Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / inSPire 2026 Rewind; The Hub of Specialty Pharmacy | Part Three

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inSPire 2026 Rewind; The Hub of Specialty Pharmacy | Part Three · Pharmacy Podcast Network

0:00
Speaker 1: A special thank you to our sponsors for this year's
0:02
Speaker 1: coverage of Inspire 2026. Your support makes our coverage possible.
0:08
Speaker 1: And now, a quick message before this episode begins.
0:11
Speaker 2: This episode is brought to you by Hendren AI. Specialty
0:15
Speaker 2: pharmacy teams are being asked to do more than ever before.
0:19
Speaker 2: Between patient outreach, refill coordination, prior authorizations, and the endless
0:24
Speaker 2: volume of phone calls, valuable clinical and operational time is
0:27
Speaker 2: often consumed by administrative work. At Hendren AI, we believe
0:31
Speaker 2: the people caring for patients should spend less time managing
0:34
Speaker 2: workflows and more time delivering meaningful outcomes. That's why we
0:39
Speaker 2: build AI-powered solutions designed specifically for specialty and infusion pharmacy organizations.
0:44
Speaker 2: Our platform helps automate repetitive phone-based and administrative processes, streamline operations,
0:51
Speaker 2: and improve the patient experience while fitting into existing workflows.
0:55
Speaker 2: Hendren AI is focused on a simple mission, turning human
0:59
Speaker 2: labor into software so healthcare organizations can scale more efficiently
1:03
Speaker 2: while keeping patients at the center of care. To learn more,
1:07
Speaker 2: visit Hendren.ai and discover how AI can help your team
1:11
Speaker 2: work smarter, not harder.
1:20
Speaker 3: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
1:23
Speaker 3: to the pharmacy profession.
1:25
Speaker 4: Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
1:41
Speaker 5: It's that time of year where the Pharmacy Podcast Network's
1:44
Speaker 5: founder and CEO, Todd Uriek, lands where the hub of specialty.
1:48
Speaker 2: Pharmacy hosts their annual meeting.
1:52
Speaker 5: Introducing the Inspire 2026 Annual Expo.
1:56
Speaker 3: That's right.
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Speaker 5: Specialty pharmacy is evolving, and so is the name of
2:00
Speaker 5: its largest annual meeting. The NASP Annual Meeting and Expo
2:04
Speaker 5: got an upgrade. Innovation, networking, specialty pharmacy expertise. insights, research,
2:11
Speaker 5: and education come together to empower, educate, and connect our community.
2:16
Speaker 5: Live in National Harbor, Maryland, tune in as Todd roams
2:20
Speaker 5: the showroom floor, bringing you the inside coverage of this
2:23
Speaker 5: year's event.
2:26
Speaker 6: Jennifer Noonan is back.
2:28
Speaker 7: NASP podcast here at Inspire 2026. Jennifer, it's so good
2:34
Speaker 7: to see you.
2:34
Speaker 4: Good to see you too.
2:35
Speaker 8: And I'm having trouble remembering to say inspire, but it'll
2:39
Speaker 8: be in place by next year.
2:40
Speaker 6: All the new stuff, all the shifts.
2:42
Speaker 7: I really like the fact that Sheila and the marketing
2:45
Speaker 7: team have separated the event from the organization so that
2:50
Speaker 7: they can put more flavor and marketing and messaging into
2:55
Speaker 7: what it means to come together as an organization. And
2:57
Speaker 7: we're inspiring not only each other, but we're inspiring the
3:01
Speaker 7: next phase of what's happening in specialty pharmacy. Part of
3:04
Speaker 7: that specialty pharmacy ecosystem, and I think the most difficult
3:08
Speaker 7: part of it, other than realizing that you have a
3:11
Speaker 7: pretty serious disease to handle, is the crushing fact of
3:17
Speaker 7: what this is going to do to your finances as
3:19
Speaker 7: a family, as an individual. That's where Accessia Health comes in.
3:23
Speaker 7: In case the listener doesn't know about Accessia Health, that
3:27
Speaker 7: means they don't listen to our podcast because you guys
3:30
Speaker 7: have been on several times. You're like one of these
3:35
Speaker 7: Saturday Night Live jacket wearers. We should make a jacket
3:39
Speaker 7: that you get to wear if you're like a five-time... participant?
3:43
Speaker 8: Well, I do recall yesterday seeing the specialty pharmacy certification
3:50
Speaker 8: board has a suit that is embroidered with the SB,
3:56
Speaker 8: whatever the next.
3:56
Speaker 4: Initials are on their logo. It's kind of nice, but yeah,
4:00
Speaker 4: we've been here quite a few years.
4:02
Speaker 8: Thank you for helping introduce me to many folks in
4:05
Speaker 8: the specialty pharmacy realm. As you remember, I'm a nurse
4:08
Speaker 8: by trade and training, so this was a bit of
4:11
Speaker 8: a different ecosystem for me coming from hospital and health
4:15
Speaker 8: systems and then hospice. But one of the things I
4:18
Speaker 8: believe Excessia Health has done differently in the last few years,
4:24
Speaker 8: if you remember in 23, we revealed a different way
4:29
Speaker 8: of setting up our programming.
4:30
Speaker 4: We call it your assistance, your choice.
