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Health Security, Specialty Care & the OTC Products Patients Trust | TWIRx · Pharmacy Podcast Network

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  Speaker 2: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: to the pharmacy profession.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast.
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  Speaker 2: Network special this Week in Pharmacy feature. And this is
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: on all of our minds. This isn't just something that
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  Speaker 2: I've come up with. Obviously, Pharmacists out there throughout the
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  Speaker 2: country realize how our world is in a lot of
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  Speaker 2: pain right now with some of the global conference conflicts
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  Speaker 2: that have been taking place. I've talked about Medica Life
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: a lot on the Pharmacy Podcast Network. We are actually
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: a podcast that is featured through Medica Life. A shout
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: out to Gilbash for his direction, and a shout out
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to Finn Partners, who's been a wonderful collaborator with me
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: over the years, a friend of mine who taught me
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  Speaker 2: a lot about the details of global conflict. I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to be featuring today, but I want I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: put this link in the show notes that the title
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  Speaker 2: of this article is the Hidden cost of Global Conflict.
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  Speaker 2: Why health security is the first casualty and this goes
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  Speaker 2: from a first point of view of the relationships that
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  Speaker 2: this author has on an international level, and I want
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  Speaker 2: to go through this today. I would like to welcome
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  Speaker 2: my friend Aman Gupta to the show. And amad it's
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: been way too long. We should have done this sooner.
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  Speaker 4: We should have Doddan. But thanks a lot for having
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  Speaker 4: me as part of this amazing conversation and I would
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  Speaker 4: sort of say, a most relevant conversation in today's time.
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  Speaker 4: So I'm really excited to be and thankful to you
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  Speaker 4: to sort of, you know, having me as part of
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  Speaker 4: this conversation.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, you know.
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  Speaker 2: There's a funny saying and game that they came up
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  Speaker 2: with about twelve years ago called the Kevin Bacon effect.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: And Kevin Bacon is a well known actor in Hollywood,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: and they say that everybody's connected to Kevin Bacon within
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: five or six points of people. And you and I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: are closer connected than anything Kevin Bacon could ever do.
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  Speaker 2: So maybe we should say it becomes the Aman Gupta effect.
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  Speaker 5: But you have.
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  Speaker 2: Connections to the pharmacy industry not only in the United
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  Speaker 2: States but also in India, and that's very special to me.
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  Speaker 2: Because I want to cultivate listeners and content that really
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  Speaker 2: shares with eighty five thousand listeners that we've developed for
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  Speaker 2: seventeen years podcasting. So having you talk with our listeners
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  Speaker 2: today about the true impact from your perspective in this
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  Speaker 2: wonderful article that you was very heartfelt, but also it
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: was jammed with a lot of factual information. Talk to
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  Speaker 2: our listeners, tell them about yourself, tell them where you're
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: at and where your main home offices are, and then
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: let's get into this article.
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  Speaker 4: No, thank you, Todd. So I'll try to make it
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  Speaker 4: tech really quick. And I said, I'm based in India
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  Speaker 4: and I started my journey with the pharmacirical industry and
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  Speaker 4: then pivoted to become a health communicator in year two thousand.
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  Speaker 4: So this is the twenty sixth year of being a
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  Speaker 4: health communicator and I believe the role which we play
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  Speaker 4: is very, very critical. Now India is sort of seen
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  Speaker 4: as the pharmacity of the world. You know, we do
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  Speaker 4: supply across more than one hundred and fifteen countries. And
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  Speaker 4: the whole idea is that access to the medicine per
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  Speaker 4: se should be your first rude because nobody should be
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  Speaker 4: living in in ill here, So somebody should not be
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  Speaker 4: living in where the quality of life is kind of
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  Speaker 4: a low. So I think that's kind of a basic
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  Speaker 4: frame wise which exists. And when I was writing this
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  Speaker 4: particular article, it took me back to year two thousand
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  Speaker 4: and one. That was the first time when I met
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  Speaker 4: Professor Jeffrey Sachs. You know, he's one of the global
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  Speaker 4: thought leaders from a health economics perspective, and I was
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  Speaker 4: managing history to India and one of the things which
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  Speaker 4: really stood out for me as as a student of
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  Speaker 4: and that kind of a student for life, is that
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  Speaker 4: how health and economics are interlinked. So when we sort
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  Speaker 4: of talk about anything which impacts health and in this
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  Speaker 4: part and you know, being in you know, with the
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  Speaker 4: West Asia conflict currently kind of you know, going through
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  Speaker 4: and we are more closer to that, we don't see
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  Speaker 4: the layers beyond what might be getting reported into the
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  Speaker 4: media because that's the immediacy over happening. What will follow
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  Speaker 4: through over the course of the next months and the
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  Speaker 4: years is much more larger because what it's done is
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  Speaker 4: that it has pivoted the priorities to something which is
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  Speaker 4: more led by defense, is more led by the conflict.
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  Speaker 4: And when that's how pivoting happens. It allows people to
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  Speaker 4: sort of say, I'm not going to focus on what
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  Speaker 4: is the core, which is the health part of it.
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  Speaker 4: And when health is not given its due priorities, it
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  Speaker 4: will impact the economics, It will impact the people per se,
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  Speaker 4: not just from a physical perspective. Will I back them
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  Speaker 4: from the quality of life there for the mental will
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  Speaker 4: being part of it, and so many other things, and
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  Speaker 4: therefore the overarching perspective of how we as humanity are
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  Speaker 4: living on this planet as to dip down. So the
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  Speaker 4: impact is much more bigger. It's not something that you
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  Speaker 4: can quantify in a dollar value or you know, in
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  Speaker 4: a in a percentage format. It's much more larger. And
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  Speaker 4: that thing will continue to echo post the whole conflict
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  Speaker 4: is done, you know. And that's I think it's a
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  Speaker 4: bigger issue. And why one conflict definuity should be avoided
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  Speaker 4: where if it is kind of possible, but it should
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  Speaker 4: not be allowed to impact the health part of it.
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  Speaker 5: That makes a lot of sense.
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  Speaker 2: I have a sensitive question from you from your opinion
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  Speaker 2: and understanding, why why are Americans so unattached in many
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  Speaker 2: ways from what else is happening in the world and
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  Speaker 2: not understanding that the health and the wellbeing of others
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  Speaker 2: is coming full circle, and it is impacting economies, and
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  Speaker 2: it is impacting the ability to grow and to cultivate
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  Speaker 2: the specialness of one part of our global culture versus another.
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  Speaker 5: And I think we miss it because we get too.
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  Speaker 2: Involved in our iPhones and our tiktoks, and we centralize,
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  Speaker 2: and I almost feel like we're a little bit our
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  Speaker 2: culture is a little bit of a selfish nation in
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  Speaker 2: some ways because we don't understand the interconnection. And you've
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: had an opportunity to connect to other parts of the world,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: bring out the stories through your writings, connect with clients
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  Speaker 2: who are very much relying on you to get the
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  Speaker 2: communications out about what they're doing to help other people.
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  Speaker 2: Talk to us about kind of that dynamic, and is
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  Speaker 2: that part of all humans that kind of centralize and
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  Speaker 2: we forget about each other or do you think like
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  Speaker 2: I actually have a strong opinion, I think the United
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  Speaker 2: States tends to be our culture and our society tends
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  Speaker 2: to be a little bit more selfish.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, So I would not try to I don't think
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  Speaker 4: it's it's a specifically to a job of phase. It's
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  Speaker 4: not just you know, if you say happening in America,
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  Speaker 4: say that they are kind of accilerated from the rest
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  Speaker 4: of the world. It's an aspect and it was something
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  Speaker 4: which I was reading today morning itself. It's an aspect
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  Speaker 4: of privilege versus not privileged. So let's sort of look
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  Speaker 4: at the globe instrutality, right, you have the developed economy,
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  Speaker 4: the emerging economies, and as as we call is the
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  Speaker 4: least developed of nm C is another low and middle
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  Speaker 4: income kind of things. And then of course you can
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  Speaker 4: further down now because there is inequality which exists within
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  Speaker 4: the way the whole economies are doing. It's the people
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  Speaker 4: who reside there. So, as I said, it's not just
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  Speaker 4: something which you will see within say in America, you
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  Speaker 4: will see within economies like India where people who are privileges,
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  Speaker 4: which I figured out today morning. The privilege basically means
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  Speaker 4: I have a private law. So there's a general law
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  Speaker 4: and there's a private law. Privilege comes from the Latin word,
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  Speaker 4: which is prevay law, which is.
