Speaker 4: Leo, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for
22:02
Speaker 4: being here.
22:02
Speaker 8: Todd, thank you for having me.
22:06
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Explore Primary X Conference twenty twenty
22:09
Speaker 1: five here in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Future of Pharmacy. Wow,
22:16
Speaker 1: what a subject. We used to have a show called
22:18
Speaker 1: the Pharmacy Future Leaders and just so busy.
22:22
Speaker 4: We weren't able to keep it up.
22:24
Speaker 1: I want to introduce a who's a p one and
22:28
Speaker 1: this is a pharmacy student that is born into pharmacy
22:33
Speaker 1: with her mother Agata and tell me about what Introduce
22:39
Speaker 1: yourself to the listeners, but then share with us what
22:41
Speaker 1: you're excited about in the profession of course.
22:43
Speaker 9: Yeah, so thank you for having me in this podcast.
22:46
Speaker 9: My name is Aya Elza Beek and I'm a first
22:49
Speaker 9: year student in pharmacy school. I have been working in
22:54
Speaker 9: pharmacy for ever since I could work.
22:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, your mom told me ver since I could work.
23:00
Speaker 9: It's the first job I had. And even before working,
23:03
Speaker 9: I would volunteer there.
23:05
Speaker 4: Even as a kid.
23:06
Speaker 9: I would just go there, you know, with my siblings
23:08
Speaker 9: after school. You know. So I know I've I've had
23:12
Speaker 9: pretty good experience in terms of pharmacy. And I've seen
23:15
Speaker 9: a lot of different things that happen in pharmacy that
23:18
Speaker 9: you know, usually children or high school, middle school students
23:21
Speaker 9: or even college students don't get to normally see. And
23:25
Speaker 9: I guess it kind of opened my horizons a little
23:28
Speaker 9: bit and got me more experienced in this in this
23:31
Speaker 9: specific field. And I guess in terms of the future
23:36
Speaker 9: of pharmacy, Uh, there's a lot that could happen, especially
23:40
Speaker 9: now with with AI. And I really just want to
23:44
Speaker 9: mention this because I know, you know, AI has gotten
23:48
Speaker 9: big and not just specifically with certain careers like in pharmacy,
23:55
Speaker 9: but I think that we can use it really well.
23:58
Speaker 9: And I'm just interested in seeing how different aspects of pharmacy,
24:02
Speaker 9: different fields, different pharmacists specifically, you know, hospital industry, clinical
24:07
Speaker 9: community chain, how do they integrate and you know, use
24:10
Speaker 9: AI to help them better their their pharmacy itself or
24:17
Speaker 9: you know their patient care or you know, I guess
24:20
Speaker 9: their technology or you know their software system.
24:24
Speaker 4: And I don't know.
24:25
Speaker 9: For me, it's just a topic that kind of that
24:26
Speaker 9: kind of interests me a little bit.
24:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, tell the listeners just in case they don't know
24:31
Speaker 1: your mother's name and the pharmacy that she's built. I
24:35
Speaker 1: think she's done compounding community long term care.
24:39
Speaker 4: But tell our listeners about that.
24:40
Speaker 9: Yeah, of course, my mom's name is gotta Gotta up
24:44
Speaker 9: a quake. She started off our first pharmacy, Cure Med
24:48
Speaker 9: Pharmacy in Clifton, New Jersey, and way back this was
24:53
Speaker 9: this was way back in twenty fifteen, fourteen, I believe
24:56
Speaker 9: it was a really.
24:56
Speaker 4: Long time ago.
24:58
Speaker 9: And a few years past, you know, we started doing
25:01
Speaker 9: different compounding specialty pharmacy. We got different accreditations, the URAQ,
25:06
Speaker 9: you know, part of NCPA and all that, and then
25:09
Speaker 9: we started a new pharmacy called Simes Pharmacy, and it's
25:12
Speaker 9: located in Patterson. So all of our pharmacies now are
25:15
Speaker 9: in New Jersey. We have multiple locations. But the pioneer
25:20
Speaker 9: was Cure Meed Pharmacy, followed by Simes, and so I
25:22
Speaker 9: just really wanted to mention that because you know, my
25:24
Speaker 9: life was cure met pharmacy. Yeah.