4:32
Speaker 8: This allows patients to get assistance in the same amount
4:36
Speaker 8: of their grant toward a multitude of things instead of
4:39
Speaker 8: having to apply for separate types of assistance. So if
4:44
Speaker 8: someone is in a program for, say, pulmonary fibrosis, and
4:49
Speaker 8: they need help with their co-payments, but additionally they're struggling
4:52
Speaker 8: with their premium payments, we can help with both or
4:56
Speaker 8: either of those items as is needed for that patient individually.
5:00
Speaker 8: And as you know, you probably have a different health
5:02
Speaker 8: insurance than I have, and your out-of-pocket for one type
5:06
Speaker 8: of treatment might be incredibly different than mine. And so
5:09
Speaker 8: this allows our patients flexibility to have individualized care and
5:13
Speaker 8: not have to feel back even more layers of resources.
5:18
Speaker 8: If they're able to avoid those burdens, that's what we
5:21
Speaker 8: want to do. Because as you know, rare disease and
5:24
Speaker 8: chronic health conditions come with a lot of daily burdens already.
5:29
Speaker 7: It's more than just the therapy itself. It's more than
5:32
Speaker 7: the chronic condition that the patient, their family is dealing with.
5:36
Speaker 7: It's also getting them to their appointments. It's Sometimes their
5:43
Speaker 7: money going towards this disease is now extracting off of
5:48
Speaker 7: their rent or off of their ability to continue to
5:51
Speaker 7: go to school or whatever the issues are. You have
5:55
Speaker 7: so many incredible stories. Some of them have brought me
5:58
Speaker 7: to tears just over the years of things that you've shared.
6:01
Speaker 7: But talk to us about some of the efforts of
6:04
Speaker 7: AccessiHealth over the past year and what your plans are
6:07
Speaker 7: upcoming in 2027.
6:09
Speaker 8: Yeah, we're really starting to make a lot of connections
6:13
Speaker 8: with our patients and their stories and how they can
6:16
Speaker 8: create an impact on Capitol Hill. So we have really
6:21
Speaker 8: increased our efforts and our resources in and around advocacy work.
6:26
Speaker 4: It also is very empowering to.
6:27
Speaker 8: Patients to be able to take something out of this
6:32
Speaker 8: difficult time season or entirety of their life with the
6:36
Speaker 8: disease and.
6:37
Speaker 4: Have that be used for good for other people.
6:41
Speaker 8: It also gives them a sense of empowerment to be
6:44
Speaker 8: more involved in their own health care and learning about
6:47
Speaker 8: it and making decisions. Today at 2.30, actually, we're going
6:50
Speaker 8: to be on stage talking about One of the points
6:53
Speaker 8: you just made, one of the most important, which is
6:55
Speaker 8: social determinants of health. And as you know, since I
6:59
Speaker 8: came into this industry five years ago, I'm focused a
7:02
Speaker 8: lot on access. How are we going to ensure that
7:04
Speaker 8: our patients get access to their medication. And one of
7:08
Speaker 8: the pieces I hadn't really considered was that we see
7:11
Speaker 8: the social determinants of health playing into getting access, but
7:16
Speaker 8: there's also a whole piece along the trajectory of that
7:19
Speaker 8: treatment where social determinants of health can actually cause a
7:23
Speaker 8: patient to drop off of service. So just also working
7:28
Speaker 8: heavily with all of the SPs and provider groups to
7:31
Speaker 8: understand that ongoing check-ins with patients, especially around financial toxicity,
7:37
Speaker 8: is important all the.
7:39
Speaker 4: Way along the lines.
7:40
Speaker 7: Jennifer, I think of my own family, things that they've
7:45
Speaker 7: gone through had nothing to do with their health per se,
7:47
Speaker 7: but there've been some financial crisis over the years. And
7:50
Speaker 7: then throwing a chronic disease on top of that would
7:54
Speaker 7: be crushing, even for my own family. Think of the
7:57
Speaker 7: money that goes out just in co-pays. Talk to us
8:00
Speaker 7: about some of the other features, just so pharmacists listening in,
8:03
Speaker 7: especially pharmacy operators, just understand and learn how to connect
8:08
Speaker 7: with Accessia Health.
8:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great question.
8:11
Speaker 8: On our website, there is an opportunity for anyone to
8:15
Speaker 8: apply on behalf of a patient, so provider groups, specialty pharmacies.
8:20
Speaker 8: At this time, it's considered a guest application, but we
8:23
Speaker 8: are working on the back side. as we speak for
8:26
Speaker 8: some tech improvements. So we'll release that information when we
8:29
Speaker 8: have more that we can share about it. But we
8:33
Speaker 8: also want to make sure that people understand two important
8:36
Speaker 8: pieces of education. When you navigate to accessiahealth.org and go
8:43
Speaker 8: to the programs page, The default list that you see
8:47
Speaker 8: might say open with green letters, and it might say
8:51
Speaker 8: at capacity. We want to ensure that everyone knows that
8:54
Speaker 8: at capacity means there might be one person or more
8:57
Speaker 8: than one person in line, but that is when you
9:00
Speaker 8: want to get on the wait list because we are
9:02
Speaker 8: always working first come, first serve. So if we open
9:05
Speaker 8: a few slots in a couple of weeks, and you're
9:08
Speaker 8: not in line, you might never see that open sign
9:10
Speaker 8: on the door. But additionally, we cover things outside of
9:14
Speaker 8: the copay. So especially in specialty pharmacy, thinking about nursing services,
9:18
Speaker 8: infusion costs, supplies related to those infusions, and an example, again,
9:23
Speaker 8: for pulmonary fibrosis, even other things.