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  Speaker 6: My own law.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm thinking from that particular lens. And it's not
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  Speaker 4: something which you would like to put a finger on
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  Speaker 4: somebody saying why you're thinking, but that's how you see
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  Speaker 4: the world. It's it's the lens through which you see
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  Speaker 4: the world. I think the aspect which is very important
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  Speaker 4: is and I think it's it's something which individuals and
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  Speaker 4: the communy communities to think, is that you're not isolated.
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  Speaker 4: The main important aspect is that in produces world, you're
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  Speaker 4: not an isolated country, You're not an asceolated community. Everything
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  Speaker 4: is interconnected and tomorrow of any of this interconnection breaks down,
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  Speaker 4: it will have a direct impact on you. So just
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  Speaker 4: for an example, if we look at it, we know
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  Speaker 4: that China is one of the biggest suppliers of almost
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  Speaker 4: everything across the world, and in a COVID, in a
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  Speaker 4: post covered world and a geopolitical thing, we do know
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  Speaker 4: that if China decides that I would like to isolate myself, it.
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  Speaker 6: Will have an impact forum.
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  Speaker 4: So the interconnectivity becomes very essential. And I think it's
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  Speaker 4: something which thought you and have discussed in the past,
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  Speaker 4: that we need to look at world as an interconnected humanity,
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  Speaker 4: how that connection needs to be seen as a positive,
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  Speaker 4: as a strength, and if we can do that, we
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  Speaker 4: will be in a world where things become so much
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  Speaker 4: easier to exist where the strength of one becomes the
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  Speaker 4: strength of somebody. Is we need to look at our world,
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  Speaker 4: which is much more positive in its thinking. Rather they're
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: trying to look at the negatives and try to sort
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  Speaker 4: of say that there is a certain kind of a
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  Speaker 4: supermassive which exis so.
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  Speaker 2: Well the global economies, which I'm not sure if my
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  Speaker 2: listeners realize this, but India is the sixth largest economy
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  Speaker 2: in the entire world, and to make that top ten
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  Speaker 2: is significant in the impact of the health of India's
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  Speaker 2: economy has on the ripple effect of the entire world.
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  Speaker 2: And I didn't realize that I was preparing for our
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  Speaker 2: notes and some of my questions that I had of you.
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  Speaker 5: That's immense.
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  Speaker 2: That's four point one five trillion dollars in domestic product
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  Speaker 2: in the impact and the third largest global economy is India.
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  Speaker 2: When I think of that, I immediately think of the
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  Speaker 2: privately owned pharmacist and pharmacies throughout the country. Talk to
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: me about what you've noticed about being a pharmacist or
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: working with pharmacist or people that because for us in
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  Speaker 2: the States, it's the most accessible person of all of
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: the healthcare providers it's more accessible than the general practitioner
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  Speaker 2: of physicians. It's more accessible than our nurses which are
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  Speaker 2: so they're the number one trusted pharmacists came in second
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  Speaker 2: in trust.
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  Speaker 5: And then I think of India.
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  Speaker 2: So if India is such a huge amount of commerce happening,
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  Speaker 2: let's talk about the individual what kind of relationship. How
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  Speaker 2: does India look at their pharmacist in comparison to other
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  Speaker 2: healthcare providers for accessibility to the need for healthcare?
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  Speaker 4: I think thought you know, what you sir said is
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  Speaker 4: kind of a true for India. Also, it's such a
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  Speaker 4: large geographical spread which we have, you know, from north
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  Speaker 4: to south to east to west, while having the same
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  Speaker 4: time zone where unlike you say, you have multiple times.
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  Speaker 6: Plus.
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  Speaker 4: What we need to understand is that you have a
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  Speaker 4: differential socio economic ecosyst and for them, the pharmacist is
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  Speaker 4: your first point of call. If I am not feeling well,
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  Speaker 4: I will have a pharmacy which is within the one
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  Speaker 4: hundred to two and fifty feets in vicinity of where
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  Speaker 4: I kind of air stake. So that's the that's the
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  Speaker 4: kind of a the strength of where India is. There
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  Speaker 4: is an organization called AIOC which is all India Organization
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  Speaker 4: of Chemistry and Drugs, which is one of the largest
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  Speaker 4: pharmacy network which we have in India. And in my
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  Speaker 4: fifty four years of you know, born and brought up
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: and being in this part of the world, it was
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: one of the easiest way for us to go and
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: have a conversation about your sickness, about your illness, and
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  Speaker 4: they were the people who are able to really guide
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: you through the whole thing.
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  Speaker 6: And the other thing.
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  Speaker 4: Which has really happened and I'm not sure how much
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  Speaker 4: it's sort of is happening in the US. We now
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  Speaker 4: have laid that to the whole e commerce in the pharmacy,
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: so you don't need to go to our pharmacist. The
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: pharmacists had tied up and you have the whole e
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: commerce like what you have in Amazon. We have a
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: pharmacy Amazon's here where you just need to upload your
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: prescription and you are able to get the drugs coming
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: to your house sometimes and within the thirty minutes. Because
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: that's how the whole network has been has been set up.
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: It also allows you to look at between the cost
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: things because one of the things is that we are
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: one of the biggest generics a market with the right
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: kind of the quality. So I can look at a
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  Speaker 4: drug which is off patent.
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  Speaker 6: To sort of.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Say, can I go for this general courses of this
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: general because there is the cost differential, but coming from
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: a two good quality Indian informa of manufacturers, and I
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: can say it costs and that's data is available when
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: I'm going on my e commerce side of it. So
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: because as I was saying, you know, access to the
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: medicine should be a right and it should not therefore
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: get dependent on the pricing. Everybody should be able to
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: make it happen. And just to give you an example,
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: a couple of years back, there was a family person
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: who was going a kind of a surgery fromcology surgery
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: in the US from India and you know, be part
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: of it. And after said he was done, they would
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: prescribed some drugs and we went to the pharmacistem in
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: the US, and I think the farmacies were so so
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: helpful to say you can look at, you know, one
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: of the possible generics from India which you can sort
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: of access it here, which was at a much lower
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: cost because there's an off patent molecule. So for someone
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: who's coming from a different side of the world, who
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: is who is kind of not part of the Paer ecosystem.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: Having a friendly pharmacist to guide you through some of
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: these systems becomes a such an important thing, and it
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: sort of really brings up the whole interconnectedness and understanding
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: that the world is different in different parts of the
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: world and you need to therefore converse, encourage and guide accordingly.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: There's another subject that is a teaching opportunity to learn
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: from each other. That is medical tourism, where we have
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: where we have providers from the States going places from
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: people from India coming to the States and going to
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Africa and different places where there's needs. Talk to us
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: about your experiences within medical tourism, and also in our
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: show notes, I'll make sure we put a link in
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: for people that are listening if they're interested in connecting
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: with a medical tourism network and group, because there are
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: listeners that we have who are passionate who would love
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to travel abroad and become a giver of
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: their time in working with people who are in desperate needs.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: So Gatta Abukawk, who is from New Jersey. She is
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: a pharmacy owner. She travels the globe and she goes
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: to some very dangerous places. She was in the Gaza
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Strip a year ago when when there was a ton
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: of fighting going on and she risked her life to
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: deliver medications specifically for children, and I was just blown away.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Made me cry just to read some of her experiences.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: But talk to me about medical tourism and how important
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: that is.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: I think it's kind of an extension of what taught
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: you and everything the whole interconnected world. Now, if you
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: have an elective surgery which you would like to undertake, right,
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: so you want to sort of go for a total
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: need replacement hypothetically, Now that might be something which if
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: you go to any system saying in NHS or the US,
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: you may be getting something which is six months down
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: the line or nine months down the line. So one
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: issue is the timelines. You know, when are you getting
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: excess to a provider to say I'm going to do
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: this for you nine months down the line so or
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: twelve months down the line. So there's a queue in
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: which you are sort of standing to get excess. The
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: other thing is the cost of making it happen, and
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: of course each economy operates differently, so the cost is
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: higher depending on which economy are residing. Now, this is
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: where the interconnectedness comes in. You can come into stay
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: in India and you can have an access to the
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: one of the most advanced medical healthcare provider who can
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: make this surgery available the next day or you know,
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: they would build other things thing you come in and
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: will take care.
