Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / Accountability, Innovation, and Access Across Care | TWIRx

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Accountability, Innovation, and Access Across Care | TWIRx · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Hey, we got a lot going on on twork's today.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, people, you people, you people. Hey, welcome to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: this week in Pharmacy. My name's Todd Ury, founder of
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the Pharmacy Podcast Network. It's April tenth, twenty twenty six.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: You always hear me say it. Time is going way
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: too fast. It's a second quarter twenty twenty six. Already
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: excited about what's happening, and this week in Pharmacy, I'm
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: I'm just blown away by the activity this week, the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: getting ready for Assembia twenty twenty six, the Super Bowl,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: specially pharmacy will be catching up on that. We're going
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: to talk with Nick Baird, probably saying his last name wrong,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Nick Bard from Outcomes marketing director. There have had a wonderful,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: wonderful planning session with the Outcomes team that bring a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: ton of valuable content. They are joining the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: So who's excited about that?
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Me?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm thrilled to welcome Outcomes to the PPN. We'll
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: be talking with Nick. Coming up very quickly. But I
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: really review. I have so much news I wanted to review.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: This would have probably been like a two hour tworks
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: But let's get into news. Yeah, I tell you what.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Dearborn Heights pharmacy owner. I don't know if you've heard
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: about this out of the state of Michigan. Dearborn Heights,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: their pharmacy owner there pleads guilty to one point nine
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: million in healthcare fraud. They're going after this pharmacy quickly
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and fiercely. It's Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, Blue Shield of
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Michigan are going to be part of the case. And jeez,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: this is he could face ten years to in prison,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand in fees. Just horrible news
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: to hear that. I don't I don't like the negative
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: news in pharmacy, but it is what it is. Hey
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: over to Pharmacy Times. Better news just came out today
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: this week in pharmacy. How HOPEA President Amy soon plans
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to strengthen oncology pharmacy a mid rapid change.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: It's in a wonderful.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Video interview with Amy, and it's an opportunity for you
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: as pharmacists that are focused on oncology Hematology oncology through
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the Pharmacy Association HOPA to do something greater and to
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: start getting involved and start reaching out to Amy and
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: her organization and asking how to participate and how to
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: get your name out there and become more influential and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: more driving of pharmacists, driving oncology treatment and care. And
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to hear more about this. Was great to
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: see this come up. More good news came out just
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: today from the University of North Carolina of Chapel Hill
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: School of Pharmacy, the Elschmann see is it the Elschimen
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: School of Pharmacy Pharmacy teams work towards pediatric brain cancer
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: research breakthrough. This is a wonderful announcement and article. Congratulations
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: to unc Eshelman School of Pharmacy. They interview David druey
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: uh and professor and they break into what's next and
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: digging through this research and being able to once again
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: get pharmacists tied into very specific disease states and building
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: out expertise Board of Pharmacy, Board of Specialties, on the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: on the on the hinges of continuing to build very
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: specific specialties for pharmacies. But this is great news out
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of the University North Carolina Eshlemann School of Pharmacy. Congratulations
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: on that. Hey Outcomes is one of our sponsors today
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: on This Week in Pharmacy, you're gonna hear from Nick
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: and I'm excited to work for them. There is a
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: new system I'm not allowed to talk about coming out
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: from Outcomes, and we're going to definitely be talking more
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: about it on this Week in Pharmacy. But I want
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to dig into how this is going to tie into
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: clinical care, treatment care, developing revenue streams that's beyond the prescription.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Extremely excited to be working with this group once again.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Learn more at Outcomes dot com. Once again, that's Outcomes
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: dot com. Hey, I want to click over to LinkedIn
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Michael Wisong. He's the CEO of Care Pharmacies. And this
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: guy has the most serendipitous ability to run into people.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: He just posted something last year which he ran into
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: somebody that was special, just posted not even like two
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: months ago, and now he posts again with his travels
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: that he runs in to a famous boxer in the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: nineties and.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: And just having that run in Troy Dorsey.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: And you know, being out when you travel, and if
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you're not, if your face isn't just down in your phone,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: you do have time to look around. There's always opportunity
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: at at airports, I've done so much business accidentally or
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: serendipitously through airports, So keep your head up when you're
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: when you're flying around. And Michael, I hope to see
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: you at ASSEMBIA at the end of the month.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: In Vegas. Hey, Vince Grippy. He writes a newsletter called
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: The Grip. This is episode I'm Sorry, Issue fifty. Vince Grippy,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: my buddy over in Media runs Grippy Media. He's brilliant.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: He does a video series and educating people that are
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: interested in leveraging media in healthcare specifically. But he went
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: into kind of blogging about. The New York Times recently
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: published a glowing profile of telehealth startup MEDV, framing medv
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: as a real life vindication of Sam Altman's vision of
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: AI super efficient business potential. He goes on to say
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: that there's one problem. The company is facing an FDA
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: warning for manipulative marketing, multiple lawsuits and accusations of using