9:26
Speaker 4: That are related to the disease itself, like oxygen.
9:29
Speaker 8: If you have pulmonary fibrosis and you don't have a
9:31
Speaker 8: portable concentrator, you can't leave the home to go get
9:34
Speaker 8: your treatments. So those all cost money that patients often
9:37
Speaker 8: struggle with, meet those needs.
9:40
Speaker 7: Jennifer, we so much appreciate you. Big fans of what
9:43
Speaker 7: Accessia Health has been doing. The growth of your organization
9:46
Speaker 7: is just incredible. Every time I see posts on LinkedIn,
9:50
Speaker 7: I'm thinking not only is Accessia Health growing, but that
9:53
Speaker 7: means that you're reaching more patients that desperately need the
9:57
Speaker 7: funding that you provide.
9:59
Speaker 6: Thank you so much. for being on the NESP podcast.
10:02
Speaker 4: Great to see you, Todd. See you next year for sure.
10:08
Speaker 9: Hey, this is Christian Stauffer with First Data Bank, and
10:11
Speaker 9: you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.
10:15
Speaker 7: First Data Bank at Inspire 2026. We're so excited to
10:20
Speaker 7: have First Data Bank as a sponsor of our press
10:23
Speaker 7: coverage of this important show leading specialty pharmacy innovation.
10:29
Speaker 6: Christian, it's so good to have you. Thank you.
10:31
Speaker 9: Thank you, Todd.
10:32
Speaker 6: All right.
10:33
Speaker 7: So Meducation, which I love that word, the using of
10:40
Speaker 7: high complexity substances, drugs that our public really doesn't understand,
10:45
Speaker 7: putting the education behind it.
10:47
Speaker 6: You've packetized that.
10:49
Speaker 7: You've embedded that into pharmacy management system access, pharmacist follow-up.
10:54
Speaker 7: Talk to us about that product from First Data Bank.
10:57
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's kind of a product that's evolved over many years.
11:01
Speaker 9: The original founder, Dr. Chuck Lee, is a first-generation Korean physician,
11:07
Speaker 9: and he recognized that not only his patients but also
11:11
Speaker 9: his own family members were struggling with understanding their medications.
11:16
Speaker 9: after they left their doctor. Oftentimes someone who doesn't speak
11:19
Speaker 9: English will go see a doctor that does, but then
11:22
Speaker 9: when they get home, they don't have that support in
11:25
Speaker 9: their language. So he launched the product to address first
11:29
Speaker 9: the limited English proficiency. And then he recognized through work
11:34
Speaker 9: with the FDA and he actually got a grant from
11:39
Speaker 9: the Institutes of Health that the general population was struggling
11:44
Speaker 9: with understanding medication information so it was just too complex
11:48
Speaker 9: so he created a product that was geared towards not
11:52
Speaker 9: only the limited english for proficient but also the low health.
11:55
Speaker 7: Literate okay so in the specialty pharmacy realm we just
11:59
Speaker 7: took that complexity level up oh yeah and it and
12:03
Speaker 7: so i i want to pretend i'm a pharmacist for
12:07
Speaker 7: a second i need to explain something to a spanish
12:10
Speaker 7: speaking um client of mine patient of mine talk to
12:13
Speaker 7: me about how education would fit into.
12:15
Speaker 9: That Yeah, so what we've done is we provide a
12:21
Speaker 9: lot of the education for the pharmacist from a referential
12:23
Speaker 9: perspective with our underlying content already in many instances. But
12:29
Speaker 9: for the consumer-facing information, you can share with them the
12:33
Speaker 9: patient education information about that medication. So the therapy for
12:39
Speaker 9: specialty is often intensive, and you want it to be
12:42
Speaker 9: successful so the patient finishes whatever course they're in.
12:46
Speaker 10: They're on.
12:47
Speaker 9: And then the providers, the payers want that to be
12:52
Speaker 9: successful because the cost is so high. So if the
12:55
Speaker 9: patient gets off the phone with the pharmacist and they
12:58
Speaker 9: don't remember what they're supposed to do for mitigation of
13:02
Speaker 9: vomiting or diarrhea, then it's very clearly stated in our information.
13:07
Speaker 9: And then they can see it in their own language.
13:11
Speaker 7: Excellent. And is that passed through their mobile phone through
13:13
Speaker 7: like a QR code or?
13:15
Speaker 6: How are they accessing the information?
13:17
Speaker 9: They can use either paper, like some low health literate
13:21
Speaker 9: folks not to discriminate or anything, but they want paper.
13:25
Speaker 4: So that's the first option.
13:27
Speaker 9: We also have the ability to embed a QR code
13:30
Speaker 9: or send it electronically.
13:32
Speaker 11: Okay.
13:33
Speaker 12: All right.
13:34
Speaker 7: And then I'm thinking of all of the follow-up that
13:38
Speaker 7: happens with the specialty medications. Is there any information that
13:43
Speaker 7: continues to guide a patient through therapy that's tied to medication?
13:50
Speaker 9: I would say that, let's say they start a course
13:54
Speaker 9: of therapy and things are going well, but then they
13:58
Speaker 9: have a new, you know, side effect that the pharmacist
14:01
Speaker 9: prescribes something different. And then they need to understand the
14:05
Speaker 9: complexity of their regimen changed. And so we can provide,
14:09
Speaker 9: or the organization can provide them with an entire calendar.
14:13
Speaker 13: Yep.