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: Of you the time you lane in India.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: Come in, you'll have the best of the doctors, the
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: top most technologies in alignment with what's available in the
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: US or any of the global markets. And it will
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: be done at one fifth or one sixth of the
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: cost which is there within the timelines which you are
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: looking for. So you don't need me to wait for
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: a year, get it done at the one fifth and
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: one says, So I would sort of say, become more
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: culturally sensitive to the world outside of where you are assiding.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: So it has three plusses which is coming to you.
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: You know, it's.
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: Allowing you to ensure that you get relative surgery something
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: which you don't need to wait, do it at a
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: cost which is much more lower. Definitely, you know it
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: may not be paid by your insurance, but insurance as
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: such is a different thing, but it could be done
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: with through your out of pocket. Plus you get to
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: sort of meat and see the people which are very
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: culturally different, almost on the other side of the world.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: So you have a huge learning exercise there. So that's one.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: The second is the other way. Now there are issues
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: which you need a space list with. As I said,
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: I was saying in the just now we had someone
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: who needed an oncology it was a rare coins of cancer.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: Now that was something which we knew can only happen
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: in US. So you have to go down. So it's
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: not a one way street. It's not that you have
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: to just come in here because the cost is low.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: You have to also understand where does the expertise lies
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: there in a certain cases where it's complex cases, if
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: it is something which you need a specialist for and
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: that technology only exists in some other part of the world,
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: you will have to kind of travel and make it happen.
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: And I think that really, I think should be the
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: beauty that the borders should not decide where you go
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: and get access to the things.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: There's an attitude of giving to that, and that's giving
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: of their time and their expertise and tying into people
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: that have needs. And we've heard of specialty pharmacy or
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: specialty side. It's mostly cancer's HIV and the expense. And
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: now we're seeing people go to Canada, some people are
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: traveling to Mexico and the cost for the same medication
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: is drastic and it's it's percentage, you know, thousands of
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: percentages lower. And the United States is going through a
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: very volatile time in prescription benefit in prescription differentiation from
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: other countries that have proven that. And this is just
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: a matter of education for our listeners. But medications don't
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: have to be the expensive way that they're you know,
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: delivered here in the States in in just as effective.
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: Yes, it's just it's mind blowing.
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: And and I think that we're learning more about international
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: connections in curating in you know, the delivery and the
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: ingredients and the development, and so many of our pharmaceutical
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: manufacturers are global anyway. So you know, my question is
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: how do we how do we come up with pricing
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: and structures that serve India the same way that it
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: would serve the United States and vice versa, so that
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: our costs don't crush people. That there's people that are
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: in the United States that are deciding do I need
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: my medication or do you need to buy food? And
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: it's just that's a horrible situation to be listening to you.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: But what have you noticed in the contrast between the
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: United States costs of health care and medications versus other
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: places throughout the world.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: So I think, Todd, if you look at the cost,
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: the US cost is definitely.
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: High.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: When I say high, it's take really, really high, and
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: that could really anyone. While you may have access to
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: the health insurance part of it, while you may have
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: other peer ecosystem, the basic cost is on a higher side.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: Having said that, we also need to recognize the fact
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: that the US is where the innovation has happening and
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: there is a kind of a cost. So what we
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: really need is a balancing and where you do need innovation,
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: and we need to find a right financing mechanism so
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: that people can take it access to the innovation. But
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: innovation may constitute five percent of the medicines or the
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: medical technologies which you need. The rest of that really
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: can come in from the other parts of the world,
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: which again really take the innovation and then bring it
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: to a more affordable level and supply it back. So
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: it's an equation which has to have both the It
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: has to have the innovators and it has to have
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: the people who can then well the innovation chatter is over,
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: can really mass produce it and issue that people continue
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: to have an access to it. So that's really is
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: with what we really kind of a need to ensure
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: that we are able to deliver a quality of health
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: and quality of life which every citizen of this world needs.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: A good way of putting it. I've been so excited
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: to learn from different writers, many of them have been
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: sourced from medical life. The collection of so many insights
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and the connection back to what we do in covering
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: stories that just don't get enough discussion is quite important.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: And there's an organization that we're both aware of that.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I'm very proud that they've grown in the United States
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: as strong as they have for representation of their members
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: but serving their communities throughout the country as well as
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: throughout the world. But I want to give a shout
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: out to the India Pharmaceutical Alliance and their work over
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: the years they've worked with me and a team of
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: people that I've worked with, which is called sweet our X,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: which was a pharmacy management system, a software system, And
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: we've seen their events and we've seen what they're doing.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: But Ahmad, these people that run this organization are so
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: giving of their time every time we asked for some
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: direction or we ask them for some insights, the giving
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: of their time and giving of their expertise. And blending
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: that with the pharmacy owners in the United States who
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: are Indian or they want that familiarity, they want they
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: feel like there's trust. But then they once they build
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: that relationship, they pour that out through their whole their
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: whole community. And I think that a patient that is
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: is understanding.
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: They don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: What they know is the services that they're getting from
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: their pharmacist. But you've worked with other organizations throughout the world,
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: and I p A you've known of them as well,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: and and I thought that was a special coincidence before
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: we jumped on on the car.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: And somehow we're supposed to take that logic, sah You know,
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: I P the leadership is someone who I have known
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: very well, and they really are the ones who are
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: really bringing the Indian farmer to the global stage. They
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: are the ones who really are committed to ensure that
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: the innovation quality and exists in me is kind of
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: three or three pillars on which they are kind of
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: really working on and going to do the same thing
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: that as a pharmastuy of industry. The rule is to
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: ensure that people get access to the medicine. I remember
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: a couple of years back they did a campaign is
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: called Mission Medicine Delivering Life. The whole idea was that
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: how from the basics of manufacturing to the quality checks
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: to supply chain, how medicine breaches every household and every
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: home across the world and that really brings the smile
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: and the life in the minds of the people. So
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: from what you sort of said from the giving part,
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: it's not just a business, it's more about being at
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: the core of every individual to say here we are
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: will help you leave the best life which you can lead,
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: and we are here to support you need it every step.
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: So what project is on your horizon next? And where
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: are you going?
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Because you shared before we start a record that you
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: have a trip upcoming.
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm off to the bombit tomorrow morning. And as
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: is what you sort of brought up is what's happening.
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: I'm meeting the ip A leadership. You know, I've known
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: then for for a long period of time and I
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: was gone planning and I'm sure you to be in
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: bombit tomorrow, so I took an opportuity to reach out
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: and I'm looking forward to having some interesting and insightful
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: conversation with the ip leadership tomorrow.
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: I'm excited. I'm excited to hear about that.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: We'll have to have you back as well as a
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: team member from the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance. I want to
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: thank you, Ahmad for being a guest today on This
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: Week in Pharmacy, sharing your insights and I just want
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: to say your work is noticed on a global scale.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: So I feel honored to know you and call you
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: my friend, and we're going to have you back on
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: tworks very soon.
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: Thank you, dog, I appreciate having me here.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: This episode is sponsored by Independent Pharmacy Cooperative, widely known
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: as IPC. Established in nineteen eighty three, IPC is the
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: nation's largest group purchasing organization owned by Independent Pharmacy with
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: a mission of maximizing the success of community pharmacists. IPC
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: works to provide members with access to effective programs and
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: services designed to enhance profitability for independent pharmacy.