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: deep fake doctors and fabricated testimonials to sell its GLP ones,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: And he goes on in playing human generated English, med
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: v MO is a lot of BS, and it's true,
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: you all of you marketing directors out there, all of
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: you creative vps of marketing out there, do not give
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: in to the lull of letting AI generate things that
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: hit differently.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Not talking about manipulating your logo. I'm not talking about
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: maybe enhancing a picture of two people that are at
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: a at a conference, or maybe you want a different angle.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about using content development through AI to to
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: influence the consumer. And how many laws are not even
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: in place yet about the use of artificial intelligence. But
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: this is big and why I mean the GLP one
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: market is booming as it is, and now you're just
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: getting greedy cutting corners and your cliency from a marketing
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: perspective sucks. You know who I think of is doctor
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Darshawn Kulkarney, lawyer, pharmacist, specialist in compound marketing and different
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: things that he's doing. If you want to keep yourselves
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: out of jail, but you want to take it to
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the edge and you want to build some really cool
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: looking stuff and you even want to use AI, reach
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: out to a lawyer like Darshawn who really knows the
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: insides and outs of this and will keep you from
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: h from starn up issues and problems with UH with
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the law and with the FDA. Hey, Medtronic, I think
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: they are originally a Pittsburgh company, but they have some
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: big news and I wanted to share it. All right,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: So Medtronic is in no way a sponsor of the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Pharmacy Podcast Network or this Weekend Pharmacy. That is certainly
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: not the reason that I posted that video. This video
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: is posted for every pharmacist text to, but more of
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: a supportive role. Every pharmacist out there who hasn't looked
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: into digital therapeutics, who hasn't looked deeper into how technology
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: will become a better tool for you as a consultative pharmacist,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: a treatment driven pharmacist. But I want you to pay attention,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: even go look at Medtronic for example, read up on
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: what they're doing. There's ways to do this on your own.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: There's ways to do this as a independent community pharmacy.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: There's ways to do this in the capacity of long
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: term care and being a consultant. So look into these
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: kinds of technologies and where this could lead you in
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: your career as a pharmacist. Hey, my friend Marshall Milla.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Long Nong.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Marcia is brilliant. She runs the Catalyst Enterprises LLC. She's
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: been a author for absolute years in pharmacy, most on
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: some community stuff. But she posted an article on LinkedIn
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: through drug Topics that just posted this week in pharmacy,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and it's the title the story of a pharmacist going
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: from corporate to costs Plus. I absolutely love this to
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: of Greg Jones, who's a pharmacist. He got his MBA,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: he started in a busy, independent community pharmacy is his
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: uncle was involved in that. He experienced pharmacy life in
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a couple of different settings.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: And then now he is.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: He is going to head down the road of the
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: cash based model. He proudly opens a company now he's
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: calling his pharmacy Compass Corps Pharmacy, Rhode Island's first cost
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: plus pharmacy model. Just this may coming up, miss May
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: of twenty five, and this is so freaking cool to
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: see that doctor Kyle McCormick's Blueberry Pharmacy here in Pittsburgh,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: which was the first, if not one of the first,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: is really starting to spread across the industry of saying
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: do you know how much freedom you could have in
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: your business and growing your business and serving your community
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: if you could start a cost plus pharmacy where you're
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: taking cash only or you're coming up with payments systems
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: through your services or club memberships or whatever it is.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: But look into the cost plus model. I've even heard
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: of independent community pharmacies who own more than one location,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: running one as the traditional insurance taking pharmacy, running the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: other one purely cost plus. And it gives some padding
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: obviously to the overall overhead and operations. But I want
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: you guys to look into that and the freedom that
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: could come from cost plus. There is no slowing down
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: of the cost plus models. We know, and you know
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: what's happening with with Mark Cuban Costplus Drugs and the
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: growth that they have and the excitement. We have great
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: interviews today Nick, and if you've ever heard of the
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: health wagon. Not sure if you've heard of this, but
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: this is a very special story about a pharmacist dedicated
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to her community and there's no money in the community,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: there's no ability to pay for medical services, and this
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: free health wagon model is absolutely incredible.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: What an incredible story.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: All this coming up on this Week in Pharmacy.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: Hey, welcome to this Week in Pharmacy.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: As you can see, it's a fun Friday because I
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: get Nick Bard in the studios with me from the
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: AFC North rival of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: You are a Cleveland fan.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: I am a Cleveland fan, but I will say I
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: grew up in Youngstown. So that's the borderline of either
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: you root for Pittsburgh or Cleveland, and I guess unfortunately
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: I'm rooting for Cleveland.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Well, one of our greatest customers, been customer for four years.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: You're Ralph Pharma, Steve Beckman. He loves the Cleveland Brownies
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and it's just like every time he comes over he
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: sees the accent colors at the PPN are all about