14:13
Speaker 9: Of what they take. And so part of medication adherence is,
14:19
Speaker 9: you know, prescribing using the universal medication schedule, UMS, which
14:24
Speaker 9: is taught in pharmacy and medical school. And so it's
14:26
Speaker 9: four dosing times per day. Sometimes specialty is very different.
14:30
Speaker 9: It'll be once a month or whatever. But if they
14:33
Speaker 9: added Zofran, you know, to help with nausea, then that
14:38
Speaker 9: would be updated.
14:39
Speaker 2: Excellent.
14:40
Speaker 8: So, yeah.
14:41
Speaker 7: How does our listeners that want to engage with First
14:46
Speaker 7: Data Bank, how do they get enrolled in helping their
14:51
Speaker 7: patients access Medication?
14:54
Speaker 9: The best place to start would be reaching out to
14:56
Speaker 9: our customer success group, you know, via.
15:01
Speaker 9: CS at FDB help.com. And then one of our business
15:04
Speaker 9: development folks can get them in touch with the appropriate person.
15:09
Speaker 9: I specialize in our provider space. So I work with
15:11
Speaker 9: a lot of health systems and IDNs. And then we have, um,
15:17
Speaker 9: I have colleagues that specialize in pharmacy. I have colleagues
15:20
Speaker 9: that specialize in vendor management and technology. So they'll work
15:24
Speaker 9: with like a lot of the vendors to integrate our
15:26
Speaker 9: information or solutions. So there's, The best place to start
15:30
Speaker 9: is at that baseline, cs at fdbhealth.com, and then we
15:33
Speaker 9: can get you to the right folks.
15:36
Speaker 8: Okay.
15:36
Speaker 7: We're going to have a link to that site, to
15:39
Speaker 7: that landing page in the show notes for the NASP's
15:43
Speaker 7: coverage of Inspire 2026.
15:46
Speaker 6: And Christian, we thank you for being here.
15:48
Speaker 9: Todd, it was a pleasure. Thank you.
15:52
Speaker 1: Healthcare innovation moves quickly, but innovation is only valuable when
15:56
Speaker 1: clinicians can trust the information behind it. That is where FDB,
16:01
Speaker 1: or First Data Bank, makes the difference. FDB provides trusted,
16:05
Speaker 1: clinically validated medication knowledge and clinical decision support designed for
16:09
Speaker 1: integration into modern healthcare technology. From electronic health records and
16:13
Speaker 1: pharmacy systems to e-prescribing networks, artificial intelligence, payer platforms, and
16:18
Speaker 1: patient-facing solutions, FDB helps turn complex drug data into actionable guidance.
16:23
Speaker 1: FDB is also advancing the future of medication intelligence by
16:27
Speaker 1: enabling AI-powered workflows to draw from reliable, expert-curated clinical content,
16:33
Speaker 1: helping technology move beyond information towards safer, more useful action.
16:37
Speaker 1: For pharmacists and clinicians, that means more relevant medication alerts,
16:41
Speaker 1: stronger clinical decision support, improved reconciliation, clearer patient instructions, and
16:47
Speaker 1: information that fits naturally into the workflow. For healthcare technology companies,
16:51
Speaker 1: it means access to proven drug knowledge that can strengthen products,
16:55
Speaker 1: support responsible innovation, and improve the decisions made at every
16:58
Speaker 1: point of care. Learn how FDB is connecting trusted drug knowledge,
17:03
Speaker 1: intelligent technology, and patient-centered care. Visit fdbhealth.com. First Data Bank,
17:09
Speaker 1: powering the medication decisions that move healthcare forward every single day, worldwide.
17:26
Speaker 13: Hey, this is Maggie Gann from Andel, and you're listening
17:29
Speaker 13: to the Pharmacy Podcast.
17:34
Speaker 7: Hey, Maggie, welcome to Inspire 2026. This is the NASP Podcast.
17:39
Speaker 7: Thanks for coming on the show.
17:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having me.
17:42
Speaker 6: Okay, right out of the gate, we.
17:43
Speaker 7: Want to know what is Andel and why was it created?
17:47
Speaker 4: Yeah, so Andel is.
17:48
Speaker 13: A cooperative digital marketplace that enables employers to provide affordable
17:52
Speaker 13: access to medications for their employees and their dependents. We
17:56
Speaker 13: created Andal basically because the U.S. medication system, as well
18:00
Speaker 13: as our healthcare system, is very broken today. So we
18:03
Speaker 13: are able to partner directly with manufacturers to provide affordable
18:08
Speaker 13: medications directly to employees and their dependents rather than through
18:12
Speaker 13: the added intermediaries.
18:13
Speaker 6: All right.
18:14
Speaker 7: So what would you say the most important points are
18:18
Speaker 7: for the listeners? We have pharmacists listening. We have specialty
18:22
Speaker 7: pharmacy administrators, PBMs.
18:25
Speaker 6: What do you want to tell them about Andal?