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: Read more about our mission.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: By checking out our website at ipcrx dot com. That's
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: ipcarx dot com.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to this Week in Pharmacy. My friend fellow
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: pittsburgher back on the show, doctor Chris Antipas.
• 32:59
  Speaker 7: How are you, Chris?
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: I'm well, my friend. How are you good? Good?
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: Or recovered from the long weekend? I needed an extra
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: day because I did a lot of chores, got the
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: flowers up. But southwestern Pennsylvania is a monsoon right now.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: It's just rainy out there.
• 33:16
  Speaker 6: That's it, I know.
• 33:18
  Speaker 8: And when it rains here, it just it just rains
• 33:20
  Speaker 8: and it just doesn't stop raining.
• 33:22
  Speaker 6: So I guess that's.
• 33:24
  Speaker 8: The life we live here in southwestern Pa. We're insulated
• 33:28
  Speaker 8: from all the really bad stuff, but we also struggle
• 33:31
  Speaker 8: to get the good stuff, so we're always in a
• 33:34
  Speaker 8: state of discontent with the weather.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Seventy eight days of sunshine is the average for western Pennsylvania.
• 33:42
  Speaker 7: That's crazy.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: I did not know that there was a stat That's
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: one of my lolo when my daughter's friends brought up
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: and I'm like seven, So I checked it it came out.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: It was like, yeah, you're right, it's seventy eight, seventy
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: nine days of sunshine.
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: That's not enough sunshine.
• 33:57
  Speaker 8: So that in these parts when it is sunnyeople try
• 34:01
  Speaker 8: to take advantage of it as much as they can.
• 34:02
  Speaker 8: They're out in their front lawn sunbathing.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: That's right, Wow, it's right getting burnt.
• 34:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: So we just got back from Assembia. What a great gathering.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: It was just talking to some of my other colleagues
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: that are preparing for other conferences. We're excited about Idea
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: Share and possibly going to Thought Spot, going to the
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: RBC through Cardinal Health obviously this fall, getting ready for NCPA.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: But there was something special about SMBIA. We're not talking
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: about things that we were discussing, say, five years ago.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: It seems when we go to Assembia, people are on
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: the edge. They're always talking about, Hey, what's happening next.
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: And Modesto and Paragon.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Three sixty had a booth there, very active booth. You
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: cheated by having the hockey game playing in your booth too,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: which was a draw.
• 34:58
  Speaker 7: I'm have to remember that too, by the way.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: But talk to us about your experience at ASSEMBIA and
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: then I have some questions about Paragons next phase.
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it was great.
• 35:07
  Speaker 8: I mean Assembia is as you said, there's always a
• 35:12
  Speaker 8: very clear.
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: Sense and it's palpable.
• 35:17
  Speaker 8: The innovation that's happening in the marketplace, I think it's
• 35:20
  Speaker 8: largely driven by the fierce competition. Like specially pharmacy, Basically,
• 35:25
  Speaker 8: everybody's your competitor, and so you have to really fight
• 35:31
  Speaker 8: for differentiation. You've got to deliver service, and the competition
• 35:37
  Speaker 8: is so strong, and everybody's got great marketing messages, but
• 35:43
  Speaker 8: ultimately you've got to kind of prove it. And so
• 35:45
  Speaker 8: the companies that are still around that have survived to date,
• 35:50
  Speaker 8: they're I think they're really pushing the boundaries to deliver
• 35:55
  Speaker 8: an experience or an outcome that differentiates them from the
• 36:00
  Speaker 8: rest of the field. So I do think that the
• 36:02
  Speaker 8: fierce competition is what drives a lot of that at
• 36:05
  Speaker 8: a SEMBIA and a SMBIA has found a way to
• 36:07
  Speaker 8: channel that to an experience where all of these competitors
• 36:11
  Speaker 8: can kind of be in the same space. There's obviously
• 36:14
  Speaker 8: more than just pharmacies there. They are industry folks. There's consultants, obviously,
• 36:19
  Speaker 8: drug manufacturers and payers, so there's ample opportunities to get
• 36:23
  Speaker 8: in front of prospects and also partners, current partners and clients.
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: But yeah, we walked away from there feeling really great.
• 36:33
  Speaker 8: We kind of it was the unveiling of our newest
• 36:36
  Speaker 8: technology that we're leveraging with Modesto, and all the conversations
• 36:41
  Speaker 8: that we had there were very energizing and they were
• 36:45
  Speaker 8: very positive. We had a chance to show off what
• 36:48
  Speaker 8: we're doing and people really they really loved it. So
• 36:53
  Speaker 8: we're feeling great coming out of it. We've had several
• 36:55
  Speaker 8: follow up conversations already, and the more the more we
• 36:59
  Speaker 8: kind of show people what we can do and let
• 37:03
  Speaker 8: them now start to see it and experience it, the
• 37:06
  Speaker 8: more excited everybody gets, obviously including us.
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: So it was great.
• 37:09
  Speaker 8: We're really pumped about the follow up here in the
• 37:12
  Speaker 8: weeks following a symbia.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: So personalization of that care and that care starts out
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: with shock the you know, someone finding out maybe they
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: have a disease that they're gonna have to live, they're
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: gonna have to live with for the rest of their life.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: So you wrap your arms around this patient. And that's
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: how specialty pharmacy is really setting themselves different than other
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: facets of pharmacy and pharmacy care, and it starts with
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: that patient's journey, not just the prescription. It's dialing into
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: how you personalize care. That that personal care team. These
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: people get to know not only the patient but there
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: they know their family, they know the dog, they know,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: you know, what's.
• 37:58
  Speaker 7: Going on in these people's lives.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: That can indication through maybe texting or email or personalization
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: or something or follow up. And then the emotional support
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: that is also tied into how how it can affect
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: the financial realm of the patient. And then also the
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: follow up and constant tapping in of how are you feeling,
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: what's going on? How is this medication if you're tie
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: trading to maybe a larger dose, smaller dose, different medication.
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: It's so hands on. People say that and it's like
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: a buzzword. But boy do I know this more than
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: ever now, soaking and spending more time with specialty pharmacists.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: But expand upon that because Paragon three sixties taking that
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: to the whole next level.
• 38:44
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, the stakes are just higher with some
• 38:48
  Speaker 8: of these medications. They have more serious risks, They have
• 38:52
  Speaker 8: more complicated dosing considerations, storage requirements, and life is happening
• 39:02
  Speaker 8: at the same time that you're trying to manage your disease. Right,
• 39:05
  Speaker 8: So the idea another buzz term of the social determinists
• 39:08
  Speaker 8: of health, like these are real. The people travel or
• 39:13
  Speaker 8: they have issues. They may have, you know, financial challenges,
• 39:18
  Speaker 8: they don't have reliable electricity, or they're in an area,
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: maybe they don't have refrigerators. I mean, life is happening,
• 39:25
  Speaker 8: and when you think about your own personal journey, there
• 39:28
  Speaker 8: are things that happen that you're not quite sure like
• 39:30
  Speaker 8: what you should be doing in this situation. And so
• 39:33
  Speaker 8: that's where having your pharmacist be available to you to
• 39:39
  Speaker 8: be able to kind of support your unique journey and
• 39:43
  Speaker 8: also have your pharmacist anticipate the challenges that you might
• 39:47
  Speaker 8: be facing. So as an example, I mean, one of
• 39:50
  Speaker 8: the therapies we support has a titration schedule, like you
• 39:55
  Speaker 8: start the dose and then you have to increase the
• 39:58
  Speaker 8: dose over a period of several weeks. And during this
• 40:01
  Speaker 8: titration you are just like very likely to experience some
• 40:05
  Speaker 8: side effects, some unpleasant gi side effects, and we know
• 40:10
  Speaker 8: this is likely to happen. And so if I'm your pharmacist,
• 40:15
  Speaker 8: I can simply put a label on the bottle, send
• 40:17
  Speaker 8: it to you, send you the information offered a counsel.