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the black and gold, so.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: He has to put up with it. So now you
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: have to put up with it. Yeah.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm excited that you're here, really excited about the announcement.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna kick it over to you to
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: kind of talk a little bit about it. But I
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: have been working with outcomes on and off for a
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: little while. We did the the big conference for Sincora
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: last year, thought Spot.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: That was freaking awesome. We had such a good time.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: But you and I have been becoming friends in the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: industry now and you guys are joining the Pharmacy Podcast Network,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: So I am thrilled about that.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're excited, and you know, we got a really
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: great opportunity to work together last year at Sincora, and
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: I really think that we got a chance to get
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: to know each other both personally and professionally. And seeing
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: all the work that you're doing to help drive independent
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: pharmacy forward really pairs naturally what we're trying to do
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: and build within our outcomes community as well. So we're
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: excited about it and we're looking forward to continue working
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: with you in the future.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm excited too because there's so many stories that
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: we can jump into. I can't wait to get into
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: artificial intelligence and workflow. I can't wait to talk about
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: the automated data entry. We actually just recorded recently with
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: your associate Dalio Rios, an episode of ore Ex thirty unscripted.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: I cannot wait for you guys to hear that, because
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: this digs deeper. But having these kind of resources important
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: to the network. The network is about bringing content to
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: one place. You're not all over the place. There's five
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: point two million podcasts out in podcast land. The Pharmacy
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Podcast Network takes the pediatrician takes the senior care, takes
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: long term care, takes pharmacy technology and brings it right
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: to our listeners.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: So we are so fortunate.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: We are lucky to have outcomes joining the team, bringing us,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: bringing us more content about tech. But also, you know
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: what I really like too, Nick, is when our hosts
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: and the people that they bring on, they ask a
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: lot of good questions, so we get the rest of
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the listeners dialed in the saying is there a better
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: way to skin that cat? Is there a better way
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: to overcome that obstacle? That independent community pharmacies are what
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: they're going through right now. It's a transformation from prescription
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: based focus to outcomes based focus, to value based focus,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: to building better relationships with patients. And if technology doesn't
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: suck up the operations, you can't do it.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it really ties back into our vision
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: right where Hey, we want to empower and provide pharmacy
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: the tools they need to run their business every day,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: but at the same time providing them tools that will
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: drive optimization through automation innovation, to empower them to get
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: more involved with their community, their patients and hopefully spend
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: some more time looking at revenue generating opportunities that exist
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: through the broader Outcomes network or Hayer and Pharma sponsor
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: programs that we're partnering with. So that is really what
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: our team is driving and pushing for every day is, Hey,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: how do we take these tasks that pharmacists are doing
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: and how do we look at them in a different
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: lens to drive value back into the pharmacy that will
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: help them with profitability, to help them drive optimization, etc.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: So we're really excited about it.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: And not to mention, yes, now you was here talking
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: about automated data entry, that was awesome. But the other
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: thing is you've spent a lot of time with multiple
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: team members.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: We had louis An.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Meyers speaking with you, I think recently too, and she
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: was talking about the pill count machine and some of
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: the stuff that we're doing there to build in the workflow.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot of.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Exciting things happy in outcomes, and we appreciate the time
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: that we get a chance to spend with you talking
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: about it.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Absolutely a shout out to the listeners. If you are
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: someone who's wrestling with operations right now and you're in
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: that gap of your pharmacy growth where it's like, hey,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: maybe it's time to investigate in their service. Maybe it's
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: time to reevaluate technology platforms, Maybe it's time to reevaluate
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: what organizations are on the knife edge of becoming too
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: much of a control freak of everything that pharmacies do.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: And there's independence in this game, and independent don't independent
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: pharmacies don't want to feel like my payer is putting
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: a neck stranglehold on me, my pharmacy management system is
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: putting in a stranglehold on me. I want to feel
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I'm we're in the land of the free, Like we
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: want to just like move and do what we want
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: as independence. And some independence will use technology slightly different
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: than others, and there's so much flexibility in outcomes technology
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: as well as the system that I'm not allowed to
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: talk about, which will be the new system this coming.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're definitely we're building something and we're excited about it.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, you know, I think it's
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: how do we take the tools that we had today
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: and how do we continue to make them better? And
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: so we're partnering with ambassadors that we call ambassadors of
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: you know, folks that are super users of our.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: System and how do we make things better?