25:26
Speaker 4: I grew up cure met.
25:27
Speaker 6: Pharmacy, that's all. I guess.
25:28
Speaker 9: That's that's the main that's the main reason why I'm
25:31
Speaker 9: here today. I guess, you know, it really it piqued
25:34
Speaker 9: my interest to be you know, to be working even
25:38
Speaker 9: in a in a field like this, And to be honest,
25:41
Speaker 9: when I first started, I kind of.
25:43
Speaker 1: Didn't like it, probably because it's like something you've been
25:47
Speaker 1: around for so long. It's like you probably rolled your
25:49
Speaker 1: eyes when your mom's like, hey, you want to come
25:51
Speaker 1: to the pharmacy and do this, this and this, and
25:53
Speaker 1: you're like, uh, But then I was talking to your
25:56
Speaker 1: mother when you were talking to some of the vendors here.
25:59
Speaker 1: You haven't a advantage that other pharmacy students do not have.
26:04
Speaker 1: You have context, you have application, you have inter knowledge
26:09
Speaker 1: that's been woven into you from a very young age
26:12
Speaker 1: to just be part of this, and I think you're
26:15
Speaker 1: going to be able to do things in pharmacy that
26:17
Speaker 1: other pharmacists won't be able to do as quickly because
26:20
Speaker 1: you've been soaking in it for how many years? Over
26:23
Speaker 1: ten years?
26:24
Speaker 4: Probably?
26:24
Speaker 6: Ohoh, I feel old when I say that.
26:27
Speaker 9: I know.
26:28
Speaker 4: But what about entrepreneurship?
26:30
Speaker 1: Have you ever thought that you might want to take
26:32
Speaker 1: what your mother's built and maybe take it to another level?
26:35
Speaker 8: For sure, one hundred percent.
26:37
Speaker 9: That's kind of been my leading motivation.
26:39
Speaker 4: And it's not just for me, it's it's for my mom.
26:42
Speaker 8: But it's also.
26:43
Speaker 9: For the patients the community that we have built, I know.
26:47
Speaker 9: I mean, we have some patients that I you know,
26:50
Speaker 9: I've seen every single day come to our pharmacy for years,
26:53
Speaker 9: ever since we opened, and you know, it would be
26:56
Speaker 9: I mean, I would be heartbroken if my pharmacy wasn't
26:59
Speaker 9: stick or my mom's pharmacy wasn't still there to help
27:04
Speaker 9: these patients.
27:04
Speaker 4: You know, I don't know where they would go if
27:06
Speaker 4: it weren't for us.
27:07
Speaker 9: We've helped them so much. Caram had pharmacy, my mom.
27:10
Speaker 9: You know, there's so much more to give, and I
27:13
Speaker 9: feel like it would be a letdown if I haven't
27:17
Speaker 9: you know, considered my options in terms of continuing the
27:20
Speaker 9: pharmacy and self.
27:20
Speaker 6: In the future.
27:21
Speaker 9: So for sure, Yeah, I've thought about it a lot,
27:23
Speaker 9: and I think it would be very huge for me,
27:27
Speaker 9: and I think I could. I mean, no, you're right,
27:29
Speaker 9: I mean I think I could do a lot in
27:31
Speaker 9: terms of what I've learned so far for the future
27:34
Speaker 9: of not just my pharmacy, but I guess other pharmacies
27:37
Speaker 9: as well, because you know, I'm here to help no
27:39
Speaker 9: matter who it is, whether it's a patient, myself or
27:42
Speaker 9: you know, other pharmacists that are in need of it
27:44
Speaker 9: as well.
27:45
Speaker 1: Well, that's beautiful because that's the heart of your mother.
27:47
Speaker 1: I have been a fan of her for over ten
27:50
Speaker 1: years now. Every once in a while I try to
27:53
Speaker 1: get a selfie with her for the next time that
27:54
Speaker 1: we get together. We always see her at the NCPA.