• 40:20
  Speaker 8: You're too busy, like you're at the supermarket or you're
• 40:22
  Speaker 8: at your kids' soccer game. You're like, no, I can't
• 40:25
  Speaker 8: talk right now. Sorry, No, I'm good. I'll just read
• 40:28
  Speaker 8: what you send me. I'll read the information. And then
• 40:30
  Speaker 8: you get this information and you're trying to sort through
• 40:33
  Speaker 8: it like that could be the experience. You're basically on
• 40:38
  Speaker 8: your own figuring out this medication. But you have the
• 40:41
  Speaker 8: instructions there, and if you're competent enough to read it
• 40:44
  Speaker 8: and you understand it, great, maybe you have a better
• 40:47
  Speaker 8: shot than most. But in contrast to that, you can
• 40:50
  Speaker 8: have a pharmacist that is proactively communicating to you and
• 40:56
  Speaker 8: giving you not a whole bunch of information at once
• 40:59
  Speaker 8: for you to die, but giving you the relevant information
• 41:03
  Speaker 8: at the time that you needed. We call this a journey.
• 41:07
  Speaker 8: You're going on a journey, and at the beginning of
• 41:09
  Speaker 8: this journey, you're going to have this complicated dosing thing
• 41:12
  Speaker 8: where you're going to have to take increasing amounts of
• 41:15
  Speaker 8: the medicine over a matter of weeks. And that journey
• 41:18
  Speaker 8: also includes some rocky roads. If you will in that
• 41:22
  Speaker 8: you're going to not feel great, but we expect you
• 41:25
  Speaker 8: to not feel good for a short period of time.
• 41:28
  Speaker 8: But if we can get you through that difficult time
• 41:31
  Speaker 8: where you don't feel good at all, on the other
• 41:34
  Speaker 8: side of that is the positive outcome that we're fighting
• 41:37
  Speaker 8: for and what you're suffering for. Basically, we can proactively
• 41:44
  Speaker 8: communicate at the right time with that patient on their journey.
• 41:49
  Speaker 8: Their journey begins on whatever Monday to twenty fifth. That's
• 41:54
  Speaker 8: different than the patients we served last week. And so
• 41:58
  Speaker 8: when you start multiplying that by large numbers of patients,
• 42:02
  Speaker 8: it becomes basically impossible to customize this personal journey for
• 42:10
  Speaker 8: a patient where you deliver the information for them in
• 42:14
  Speaker 8: a timely manner. And we were faced with this challenge
• 42:17
  Speaker 8: like how we want to do this stuff, but I
• 42:20
  Speaker 8: can't actually do it. I can't physically do it. There's
• 42:23
  Speaker 8: just it's not possible for me to manually do this process.
• 42:26
  Speaker 8: That's where our technology came in, and that's how that's
• 42:29
  Speaker 8: how the technology was really born.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: We want to be better.
• 42:32
  Speaker 8: We want to offer this experience that reaches the patient
• 42:36
  Speaker 8: where they are in their personal journey and help in
• 42:42
  Speaker 8: every way possible. To make these medications we're dispensing achieve
• 42:48
  Speaker 8: their desired outcome, So customizing the journey, providing education and
• 42:56
  Speaker 8: support and getting feedback, soliciting feedback, Hey, how are you
• 43:00
  Speaker 8: doing today? Like I want to know, because if you're
• 43:03
  Speaker 8: not doing well, then maybe there's something I can do
• 43:05
  Speaker 8: to change that. Maybe I can inquire how you're taking
• 43:08
  Speaker 8: your menage, or maybe you're not storing it correctly, or
• 43:11
  Speaker 8: maybe if it's another drug we dispense, it's self administered,
• 43:14
  Speaker 8: maybe you're not injecting it correctly. But I can't determine
• 43:17
  Speaker 8: that unless I get feedback from you. One of the
• 43:21
  Speaker 8: other key components of Modesto is that we also can
• 43:23
  Speaker 8: access medical information and lab values out of the EHR.
• 43:28
  Speaker 8: So we're creating these custom campaigns. We're educating the patients,
• 43:34
  Speaker 8: We're soliciting feedback from them. We're providing the right information
• 43:37
  Speaker 8: at the time that's appropriate, in a bite size amount
• 43:40
  Speaker 8: that's digestible. We're balancing that against social determinants that we've
• 43:45
  Speaker 8: evaluated through assessments, Like we ask patients these questions to
• 43:49
  Speaker 8: see like what's going on, do you have reliable refrigeration,
• 43:53
  Speaker 8: et cetera, et cetera. Transportation. Some of the drugs we
• 43:56
  Speaker 8: dispense are office administered. You can't get your drug if
• 43:59
  Speaker 8: you can't get to the office to get it administered.
• 44:02
  Speaker 8: So evaluating social determinants, sharing information, receiving feedback from the patient,
• 44:10
  Speaker 8: matching that up with some of this medical data. That
• 44:13
  Speaker 8: is what we're trying to accomplish. That's what we've built
• 44:16
  Speaker 8: with the technology that we're delivering as a pharmacy, and
• 44:20
  Speaker 8: it's kind of rooted in this notion of specially pharmacy
• 44:22
  Speaker 8: is different. It's complicated, It truly is scary for patients,
• 44:28
  Speaker 8: and we have an opportunity to kind of fill the
• 44:31
  Speaker 8: gaps of the the healthcare system where it is today,
• 44:34
  Speaker 8: which is I think many of us would agree that
• 44:36
  Speaker 8: it's not ideal. It's very expensive, and we don't love
• 44:39
  Speaker 8: the outcomes we're getting. And so as an advocate for
• 44:43
  Speaker 8: pharmacists in general, I think we have an opportunity here.
• 44:47
  Speaker 8: We're doubling down on the technology side. But to your point,
• 44:50
  Speaker 8: like there's a lot going on in specialty and a
• 44:53
  Speaker 8: lot of opportunity.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: I want to return to what you say, because this
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: bring peaks interest and that is the connection back to
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: the electronic health record wherever whatever health system that they're
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: plugged into, that primary care physician who is the specialist
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: in oncology or whatever it is. When it's two way,
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: you're extracting getting some information, you're updating what's happening in
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: real you know, in real time per se, and then
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: you are you're feeding that back so that the physician
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: gets an opportunity to read maybe some notes at some
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: point when they have a visit. Now not only are
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: they visiting, maybe that visit is thirty days later, sixty
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: days later or whatever.
• 45:31
  Speaker 7: Now they read in and your.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: Per is is the system also passing information to the
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: EHR as well.
• 45:40
  Speaker 8: So our information is we're accessing the information through the
• 45:46
  Speaker 8: Health Information Exchange and we're pulling data out.
• 45:49
  Speaker 6: We are also writing.
• 45:51
  Speaker 8: Back to the Health Information Exchange and that data may
• 45:58
  Speaker 8: or may not be accessed by the provider, but what
• 46:01
  Speaker 8: we're doing is we are communicating relevant updates back to
• 46:06
  Speaker 8: the provider, so we're sending it directly to them. We
• 46:08
  Speaker 8: can also communicate to the providers into their EHR and
• 46:12
  Speaker 8: send them messages. So when we have relevant updates or
• 46:15
  Speaker 8: relevant information, we're sharing that back with the provider. We're
• 46:18
  Speaker 8: acting somewhat like a triage element, where there are a
• 46:23
  Speaker 8: lot of things we can handle on our own. If
• 46:25
  Speaker 8: it's related to the medication and it's an administration issue
• 46:28
  Speaker 8: or storage or how they're taking or how they're managing
• 46:30
  Speaker 8: side effects. There are a lot of things that are
• 46:33
  Speaker 8: well within the purview of the pharmacists to be able
• 46:35
  Speaker 8: to support and care for the patient directly. But in
• 46:38
  Speaker 8: cases where we're we identify there's a broader issue or
• 46:41
  Speaker 8: it requires prescriber intervention, like you know what, we're having
• 46:45
  Speaker 8: an issue with this therapy, we need to change the dose,
• 46:47
  Speaker 8: or we don't. You know, we don't advocate necessarily to
• 46:51
  Speaker 8: just change therapies willy nilly, but sometimes it's not the
• 46:55
  Speaker 8: appropriate therapy, or maybe there's a drug interaction that we
• 46:57
  Speaker 8: have to address. By changing therapies, we obviously are going
• 47:01
  Speaker 8: to get the physician involved, and when we create care
• 47:04
  Speaker 8: plans for our patients, we're also sharing that with the physician.