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: And I think the voice of the pharmacists and the
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: voice of the pharmacy is really shaping our roadmap for success.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: And that's really what the you know, our our structure
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: has been is like, let them tell us what we
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: need to continue to build to help make their days
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: look a little bit easier when they come in every morning.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, I hate, I hate where we're going, but
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: I love the event.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Ascembia twenty twenty six is coming, we are so pumped up.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: It's like the super Bowl of specialty pharmacy. You guys
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: are going to be there. Talk to us about what
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you're excited about spec faus.
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: You know, when you think about outcomes, we have multiple
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: different verticals that represent the entire business and so it's
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: a really great opportunity for us to have our team
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: that is working with pharma brands get a chance to
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: meet with them and talk through how we as outcomes
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: can help promote their brands through access, awareness and adherence
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: through our pharmacy network. And that can be either through
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: digital programs or also pharmacist led program So it provides
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: us in our team that is working directly with the
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: farmer brands an opportunity to have those conversations and really
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: talk about the scale ability of how the outcomes network
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: can help even another type of source, which is the
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: pharma company. So we're really excited about it. We have
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: some new team members, it'll be there. We have our
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: support team members, it'll be there to talking about some
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: changes we've made across our support organization to really help
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: clients and continue to you know, listening to them and
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: continue making change within our roadmap.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: So we're really excited about it. We're exciting too.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I'm your team is going to be almost like the
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Mission Impossible gang. You guys are going to be going
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: throughout the entire event. I'm going to put your email.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: You're going to see Nick's email up on the screen
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: right now. It's also going to be in the show notes.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: If someone's and they're like, hey, I want to catch
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: up with these guys, they can just send an email
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: off to you.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Perfect.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, our team will be there. I'll make
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: sure it will connect them to the right person. But
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: I gotta be honest to you. Brought up the Mission Impossible.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: My wife and I we just watched the latest movie.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: Have you seen The Late No?
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: I have.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: It's three hours long. Oh my god, it takes a
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: whole afternoon. But it was not worth the three hours.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: If you're a Mission Impossible fanner.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: I am ye.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I remember makes me feel old
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: to think of the new you know, Mission Impossible versus
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: you know, when the very first one that came out,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: what's this first? What's this next one called? Is it
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: the Final Reckoning? It is the Final Reckoning? Okay, yeah,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's doing well in the ratings, and you know,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: people are not very forgiving to older actors. I think
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: there's some agism there that Tom Cruise is still out
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: there doing stunts. He's still beating it up. And listen,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm gonna be fifty four this summer. So
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: let me tell you what I'm all mister Tom Cruise.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Keep doing it, buddy, keep doing it.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you did a great job.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, we're excited that you got to be on Twerks.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Be here in the studio. We'll talk to you guys next. Hey, guys,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: don't go anywhere. More Twarks coming up.
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: This episode is sponsored by Independent Pharmacy Cooperative, widely known
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: as IPC, established in nineteen eighty three, IPC is the
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: nation's largest group purchasing organization owned by independent pharmacy with
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: a mission of maximizing the success of community pharmacists. IPC
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: works to provide members with access to effective programs and
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: services designed to enhance profitability for independent pharmacy. Read more
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: about our mission by checking out our website at ipcrx
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: dot com. That's ipcrx dot com.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, special feature up on this week in Pharmacy. I
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: want to welcome Jennifer Hammond's to the show. Met you
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: through LinkedIn and I cannot wait for our listeners to
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: hear your story.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: But welcome to twerks.