27:59
Speaker 4: This is special.
28:00
Speaker 1: I want you to give a shout out to your
28:01
Speaker 1: pharmacy school, and then I want you to promise me
28:04
Speaker 1: that you're going to bring me a couple of your
28:06
Speaker 1: students over the next three or four.
28:07
Speaker 4: Years to be part of a podcast.
28:10
Speaker 9: Honestly, I would love to, And I'm not sure if
28:13
Speaker 9: you need me to mention exactly the pharmacy school I'm in.
28:16
Speaker 6: I'm in.
28:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, shout out your pharmacy school for sure.
28:19
Speaker 9: I go right out of Fairly Dickinson University Pharmacy at
28:21
Speaker 9: Pharmacy School FDU, so shout out to them.
28:23
Speaker 4: Yeah.
28:24
Speaker 9: You know, it's been only a month, but here I am,
28:26
Speaker 9: and so far I've learned a lot and I've connected
28:29
Speaker 9: with many of the peers over there, so hopefully soon,
28:32
Speaker 9: you know, I can bring them into this podcast. I mean,
28:36
Speaker 9: I got the information I'm going to share with them.
28:38
Speaker 9: This postcat podcast. You know, maybe send them a link
28:40
Speaker 9: of this of this podcast we're doing right now.
28:43
Speaker 4: I'll get them a little.
28:44
Speaker 9: Interested and hopefully we'll see what happens from there as well.
28:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I thank you for being part of the
28:48
Speaker 1: show and being here at the first Explore twenty twenty
28:52
Speaker 1: five event. And it was so nice to meet you
28:55
Speaker 1: and looking and meeting the future of pharmacy of course.
28:59
Speaker 9: Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you for having me
29:01
Speaker 9: in this podcast as well.
29:02
Speaker 6: It was really nice to be here.
29:03
Speaker 9: Thank you.
29:09
Speaker 1: Will Tuft here at Explore twenty twenty five.
29:12
Speaker 4: Will welcome to the show.
29:14
Speaker 8: Yeah.
29:14
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's been a great show. Enjoying being up north
29:17
Speaker 10: where it's actually fall here so.
29:19
Speaker 1: It is, and in Jersey City on the water and.
29:24
Speaker 4: I last night it was a clear night and it
29:26
Speaker 4: was gorgeous.
29:27
Speaker 1: We got to see New York City from one side,
29:30
Speaker 1: and it's just this is a high energy show.
29:34
Speaker 4: It's the first.
29:35
Speaker 1: Time that we've been we've done Explore with primar X.
29:39
Speaker 1: It's fun to be here. Caden and his team are
29:42
Speaker 1: just charismatic. They're excited about what's going on. It's kind
29:46
Speaker 1: of where you fit because it's your same personality, but
29:48
Speaker 1: talk to us what you're looking what you're looking forward
29:51
Speaker 1: to in the industry, as well as just some good news.
29:56
Speaker 1: It's coming out of Varcafe.
29:58
Speaker 8: Sure so Icon arec safe.
30:01
Speaker 9: You know.
30:01
Speaker 8: I join the team back in July.
30:04
Speaker 10: So it's been a crazy summer already on the trade
30:06
Speaker 10: show circuit and hit the ground running with a lot
30:10
Speaker 10: of great ideas and so that's been the most fun
30:12
Speaker 10: thing that already have new features coming out here in
30:16
Speaker 10: October in our first release since I've been with Icon
30:20
Speaker 10: and really excited about just continuing to see innovation and
30:24
Speaker 10: to see, you know, how can we better.
30:27
Speaker 8: Fill the needs of our customers.
30:30
Speaker 4: So we just did a three part series with you.
30:32
Speaker 1: It's the first series in our long term care at
30:36
Speaker 1: home initiative because we want to bring more and more
30:40
Speaker 1: information to that. Let's talk about that subject for a second,
30:45
Speaker 1: long term care at home. So we're running out of
30:48
Speaker 1: beds at nursing facilities. We know that the baby boomers
30:52
Speaker 1: haven't even reached the pinnacle yet, it's still you know,
30:55
Speaker 1: growing every day every month. Talk to us about the
31:01
Speaker 1: ecosystem of what that means long term care pharmacy at
31:04
Speaker 1: home and then the advantages in using primar x in
31:09
Speaker 1: are safe in that mix.