• 47:07
  Speaker 8: So the whole notion of interoperability and sharing of information,
• 47:11
  Speaker 8: all of that is really critical and important.
• 47:14
  Speaker 6: And we are in any way, in every way.
• 47:18
  Speaker 8: Possible, making sure that the providers are involved and engaging
• 47:22
  Speaker 8: them to help support the patient in whatever situation they're facing.
• 47:28
  Speaker 7: Let's talk financial for a second.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: So what APIs or connections in are is a system
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: able to coach flag bring up to the patient that hey, hey,
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: do you ever hear of excessia health or do you
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: ever hear of this program or do you ever hear
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: what other ways are we keeping patients adherent based on
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: the financial strain that's created.
• 47:55
  Speaker 8: Yeah, So we as a pharmacy, one of our core
• 47:59
  Speaker 8: services we provide the patients is the financial assistance to
• 48:02
  Speaker 8: help bridge them to available programs, whether those be manufacture
• 48:06
  Speaker 8: programs or other foundation programs that are out there. There
• 48:10
  Speaker 8: are several companies that are provided like that's their focus
• 48:14
  Speaker 8: is to help provide financial support. But we obviously we
• 48:20
  Speaker 8: know that our patients if they can't afford their medicine,
• 48:24
  Speaker 8: then they're definitely not going to get better. And financial
• 48:27
  Speaker 8: barriers have been a long standing issue, especially in this
• 48:31
  Speaker 8: industry of specialty pharmacy where you have these really expensive meds.
• 48:34
  Speaker 6: So we're very mindful of that.
• 48:36
  Speaker 8: We also attempt to you know, oftentimes health plans have
• 48:40
  Speaker 8: resources for their members and the members just don't know
• 48:43
  Speaker 8: about it. So we also in our process of evaluating
• 48:48
  Speaker 8: how to help support our patients just in doing this
• 48:50
  Speaker 8: as a specialty pharmacy, we also make sure that we
• 48:54
  Speaker 8: consider health plan resources that are already available to them.
• 48:59
  Speaker 8: In Pennsylvania there, you know, there's the PACE program. You
• 49:03
  Speaker 8: may be familiar with that Pennsylvania Pace. It's funded by
• 49:05
  Speaker 8: the lottery and there are a ton of people out
• 49:09
  Speaker 8: there that are eligible for PACE that are they don't
• 49:12
  Speaker 8: even know about it. And so over my over the
• 49:15
  Speaker 8: years that I've been doing this, I mean there's countless
• 49:18
  Speaker 8: patients that we have helped enroll them in available programs
• 49:23
  Speaker 8: and like PACE. And yeah, it's a big part of
• 49:27
  Speaker 8: what we do because we recognize it's it's an important consideration.
• 49:32
  Speaker 8: When you're trying to keep somebody on a therapy that
• 49:34
  Speaker 8: can't afford it, they're not going to get it. And
• 49:36
  Speaker 8: we also, you know, we kind of provide additional social
• 49:42
  Speaker 8: support for patients because.
• 49:43
  Speaker 6: Sometimes they can't afford food. And so we obviously can't
• 49:46
  Speaker 6: solve everybody's problems.
• 49:47
  Speaker 8: They're not they're not a charity so to speak, but
• 49:50
  Speaker 8: we're mindful of it, and we're trying to bridge paces
• 49:53
  Speaker 8: through resources that are available to them and where were possible.
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: So I'm excited about what's coming Modesto, the infrastructure, the
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: Paragon three sixty sets of time. It's a system that
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: you've designed as it's moved forward.
• 50:10
  Speaker 7: I remember were kind of you even been ten years.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: Ago, just hearing about the reception, the devices, the technology.
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: Back to our our listeners, possibly some other pharmacy owners
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: as well as specially pharmacy operators.
• 50:28
  Speaker 7: What does the future look.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: Like, you know for Modesto as that platform in order
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: to obviously give Paragon through sixty the needed infrastructure, but
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: also giving that power to a destructurity pharmacists.
• 50:42
  Speaker 8: Yeah, we've we've made the decision to explore making Modesto
• 50:49
  Speaker 8: accessible by other stakeholders. Again, our mission is to help patients,
• 50:57
  Speaker 8: right everybody. That's I mean, you talked to any pharmacy,
• 51:00
  Speaker 8: that's what they wanted to do is help patients. Focus
• 51:04
  Speaker 8: on helping patients and ideally hopefully and it's a struggle
• 51:08
  Speaker 8: in pharmacy these todays. But build a successful business. That
• 51:11
  Speaker 8: does that not build a successful business first and foremost,
• 51:15
  Speaker 8: obviously you need to be successful in order you have
• 51:18
  Speaker 8: to make money in order to deliver your vision and
• 51:21
  Speaker 8: your brains and your boys.
• 51:23
  Speaker 6: But we truly are committed to taking care patients.
• 51:25
  Speaker 8: We think that we can reach more patients if we
• 51:29
  Speaker 8: open the access to this innovative technology that we've bold,
• 51:32
  Speaker 8: So that's what we're doing, and we're working with pharmacies today.
• 51:35
  Speaker 8: We're talking to some drug manufacturers, to payers, health plans,
• 51:39
  Speaker 8: various stakeholders that would love to be able to access
• 51:43
  Speaker 8: the technology, leverage the automation that we've built into it,
• 51:47
  Speaker 8: the ability to customize these engagements, and the journey having
• 51:51
  Speaker 8: a rich patient user experience. On the other end of it,
• 51:55
  Speaker 8: providing the clinical support, the decision support and guidance support
• 52:00
  Speaker 8: the pharmacist, the clinician. So that's the future. That's what
• 52:03
  Speaker 8: we're working on doing today. We're rolling that out because
• 52:08
  Speaker 8: we think that if if we can empower others to
• 52:12
  Speaker 8: provide this level of care to patients, it's going to
• 52:15
  Speaker 8: help massive amounts of patients. We have to prove, obviously
• 52:19
  Speaker 8: that it can do what we say it can do,
• 52:21
  Speaker 8: but so far, like I mentioned, the excitement around this
• 52:26
  Speaker 8: idea has been significant. Everybody we talk to and show
• 52:29
  Speaker 8: this to say how can I use this?
• 52:32
  Speaker 6: I'd love it? How do I get access to it?
• 52:35
  Speaker 8: And that's prompted us to really say like, we need
• 52:37
  Speaker 8: to make this successible to as many as possible. So
• 52:40
  Speaker 8: that's our vision, that's what we're pushing on, and we're
• 52:43
  Speaker 8: super excited to see what the rest of this year
• 52:46
  Speaker 8: and of course what next year brings, because we expect
• 52:49
  Speaker 8: to have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of patients
• 52:53
  Speaker 8: supported through this technology, which will let us prove and
• 52:57
  Speaker 8: show the impact that it can actually make.
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: One of the one of the components of your life
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: is service, and you're doing that through different sectors of pharmacy.
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: We know about pastes and the Great South Hills of
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: the Pittsburgh area, whereas paragone three sixty much more of
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: a national reach of what you're doing. What else are
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: you working on that you're passionate about, Chris, that you
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: can you can share with our listeners.
• 53:28
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, I'm working on lots of different things
• 53:31
  Speaker 8: in the in the technology space and the pharmacy care,
• 53:35
  Speaker 8: you know, actively involved in CPESN and providing direct pharmacist
• 53:40
  Speaker 8: services and billing, you know, provider pharmacist billing as a
• 53:44
  Speaker 8: provider services.