18:26
Speaker 13: Yeah. So Andal really is created to take the complexity
18:30
Speaker 13: out of filling a prescription. And then also to, like
18:33
Speaker 13: I said, provide more affordable options to people. So sometimes,
18:37
Speaker 13: you know, your doctor's writing you a prescription, you've gone
18:40
Speaker 13: into your local retail pharmacy, or even you're ordering it
18:43
Speaker 13: through your specialty pharmacy, and you're hit with that bill
18:46
Speaker 13: at the end that says, oh, this medication can be
18:49
Speaker 13: upwards of $ 1, 000 or even more because your insurance is
18:52
Speaker 13: not going to cover it. And or the insurance is
18:56
Speaker 13: going to cover it, but that bill is going to
18:58
Speaker 13: be passed heavily back to your employer. And now the
19:02
Speaker 13: employer's left with an unpredictable bill at the end of
19:05
Speaker 13: the year. So what happens is Andel's stepping in directly
19:08
Speaker 13: in the middle, getting rid of prior authorizations, getting rid
19:11
Speaker 13: of utilization management, and allowing that process to be seamless
19:15
Speaker 13: end-to-end for the patients, for the provider, for the employers,
19:20
Speaker 13: and anybody else who's involved. I know the pharmacists get
19:23
Speaker 13: really frustrated when they've worked really hard with a patient
19:25
Speaker 13: to fill a medication, and then all of a sudden
19:27
Speaker 13: that's abandoned at the end of the day because of
19:29
Speaker 13: an affordability or coverage issue. So Andel has partnered directly
19:33
Speaker 13: with the manufacturers. We've removed any sort of intermediary issues.
19:38
Speaker 13: And that allows us to really lower.
19:40
Speaker 4: The cost of the medication.
19:41
Speaker 13: If the pharmaceutical company doesn't have to deal with pitching
19:45
Speaker 13: to PBMs to get the top spot on their formulary
19:48
Speaker 13: and spend years negotiating contracts, when they can just go
19:51
Speaker 13: directly through Andal, they can lower the price for us.
19:54
Speaker 4: We can work with our.
19:55
Speaker 13: Own specialty pharmacists and get that medication delivered to the
19:58
Speaker 13: patient next day.
20:01
Speaker 6: This is revolutionary.
20:04
Speaker 7: We launched a show called PBM Reform Podcast in 2019.
20:09
Speaker 7: And it has been in our top three most popular
20:11
Speaker 7: show out of our 40 plus shows that we've had
20:14
Speaker 7: for the last five years.
20:16
Speaker 8: Yes.
20:16
Speaker 7: And the intensity, the heat that's being brought upon the
20:21
Speaker 7: traditional three big PBMs who, you know, I'm not an
20:26
Speaker 7: unrealist where I'm like.
20:27
Speaker 6: Hey, they're the three big giants and monsters.
20:31
Speaker 7: Like I understand things keep changing and adding and complexity
20:35
Speaker 7: and especially in rare disease management and specialty. But Andal
20:40
Speaker 7: is special. This is a different model for sure. There's
20:44
Speaker 7: a bunch of pharmacies out there that are going cost plus.
20:47
Speaker 7: There's pharmacies out there that are now taking only cash
20:50
Speaker 7: to try to demystify the realm and be more transparent
20:54
Speaker 7: about medication management. You fit right into that for employers.
20:58
Speaker 13: That's the goal. Our goal is to break this system.
21:00
Speaker 13: We really would like to push the boundaries a little
21:02
Speaker 13: bit more. All of us on the team are ready
21:05
Speaker 13: to see the marketplace change. And now that the times
21:08
Speaker 13: are shifting and there's a lot more pressure on the
21:11
Speaker 13: big three, like you just mentioned, things are changing. And
21:14
Speaker 13: everybody is really interested in how they can make their
21:17
Speaker 13: health care costs more predictable, how patients can actually afford
21:21
Speaker 13: access to these revolutionary therapies. at the end of the day.
21:25
Speaker 13: And then manufacturers are also concerned, oh, it's taking so
21:28
Speaker 13: long for these folks to get on their medication because
21:30
Speaker 13: they're going through prior authorizations or step therapies or all
21:34
Speaker 13: of these other roadblocks.
21:36
Speaker 4: And no one's having a good time. It's very challenging.
21:39
Speaker 4: And so Andal really.
21:40
Speaker 13: Exists to try to remove as many of those barriers
21:43
Speaker 13: as possible just to get medication as it was designed
21:46
Speaker 13: directly to the patient.
21:48
Speaker 7: We have special relationships with state representatives throughout several states
21:53
Speaker 7: that are really championing PBM reform and change and medication spend.
21:59
Speaker 7: I would love to get some podcasts put together with
22:02
Speaker 7: Andal's team and some of those special politicians that are
22:07
Speaker 7: very focused on medication management. So you and I have
22:10
Speaker 7: to talk after the NASP for sure.
22:12
Speaker 6: I'm going to follow up with you.
22:14
Speaker 7: But for our listeners who are also going to want
22:16
Speaker 7: to get in touch with you, talk to us about
22:18
Speaker 7: how we access team members on Andal.
22:21
Speaker 6: How do our listeners get a hold of you?
22:23
Speaker 13: Yeah, so we're a small team right now, but rapidly growing,
22:26
Speaker 13: which is really exciting because of all the interest in
22:28
Speaker 13: this space. You can always reach out to us on
22:31
Speaker 13: our website. It's andel.org, A-N-D-E-L.org. We have a place where
22:36
Speaker 13: you can reach out if you would like our sales
22:38
Speaker 13: team to talk to you, if you need just a demo.
22:41
Speaker 13: of the app to further understand our offerings and how
22:44
Speaker 13: our platform works. Or also, if you're an employer who's
22:48
Speaker 13: looking to save money on prescription drug costs, we can
22:51
Speaker 13: provide a list of medications that are already on our platform.