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: Hey, thank you so much for having me.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: Very welcome.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: We both were at the APHA, but I was busy.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I was only able to be there for one day.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: You were busy running around. We didn't get the cross,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: but you and I have communicated through LinkedIn and after
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: hearing your story and building off of what your aunt
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: has built built sister Bernie Kenny, the founder of health Wagon,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: This is so special and that's why I wanted to
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: give you on Jennifer. I want you to share this
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: story with our listeners.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so about fifty years ago, a Catholic nun went
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: to the coal camps in the back of a Bolkswagen
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Beetle providing healthcare and seeing these miners who didn't have
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: any kind of any kind of healthcare. And so she
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: was given an old beat up Volkswagen Beetle and went
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: to the coal camps. And since then we've grown into
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: free standing clinics and mobile units of travel across seven counties.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: We have a free pharmacy and we also have a
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: general clinic as well, And so you know what started
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: there in those coal camps now provides a plethora of
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: medical services to an area that has no other options.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Before we started recording, Jennifer kind of comparing notes
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: in the area I live in in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Brownsville,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania experienced a massive financial collapse of not only coal
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: working but also steel and the community start to really
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: implode in like the sixties, seventies and then especially eighties
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: nineties it was even worse. So you go to our
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: downtown and you see these majestic buildings, banks with marble
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: and just gorgeous of their of the age that they
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: lived in through the eighteen eighties through the nineteen sixties,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: and that's exactly probably what happened, you know in your
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: life that.
• 27:24
  Speaker 6: It's exactly what we saw here.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: You know, Cole came in and you know, about as
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: fast as it came in, it left right, and then
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: it just left devastation and no backup plans.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: So now we couple that with what the PBMs have
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: turned into, which are you know, just profit vacuums, and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: you put that up against the minuscule amount of money
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: that's coming through medicaid systems and how it's getting worse
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: state to state. So talk to us about the kind
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of the business model and how you're able to sustain
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: and how the health wagon is moving forward to help
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: people who are desperate need for medications.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Right, the pharmacy operates, it's everybody's uninsured, right, everybody makes
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: three hundred percent below the federal poverty lines, and so
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: we work all the safety net distributors. Right, Dispense Area
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Hope America is direct relief, and that's where all of
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: our medications come from. We don't buy any medications. I
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: use my membership for Dispense Area Hope and take that
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: formulary and that's how we're able to provide millions of
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: dollars free medications. We also use patient assistance programs. We
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: use every patient assistance program that we can to find
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: a way to get these medicines to these people who
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: have no other options of ways to getting them. All.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Right, So, when you think of these programs and how
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: much the public needs them, you described to me kind
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: of like a I don't know if we're going to
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: call it a donut hole, but a section of the
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: population that makes maybe just a little bit too much
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: money to be covered patient.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, talked about enough, right, So, like, the average Medicare
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: check is six hundred dollars in this area, and so
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: most copays are at least a quarter or.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Half of that.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: And so.
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: What are we leaving Medicare patients to live on. There's
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: no cap on that.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: There's no patient assistance programs because they're technically considered in
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: short and so the both majority of the calls that
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: I get from our elderly patients are ones who have
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: no options to do any better. That there's great. They
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: put a cap on what they can pay. That's four
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: months of what they made. That's what they're supposed to
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: live on. The average light build cost here in this
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: area is around six hundred dollars a month. What are
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: we wanting these people to do when they have no
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: other options? They're going to choose not to take their
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: meds every single time.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: You know, they have to feed their family and they
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: have to buy food, they have to pay for rent,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: they have to pay for that electric bill that you
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: said that is, and we know electric costs are also rising.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: So there's a lot of pressures on you as a provider,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: doctor Hammond, What do you where do you see light
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: at the end of the tunnel where you're able to
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: go for news sourcing? You know, I thought of these
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: patient assistant programs and you've probably scoured all of those obviously,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: But is it the is it the private organizations in
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: an area? Is it church organizations? Is it grant funding?
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: Like? Where else are you in?
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: And so? What that?
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: So we're so we're in a member of the Free
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Clinic right National Association and Free Inschuritable Clinics.
• 30:30
  Speaker 6: They are an amazing resource for us. Right.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: I'm able to pull grants, I write grants, I talk
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: to donors. I will ask anybody for anything if my
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: patients needed I try to find a way, Like I said,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: if it's not first line, it might not be second line,
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: but there's a line somewhere to put a medication into
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: a patient. Where they live at should not determine their
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: health outcomes.