• 53:46
  Speaker 6: I'm very active in.
• 53:48
  Speaker 8: The self funded employer broker PBM space, trying to generate
• 53:55
  Speaker 8: some new innovation and disrupt in the space of the
• 54:00
  Speaker 8: self funded plan to open up access for these commercially
• 54:06
  Speaker 8: ensured lives, these commercial self funded members, if you will,
• 54:12
  Speaker 8: to pharmacy services, because they're kind of stuck in this
• 54:14
  Speaker 8: legacy model of the old way of doing pharmacy. And
• 54:18
  Speaker 8: so I'm very active in some of the work that
• 54:21
  Speaker 8: I do in the consulting space with employers to open
• 54:24
  Speaker 8: up some access there. Right now, what I would say
• 54:28
  Speaker 8: is that I don't think there's ever been a time
• 54:31
  Speaker 8: before in healthcare where it has been more ripe for disruption.
• 54:37
  Speaker 8: Nobody's really satisfied with how things are going, except for
• 54:41
  Speaker 8: the companies that are these fortune ten, fortune fifty companies
• 54:44
  Speaker 8: that are making billions of dollars in the system today.
• 54:47
  Speaker 8: They're good with how it's working because they're making money.
• 54:49
  Speaker 8: But basically everybody else, providers, especially patients and plan sponsors
• 54:55
  Speaker 8: and even drug manufacturers to a large extent, they're not satisfied.
• 55:00
  Speaker 8: So there's so much room for innovation and you know, creativity,
• 55:06
  Speaker 8: Like I'm leaning heavily into that right now. So everything
• 55:08
  Speaker 8: I touch, I'm trying to like push the boundaries of
• 55:11
  Speaker 8: how we do things today, the way we think about.
• 55:13
  Speaker 6: It and how we could imagine doing it differently.
• 55:16
  Speaker 8: And so, whether that's on drug procurement and purchasing, whether
• 55:20
  Speaker 8: that is in clinical care and provider status and the
• 55:25
  Speaker 8: technology for patient care, pharmacy, dispensing, consulting, et cetera. I'm
• 55:30
  Speaker 8: trying to put that same energy in all of those
• 55:34
  Speaker 8: aspects that I touch.
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for spending time with us
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: on this week in pharmacy today.
• 55:41
  Speaker 7: Love what you're doing.
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: Always love reading about the different journeys that you're on
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: and the boards of directors that you serve. And I'm like,
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: oh my goodness, see where where is Chris Antipass Now
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: It's almost like a finding waldo throughout our industry.
• 55:57
  Speaker 6: So appreciate you.
• 55:59
  Speaker 7: Bud, shout you as well. Thank you. I hope you
• 56:02
  Speaker 7: have a great weekend.
• 56:03
  Speaker 6: Thanks so much. Talk to you soon.
• 56:05
  Speaker 7: Hey, we'll be right back.
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: Feeling lost with the complexities of pharmacy accounting and.
• 56:11
  Speaker 9: In pharmacy today, there's so many different variables and issues
• 56:17
  Speaker 9: that impact the pharmacy, books, records, accounting, the profitabilities, so
• 56:20
  Speaker 9: or so forth. There's different components of pharmacy that have
• 56:23
  Speaker 9: its own nuances. From an accounting standpoint, and so it's
• 56:27
  Speaker 9: it's tricky, there's no doubt about it.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: Ready to take your pharmacy to the next level, but
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: don't know where to start. Psychs and Company is here
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• 56:39
  Speaker 1: the pharmacy CPAs and advisors at PSYCHS will do a
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: deep dive into your accounting and tax situation and give
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: you the action steps you need to take to take
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: your pharmacy to the next level.
• 56:50
  Speaker 9: If you're interested in working with a team who understands
• 56:54
  Speaker 9: the industry and how the accounting and tax should really
• 56:57
  Speaker 9: be in a pharmacy, this is This is your chance
• 57:00
  Speaker 9: to get under the hood check of what's going on
• 57:03
  Speaker 9: and getting the feedback of any issues or concerns or
• 57:06
  Speaker 9: again things we think are doing really.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: Well with get the financial check up your pharmacy needs
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: and head over to seikes HYPHENCPA dot com or call
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: two five to two four eight two seven six four four.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to this week in Pharmacy. We have
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: a special returning guest before I introduced them again, coming
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: back to twerks, it's allergy season. I was at a
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: farmer's market recently very near my home literally two miles away.
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: I picked up some of their honey. I looked at
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: the honey, where it was, where it was cultivated. It
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: was a local beehive and cultivator, probably within twenty thirty
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: miles of my physical address. And there's like that wives
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: tell out there that like, hey, if you eat local honey,
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: then it'll help with your local allergies.
• 58:12
  Speaker 7: And made me.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: Think of the subject that we're going to be talking
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: about today, which is, you know, information and good information
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: and good resources the best over the counter medicine and
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: health products from US News and World Report. Excited to
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: welcome back Shanley Chen. She's senior editor for US News
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: and Health US News and World Report. I want to
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: welcome you back, Shanley, to this week in Pharmacy.
• 58:48
  Speaker 10: Hiks thot, thanks for having me back again.
• 58:50
  Speaker 5: Happy Friday, Happy Friday.
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: This is It was a four day week, and it
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: was nice that we had Memorial Day. But sometimes when
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: you get an x extra day, it actually makes you
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: feel more tired because you're just like in that spirit
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: of relaxing and then it's just like, no, you got
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: to go to work. So I'm really looking forward to
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: a recovery weekend from last weekend.
• 59:13
  Speaker 10: I hear you, I hear you.
• 59:15
  Speaker 3: I mean it just throws off your entire routine and
• 59:17
  Speaker 3: your entire schedule, right.
• 59:19
  Speaker 5: It does, it really does.
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: So wives tale, eat local honey and it'll help you
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: with your allergies.
• 59:25
  Speaker 5: Have you ever heard of that one?
• 59:27
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, all the time. I think I even hear
• 59:30
  Speaker 3: it from my mom. So definitely, definitely, Well, it's true
• 59:34
  Speaker 3: that in that regard, but I can't necessarily speak to
• 59:37
  Speaker 3: the validity of it. I'm pretty sure that is definitely
• 59:41
  Speaker 3: an old wives tale from what I understand the allergist
• 59:45
  Speaker 3: that I've interviewed, it's not quite this right pollen that
• 59:48
  Speaker 3: you need in order to build that immunity.
• 59:50
  Speaker 10: But yeah, I mean, it tastes good.
• 59:52
  Speaker 5: So it's not your love.
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: I have to keep telling myself that it's good for
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: me too. So it's like, or at least in moderation
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: good exactly. Put it in your whatever, your tea or
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: your peanut butter and Julie sandwich, Susie. That's right, all right,
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: So let's share with the pharmacists, in healthcare professionals, our
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: technicians that are out there. They get a lot of
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 2: questions about over the counter medicines and health products. I
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: know from just listening to people in my own circles,
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: people that I've worked with, people that are my family friends,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: that over the counter products are perceived to be not hey,
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 2: this isn't harmful because it's over the counter, and blah
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 2: blah blah. So every time this report comes out, I'm
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: always sharing it with my personal network because I want
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: them to realize, thank you, medication is medication, and we
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: have to break this down. So share with us and
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: share with our listeners about the latest report.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, So this is our fourth year doing our best
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 3: OTC and medicine and health products rankings, and we rank
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 3: nearly nine hundred brands across one hundred and twenty eight categories,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 3: including allergy medicine. So if you need an allergy medicine,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: whether it's you know, allergy eye drops, nasal sprays, or
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 3: oral decongestins, We've got you covered there. Even vitamins and sunscreens,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 3: wrinkle creams. You know, this ranking really runs the gamut
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 3: of the different categories that you would encounter when you're
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 3: going into your local pharmacy, when you're going into your
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 3: local drug store and just walking through those seemingly endless
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 3: aisles of different brands and products, and so to accomplish this,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: you know, it's one hundred and twenty eight categories. You know,
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 3: that is a lot of categories of different products and so,
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 3: but I'm not the expert here. You know, we relied
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 3: on the experts of pharmacists the dermatologists to evaluate these
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 3: brands based on their performance, their safety, and their efficacy.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 3: And we rallied five hundred of these across the country
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 3: to really dig into our extensive list and the different
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 3: products that are available, and we wanted to make sure
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 3: that you know, this is a billion dollars, a multi
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 3: billion dollar industry. People are spending a lot of money
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 3: on you know, they're different supplements, like you know, multi
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 3: vitamins for their kids, there multi vitamins for themselves or
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: their loved ones, or even things like allergy.