22:55
Speaker 13: And the manufacturers are constantly knocking at our door, hey,
22:58
Speaker 13: how can we get in on this too? And so
23:01
Speaker 13: our list is ever-changing. So I encourage anybody, if they're
23:03
Speaker 13: interested in Andal, reach out now and then also continue
23:07
Speaker 13: to keep an eye on us because we're always expanding
23:10
Speaker 13: our partnerships.
23:11
Speaker 7: Maggie, thank you so much for signing up to be
23:13
Speaker 7: on the NESP podcast and our podcast press coverage. We
23:17
Speaker 7: look forward to seeing you. Are you going to go
23:19
Speaker 7: to Assembia 2027?
23:20
Speaker 13: Yes, our team will be at Assembia. We're at all
23:22
Speaker 13: the major pharma conferences. And so, yeah, we're really looking
23:26
Speaker 13: forward to that in Vegas next year.
23:28
Speaker 11: All right.
23:28
Speaker 7: We need to have you back on the show and
23:30
Speaker 7: our coverage there, too.
23:31
Speaker 6: So I'll follow up with you. But thanks for being
23:33
Speaker 6: on the show.
23:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure.
23:37
Speaker 10: Hey, this is Matt Savard, Vice President of Sales with Plentiful,
23:40
Speaker 10: and you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
23:45
Speaker 6: Matt, welcome to Inspire 2026. How are you?
23:49
Speaker 14: I'm doing great. How are you doing, Todd?
23:50
Speaker 6: I'm doing great.
23:51
Speaker 7: I am so honored to have worked with the NASP now.
23:55
Speaker 7: This is my sixth event with them, supporting their podcast publication.
24:01
Speaker 7: We're reaching 86,000 listeners now. Specialty pharmacy is one of
24:05
Speaker 7: the hottest topics. There are so many pieces of the puzzle.
24:08
Speaker 7: I was just talking with another specialty pharmacy yesterday, and
24:13
Speaker 7: the hairs are being split between sectors of specialty. Infusion specialty,
24:19
Speaker 7: health system specialty, standalone specialty. They even have something now
24:22
Speaker 7: called specialty pharmacy light, if you've ever heard of specialty
24:26
Speaker 7: pharmacy light.
24:27
Speaker 14: Specialty light.
24:28
Speaker 6: But talk to me about your background. How did you
24:30
Speaker 6: get into specialty?
24:32
Speaker 7: And talk to me about your role at Plentiful.
24:35
Speaker 14: Yeah, well, I'm happy to. Thanks for having me on, Todd.
24:38
Speaker 10: And I got into specialty pharmacy back in Boston, which
24:42
Speaker 10: is where I'm from.
24:43
Speaker 14: This is actually my eighth NASP. Okay.
24:45
Speaker 10: So it's really good to see some friendly faces and
24:49
Speaker 10: some folks that I've gotten to work with over the years,
24:51
Speaker 10: but got into specialty pharmacy on the health system side.
24:55
Speaker 14: And so working mostly.
24:56
Speaker 10: With academic medical centers and IDNs and even some smaller players,
25:01
Speaker 10: but primarily focused on health systems to start. And then
25:04
Speaker 10: with Plentiful, we work with not only health system pharmacies
25:08
Speaker 10: and specialty and infusion pharmacies and specialty light, like you said,
25:11
Speaker 10: but we also work with the standalone or independent specialty
25:14
Speaker 10: providers that are sometimes limited. vertically integrated with PBMs and payers,
25:19
Speaker 10: which is a really interesting dynamic. Our goal is really
25:23
Speaker 10: to help patients get into therapy faster and alleviate some
25:27
Speaker 10: of the manual workflows that oftentimes bog down these pharmacy teams.
25:32
Speaker 7: We talk a lot, Matt, about getting the patient on
25:35
Speaker 7: therapy as soon as possible. They go through the horrendous
25:39
Speaker 7: diagnosis sometimes, the stress that's putting on them, the stress
25:43
Speaker 7: that's putting on their family. the stress that it puts
25:46
Speaker 7: out on our physicians that are specialists. The physician writes
25:49
Speaker 7: the prescription, gets it through maybe an EHR system or
25:55
Speaker 7: hands it off to the pharmacy. Then there's the prior
25:58
Speaker 7: authorization sometime that's taking place. Talk to us about how
26:02
Speaker 7: Plentiful is helping in the intake authorizations in that aspect
26:07
Speaker 7: of the jigsaw puzzle.
26:09
Speaker 10: Yeah, Plentful really sits at the intersection of all of
26:12
Speaker 10: that work. And we offer an end-to-end platform that doesn't
26:16
Speaker 10: solve just one of the pain points, but actually connects
26:20
Speaker 10: the team from intake through benefits investigation, through prior authorization,
26:25
Speaker 10: through the appeal process if the PA is denied, all
26:29
Speaker 10: the way through to making sure that not only the
26:31
Speaker 10: patient gets on therapy, but that the pharmacy team or
26:34
Speaker 10: the health system is getting paid properly for the care
26:37
Speaker 10: that and the therapies that they're delivering. So it's a
26:41
Speaker 10: holistic platform approach, and we're really excited about that because
26:45
Speaker 10: today there's a lot of point solutions out there that
26:49
Speaker 10: might solve for a piece of that and actually create
26:52
Speaker 10: some more manual work and disconnected workflows across different teams.
26:56
Speaker 10: So Plentil solves for that by putting everything through one
26:58
Speaker 10: platform and standardizing those workflows, leveraging AI and automation.