31:11
Speaker 10: Sure, sure, So you know there there's obviously a large
31:15
Speaker 10: population shift. And right now, you know, every pharmacy is
31:19
Speaker 10: filling the pinch of low reimbursements.
31:23
Speaker 8: And you know, it's very clear that you.
31:25
Speaker 10: Can't continue to do the same things that you've been
31:28
Speaker 10: doing and get different results. So there's so many pharmacies
31:32
Speaker 10: trying to find different ways to diversify to you know,
31:36
Speaker 10: get new contracts and work more efficiently. And that's you know,
31:41
Speaker 10: all of that folds right into the realm of long
31:43
Speaker 10: term care at home.
31:45
Speaker 4: Yeah.
31:46
Speaker 1: So when I have talked to a lot of pharmacy
31:49
Speaker 1: owners who are making the shift in are just getting started.
31:53
Speaker 1: It's the contracting, It's the technology, it's the overnight coverage,
31:59
Speaker 1: it's the ability to transport the medications, get the medications.
32:04
Speaker 1: Talk to us about the footprint element of this, and
32:07
Speaker 1: that is I'm up.
32:08
Speaker 4: Here's the scenario.
32:09
Speaker 1: And by the way, this scenario you know this scenario,
32:11
Speaker 1: and that is I'm a community pharmacy. I've been around
32:14
Speaker 1: for a while. I know my patients are aging. Therefore,
32:17
Speaker 1: I'm going to start talking about this. I'm going to
32:19
Speaker 1: make all the contract changes. But it's this, it's the
32:23
Speaker 1: it's the footprint in my store. I don't have any room,
32:27
Speaker 1: so talk to us about a system that you would
32:29
Speaker 1: recommend that would would fit the bill there.
32:32
Speaker 8: Oh my gosh. So you know, working within your own walls,
32:36
Speaker 8: you're going to be looking for efficient workflow.
32:38
Speaker 10: You're going to be looking for small footprints, you know,
32:41
Speaker 10: and our Safe and Icon both happen to complement that goal.
32:46
Speaker 10: You know, the RX safe products have really small footprint
32:49
Speaker 10: that you can fit in even in you know, these
32:51
Speaker 10: smaller uh you know, city pharmacies where any any square
32:56
Speaker 10: footage is a real blessing, so you have to be
32:59
Speaker 10: really mindful that.
33:01
Speaker 8: But yeah, you know, outside of that, you see even.
33:04
Speaker 10: In rural areas, pharmacies trying to find new ways to
33:07
Speaker 10: do things, you know, maybe using their their existing storefront
33:12
Speaker 10: is more of.
33:13
Speaker 8: Acute and moving even their.
33:15
Speaker 10: Retail patients into almost that long.
33:18
Speaker 8: Term care workflow.
33:19
Speaker 10: You know, of those predictable fills your med sinks. You know,
33:23
Speaker 10: why are you surprised when that's happening? You know with
33:26
Speaker 10: phone call, you know it's coming. So you know, those
33:29
Speaker 10: those pharmacies that are finding an efficient way to do that,
33:32
Speaker 10: plan ahead and work smarter, work efficiently. You know, it's
33:37
Speaker 10: it's more important now than ever.
33:39
Speaker 1: So will tough love seeing you at the conferences. Like
33:43
Speaker 1: I said, it's you're You're one of those people in
33:46
Speaker 1: the industry that's always We all have things in life
33:50
Speaker 1: that bring us down, but your energy is always positive.
33:53
Speaker 1: I'll always like just hanging out with you. So thanks
33:55
Speaker 1: for being on the show.
33:56
Speaker 8: Yeah, thanks for having me. Good to be behind Mike again.
34:06
Speaker 8: Doctor doctor, doctor to doctor.