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: This part of the state, on the other end of
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Virginia has a fifteen year higher LOPICS vacancy. Right, So
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: because you're from central Appalachia, shouldn't determine what access you have.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: And so that's what we try to do here is
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: build pathways. Build you know, every single month, our adherence
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: here is eighty five percent at our pharmacy because we
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: try to we play up expiration dates. We try to
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: maximize the resources that we have. When we find something
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: in stock that doesn't expire till next month, you know,
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: next year, we will absolutely just try to max that
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: out and get the bulk of our patients on that medicine.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: When you get into free charity and when you get
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: into free pharmacy, you have to be really innovative in
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: your approach, right, because it's totally different. I came from
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: a Walmart pharmacy and now I'm running a free pharmacy,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: right too, totally different.
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: Beasts, and so at the end of the day, you.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Know, a prescription is only as good as the medication
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: that you can put inside the patient, right, you know that,
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: And that's what we're doing here, access equity. That's all
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: it boils down to at the end of the day.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: So when I also think of.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Family planning, or I think of women's health or maybe
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: something specific in cancer, are your organizations assessing everything or
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: is there everything?
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: And so there are some there are some cancer medications
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: that we can get through a program called the Pharmacy
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Connect And so we're a level to search a drug, right,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: any drug that you have, we can search and find
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: out pretty instantly if there's a patient assistance program for
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: that medication, and you know, we take your last year's
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: patch returnment, we'll you know, we have providers here, we
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: have nurse practitioners here.
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: We'll get you a prescription.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: We can process that here in house, and we know
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: pretty fast, you know, if we can find a way
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: to get that covered for you.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: The mobile units also include primary care, dentist dentistry.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so we have mobile units seven counties around
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: seventeen hundred square miles. Is the mission here at the
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Health Wagon, and so this is all we're no borders, right,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: no barriers, and so if you have insurance, will be
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Billiger Insurance. But we provide free services. Right.
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: No one ever gets turned away for treatment here.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: It's incredible.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Where where's the opportunity for philanthropy for pharmacists listening in
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: that may either have resources or pharmacists that want to
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: work in this. There's lots of pharmacists out there who
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: are listening who would love to get more into public.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, so we do large scale events and so in
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: July we'll have an event where there'll be about two
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: thousand patients here on our campus in Walls, Virginia. Where
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: there's always need for volunteers. There's always an education or
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: counseling or if you have a resource available, we can
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: find somewhere to put you at. Anything that you can
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: bring to the table, we'll find a way to eat.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: I love it. I love it. So I want to
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: let the listeners know. I'm going to put this in
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: the show notes.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: If you want to look this up, it's the health
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: wagon dot org once again, and it's the health Wagon
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: dot org.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: In the show notes.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I'm also going to put links to Jennifer's LinkedIn just
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: in case you want to connect with her via LinkedIn. Jennifer,
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: I appreciate how fast you were able to respond and
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: getting onto this week in pharmacy.
• 34:16
  Speaker 6: I really like thank you for having me on that.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Digging into what pharmacists are doing out there to help
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: people that are in different sectors of healthcare. And one
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: of the sectors that we on the show just we've
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: been here seventeen years and we just don't talk about,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: is the areas of no funding like that you just
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: have to find a way to get things done. And
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: that's where health Wagon is serving so many of the communities.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: And you said one seven hundred square miles.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the thing I mean, not only we're
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: a pharmacy desert, right, we're a healthcare provider shortage area.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: We have all the fancy terms that you know, they
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: tell you that let you know that you know, access
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: is a problem here.
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: We have all that and there appears to be no answer.
• 35:00
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: That's why it's so important that these safety net programs
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: are sustainable. And it's all because of grit, right, I mean,
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: none of this stuff is there's no way to turn
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: a profit on any of this. It's all good old
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: fashioned hard work, grit and and and being allowed to
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: talk to people like you, right, That's that's how we
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: get our message out, that's how we're heard.
• 35:23
  Speaker 6: So thank you for reaching out as well.
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: Absolutely all right.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: You heard it here on this week in Pharmacy, the
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: health wagon dot org. Look them up and if you
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: can assist, please do so, especially if you're close by
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: or within an area that you could go over and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: talk with Jennifer find out how to help the communities. Jennifer,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: I want to follow back up with you later in
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: the year and get you back on twerks.
• 35:47
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, thank you so much, thank you, thank you.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Hey, we'll be right back