27:04
Speaker 7: All right, now talk to me how this all plugs into...
27:08
Speaker 7: the production, behind the scenes, the pharmacy management system, the
27:12
Speaker 7: hub system.
27:13
Speaker 6: I mean, there's, once again, there's so many parts of it.
27:15
Speaker 7: So take me through the process of how Plentiful kind
27:18
Speaker 7: of ties into it all.
27:19
Speaker 11: Yeah.
27:20
Speaker 14: We've been doing this for a number of years now.
27:23
Speaker 10: And I think one thing that sets Plentiful apart is
27:27
Speaker 10: we have hundreds of integrations today, and we also have
27:30
Speaker 10: clinical pharmacy expertise. So our founder, Joy Liu, was a
27:35
Speaker 10: pharmacy operator within specialty pharmacy.
27:37
Speaker 14: And health systems.
27:38
Speaker 10: We also have amazing clinical pharmacists and pharmacy strategists on
27:42
Speaker 10: Plentful's team. And they'll oftentimes talk with our customers and
27:48
Speaker 10: figure out how does their workflow operate today? What PMS
27:52
Speaker 10: are they using in specialty or retail or inpatient someplace?
27:57
Speaker 10: So all those different pharmacy settings, we have to have
27:59
Speaker 10: a deep understanding of how do the prescriptions flow today
28:03
Speaker 10: and how is the team doing the work? And then
28:05
Speaker 10: Plentiful will sit on top and integrate with all those
28:07
Speaker 10: different systems. So it's a seamless process now for everybody
28:10
Speaker 10: using the platform. But that is a core component. And
28:13
Speaker 10: I do think it's important for anybody that's considering an
28:17
Speaker 10: AI platform, really understanding who is the company that you're
28:21
Speaker 10: going to be partnering with.
28:22
Speaker 14: Because it's not just technology. You have to also understand.
28:25
Speaker 6: Application.
28:26
Speaker 12: Exactly.
28:27
Speaker 1: Context.
28:28
Speaker 8: Exactly.
28:29
Speaker 10: The context and then the application of that technology is
28:32
Speaker 10: just as important as the technology itself. So we bring
28:35
Speaker 10: all that to the table, including our expertise.
28:38
Speaker 9: All right.
28:38
Speaker 7: Someone's listening. They're interested in learning more. How do they
28:41
Speaker 7: find more about Plentful?
28:42
Speaker 14: You can go to plentful.com. So really easy to find
28:45
Speaker 14: us on our website.
28:46
Speaker 10: You could also reach out to partnerships at plentful.com if
28:50
Speaker 10: you want to email us. I'm Matt at Plenful.com.
28:54
Speaker 6: That's easy to remember.
28:55
Speaker 14: That's an easy one.
28:56
Speaker 7: Plenful is P-L-E-N-F-U-L.com. So Matt at Plenful.com.
29:02
Speaker 14: That's right.
29:02
Speaker 6: Excellent. I'm going to remember that myself. I will be
29:04
Speaker 6: reaching out to you.
29:05
Speaker 7: We have a special series coming up on specialty pharmacy
29:08
Speaker 7: in health systems.
29:10
Speaker 6: It's going to be starting in November.
29:12
Speaker 7: And I'd like to reach out to Plenful because you
29:13
Speaker 7: guys probably know a lot of health systems we could
29:16
Speaker 7: tap into to get their intelligence.
29:17
Speaker 6: So I'll be reaching out to you on that.
29:19
Speaker 14: Yeah, thanks, Todd. We're excited. We just hit a milestone
29:21
Speaker 14: of 110.
29:22
Speaker 10: We're over 110 health systems and enterprise customers using Plentful today,
29:27
Speaker 10: which we're really excited about. And yeah, if anybody's interested,
29:31
Speaker 10: please reach out. We'd love to talk to you and
29:33
Speaker 10: tell you more about Plentful.
29:34
Speaker 6: Thanks, Matt. Hope you enjoy the rest of Inspire 2026.
29:36
Speaker 15: All right.
29:36
Speaker 6: Thank you, Todd.
29:41
Speaker 11: Hi, Maya Hachizada with Rx2Go, and you're listening to Pharmacy Podcast.
29:50
Speaker 7: Maya here at Inspire 2026.
29:53
Speaker 6: Welcome to the NASP podcast.
29:56
Speaker 4: Thank you.
29:57
Speaker 6: All right.
29:57
Speaker 7: So specialty, super complex situations, fragile clients and customers, patients
30:04
Speaker 7: that are relying on us to fill in the gaps
30:07
Speaker 7: of their care, assuring things like compliance and technology platforms
30:13
Speaker 7: and workflow and the actual clinical information. Your organization and
30:18
Speaker 7: your family have invested millions and millions of dollars into
30:22
Speaker 7: infrastructure for the logistics side, and the delivery side of
30:27
Speaker 7: what is happening in specialty pharmacy. Give our listeners a
30:31
Speaker 7: little preview of who is Rx2Go.
30:35
Speaker 11: Rx2Go is a logistics company, courier service, and we have
30:39
Speaker 11: been out since 2015. And we were founded in New
30:44
Speaker 11: York City, servicing specialty pharmacies, compounding pharmacies, and healthcare-owned pharmacies.