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 10: Medicines, you know, and even hearing aids.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 3: You know, there are a lot of over the counter products.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 10: That are available to consumers.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 4: They be so.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 3: Easy to be inundated by all the different choices. And
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 3: of course, you know what because supplements are not FDA regulated,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: or rather they're not regulated by the FDA the same
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 3: way that it regulates over the counter drugs. You know,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 3: there's there's a lot of there's a huge need to
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 3: rely on our experts or guidance, and this.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 10: Is what we did.
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 2: I love it, and now also like how you break
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: it down for the consumers to really understand from an
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 2: educational perspective of the importance of asking your physician and
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: your pharmacists about different things when you select an OTC medicine,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: and something that the World Report puts out there is
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: reading the label, closely checking the active ingredients, and not
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: exceeding recommended dose allowances. There have been a lot of
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: pharmacists who are getting very big and very influential. We've
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: covered several of them over the years on TikTok, and
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: they're using their pharmacological backgrounds to suggest things. And I
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: really like how you're supportive to both sides of the fence.
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: You're supportive to the providers and you're supportive to the consumer.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about that balance and how you guys
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: are pushing this information out.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And to your point, you know that you brought
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 3: up earlier just because it says it's an over the
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 3: counter drug does not make it inherently safe. You know,
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 3: it goes through a very vigorous FDA approval process to
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 3: make sure that it is safe and effective because they are,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, still drugs.
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 10: The allergy medicines.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 3: Or you know, headache and migraine pain relievers and even
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 3: diarrhea medicines. It really runs the gamut here, but all
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 3: of these are still drugs and they still do have
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 3: you know, different drug interactions, side effects, things like that.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 3: So we have to really make sure that consumers and
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 3: our readers know that there are you know, safety issues
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 3: with with mixing different drugs, and we want to avoid
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 3: certain drug interactions, whether it's food drug interactions or drug
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 3: drug interactions. This is absolutely something that we wanted to
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 3: unpack and that's why we relied on our pharmacystem dermatologists
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 3: to look into what are the different side effects of
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 3: syz drug, you know, whatever over the counter product we're
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 3: looking at alongside the benefits, you know, what are the.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 10: Proven health benefits of.
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 3: These of these products that we're ranking or these brands
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 3: that we're ranking. But let's also make sure that people
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 3: know what the potential side effects are, what potential safety
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 3: considerations as well as what are the different drug interactions
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 3: and side effects these things could carry.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: I also like that you're engaging over five hundred independent
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: community pharmacists out there are dermatologists out there, and I'm
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: seeing much more collaboration between pharmacists and dermatologists. Talk to
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: us about the selection in some of the organizations and
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 2: and pharmacy owners that you're that you're working with.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And so we partner with the Harris Bole
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 3: who is you know, renowned for running surveys, and we
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 3: partnered with them in order to conduct these surveys of
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 3: our five hundred pharmacists and dermatologists, and and they're really
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 3: across the country and so they're the ones who are
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 3: seeing the patients who are dealing with these conditions, you know,
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 3: day in and day out. They're the ones with the expertise,
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 3: and so we're really relying on them to unpack and
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 3: explain what the health benefits are, what the side effects are,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 3: you know, how to best take a medication, things like that,
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 3: or even when it comes to hair care, well, what
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 3: are the benefits of hair growth supplements? You know, what
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 3: are some of the main ingredients and key ingredients that
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 3: we should be looking for when we're going through all
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 3: of these things.
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 10: So again, I think because the.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: Health and wellness industry is absolutely just exploding, you know,
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 3: it's constantly changing and evolving seemingly every year, almost even
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 3: month to month.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 10: You know, That's.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 3: Why that's why we really relied on them, but also
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 3: why we added eleven new categories to reflect all of
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 3: the different consumer trons.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: We have several podcasts that start to get really into
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: the weeds with a specific issue pediatrics, sexual health, women's
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: health specifically, there's a women's health products section that breaks
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: into fertility and menopause and prenatal vitamins. This is important
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: for our consumers to understand that.
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 5: Quite a difference.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 2: And even there's lots of pharmacists now who are getting
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: into contraception and they're starting to give guidance. And the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: reason is is there have been planned parenthood centers that
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: have been shut down throughout the entire country in different
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: reasons for different funding issues. So I think this women's
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: health section in and of itself is extremely important for
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: our pharmacists to understand. You have accessible information through US
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: News and World Report, and I'm definitely going to put
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 2: a link into this.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 3: Awesome thank you no and it's not just accessible information,
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 3: it's expert backed information too, and most of yeah, and
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 3: written by our experts as well. I mean, I'm glad
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 3: you highlighted women's health because for a very long time
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 3: it's been overlooked. But now I think with the industry
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 3: finally recognizing the importance of you know, marketing to consumers
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 3: and providing consumers with products that are directed towards women
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 3: and that address women's health issues, I think it's just
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 3: you know, something that we absolutely need. But you know,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 3: to your point, we have, you know, fertility supplements. We
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 3: rank menopause supplements as well as the natal vitamins. But
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 3: on the other end, we also ranked to stosterone supplements
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 3: as well for.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 5: Men excellent, excellent.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 2: So give our listeners any additional guidance to the to
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: the report, anything else that you'd like to mention so
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: that they know that they have information accessible to them,
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: anything you want to share.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean when you go to the website, which
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 3: I sure you will link out to.
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 6: There.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 3: There again, there are one hundred and twenty eight categories there.
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 3: We cover so a wide ranging a number of different
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 3: categories from hair care, allergies, you know, brain health, sleep, sleep, medications,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 3: whether it's over the counter sleep drugs or natural sleep
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 3: aids like melatonin and magnesium all the way to you.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 10: Know, diabetic tools.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 3: So there are tons of different products to really address
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 3: whatever needs you're looking for.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 10: So aside from just browsing that.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 3: Page, you know, you can just drop in a keyword
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 3: and it'll pop up exactly right over there and uh
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 3: and you'll be able to find whatever product category you're
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 3: looking for. Again, I mean, I think with the hair
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 3: and hair care and hair growth industry becoming even more popular,
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 3: that's something that we expanded on as well. So there
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 3: are tons of different different avenues for you to look
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 3: at when it comes to your health and wellness schools.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 6: I love it.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 3: I think another thing to add too is, you know,
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 3: when consumers are navigating this page, or rather navigating this
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 3: health and wellness industry, you know, our our ranking is
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 3: incredibly robust.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 10: Like we do a lot.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 3: Of work to make sure that our readers and our
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 3: consumers get the best, highest quality, expert backed information out there.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 3: And that's why we provide all these rankings, Like we
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 3: want to be the first step for them when they're
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 3: shopping online or you know, in stores, but at the
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 3: end of the day. You know, we want to make
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 3: sure to also emphasize the point that you know, these
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 3: are these are our experts recommendations.
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 10: There are topics, but.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 3: If you ever have any questions, you know, please talk
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 3: to your doctor, talk to your pharmacist.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 5: Thank you, I love it, Chanley. This is so good
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 5: to have you back.
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: You have an open door opportunity to come on twerks
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: and share information. We can get some of your pharmacist
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 2: friends on and we can drill down into some of
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: these subjects. But thanks so much for being on twerks again.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 10: Oh thanks so much for having me. It's been a blast.