30:51
Speaker 11: and servicing all of healthcare systems in New York City,
30:55
Speaker 11: and having our own dashboard where it gives a real-time
31:01
Speaker 11: transparency visibility in regards to the deliveries, orders, communications that
31:05
Speaker 11: we are doing between the patients and the pharmacy when
31:09
Speaker 11: it comes to day deliveries. having the integration with Epic
31:16
Speaker 11: and Pioneer and all the other pharmacy software. So that's
31:20
Speaker 11: what Rx2Go is. We stand out, not just in delivery,
31:24
Speaker 11: but it's all hands-on and caring, last-mile delivery service.
31:29
Speaker 7: Yes, and so it's also emergency situations that you've actually
31:33
Speaker 7: shared with me where a health system client has a
31:37
Speaker 7: specialty pharmacy embedded. They reach out to you because there's
31:40
Speaker 7: some special situation happening.
31:42
Speaker 6: What their patients need.
31:43
Speaker 7: Talk to us a little bit about the emergency opportunities
31:46
Speaker 7: that you have for health systems.
31:49
Speaker 11: We know how to take care of the staff orders
31:53
Speaker 11: as well as same-day deliveries and hospice patients, oncology patients,
32:00
Speaker 11: and we can go on the list. And we have
32:04
Speaker 11: a system of technology in place where they can just
32:08
Speaker 11: go and request it directly.
32:09
Speaker 4: From the pharmacy software.
32:11
Speaker 11: And then we get that alert and right away within
32:14
Speaker 11: 30 minutes to the max of an hour, they have
32:17
Speaker 11: the driver already picking up and delivering those medications to
32:21
Speaker 11: the patient's head.
32:23
Speaker 15: All right.
32:23
Speaker 7: So let's also talk about the sensitivity of our medications
32:29
Speaker 7: in the realm of temperature control and how you've worked
32:33
Speaker 7: in order to deliver things that are sensitive and So
32:37
Speaker 7: how are you handling that?
32:39
Speaker 11: And since all of the clients, they package them in
32:44
Speaker 11: the cold boxes that are good, let's say 36 or
32:47
Speaker 11: 48 hours. And we already know the package when it
32:51
Speaker 11: was packed. And when we're out for the delivery, and
32:55
Speaker 11: there are some times, very rare, it happens where patients
32:58
Speaker 11: reschedule or it's the wrong address or, you know, it
33:03
Speaker 11: happens and we... bring it back to the pharmacy before
33:07
Speaker 11: it reaches the hour whether it's 36 or 48 hours
33:11
Speaker 11: so they can repack it or resell it so now
33:15
Speaker 11: pharmacy does not have a wasted product.
33:18
Speaker 7: Okay let's talk about your markets so you mentioned the
33:22
Speaker 7: state of new york and obviously new york city is
33:25
Speaker 7: probably the biggest of those markets what other states and
33:28
Speaker 7: markets are you covering We at the moment.
33:31
Speaker 11: We do the tri-state New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, partial Pennsylvania.
33:36
Speaker 11: And we are in Massachusetts, Rhode Island. And we are
33:40
Speaker 11: in Maryland, Delaware, and partial Virginia. We're in the state of.
33:44
Speaker 4: Florida, Texas. We're in California.
33:48
Speaker 11: And the upcoming will be in Chicago.
33:52
Speaker 6: Very good. Thank you.
33:54
Speaker 7: Florida and Pittsburgh represent the beginnings of specialty pharmacy. Actually,
34:01
Speaker 7: my hometown, Pittsburgh, was where the first specialty pharmacy started.
34:06
Speaker 7: And then it blew up in the Orlando area because
34:09
Speaker 7: of a relationship between FedEx and a specialty pharmacy and
34:13
Speaker 7: understanding how sensitive and time sensitive that the shipment had
34:18
Speaker 7: to be. So, specialty pharmacy way, way back when it
34:22
Speaker 7: kind of like started getting its legs, the reason why
34:25
Speaker 7: it was considered specialty was really tied to the delivery.
34:29
Speaker 7: So you guys are in an interesting part of the
34:32
Speaker 7: markets of specialty pharmacy, really. However, I know Rx2Go serving
34:40
Speaker 7: other sectors of pharmacy. You're serving the long-term care pharmacy sector.
34:45
Speaker 7: You're also serving the community pharmacy sector. So if I'm
34:49
Speaker 7: listening and I'm a pharmacy operator and I'm operating multiple
34:54
Speaker 7: types of pharmacies, you could be a service provider, a
34:58
Speaker 7: vendor for me in all of those.
34:59
Speaker 6: Absolutely.
35:01
Speaker 11: And we have a variety of delivery options you can choose.
35:06
Speaker 11: choose from depending on your patient needs read it same
35:08
Speaker 11: day next day or stat orders and we also have
35:13
Speaker 11: delivery methods you can choose from some patients might want
35:16
Speaker 11: it to be confidential they say hey make sure it's
35:18
Speaker 11: hand delivered to me only and When we're there, we
35:21
Speaker 11: ask for the ID, and if it's someone else, we
35:24
Speaker 11: give a call to the patient. If the patient isn't available,
35:26
Speaker 11: we give a call to the pharmacy while the driver
35:29
Speaker 11: is still present at the patient's door. For us, our
35:32
Speaker 11: goal is to get these deliveries to the patient's hand
35:35
Speaker 11: on the day and the time that it has been
35:37
Speaker 11: scheduled for, and that's why we send text messages. We
35:40
Speaker 11: do give a call to the patient. There's always communication happening.
35:44
Speaker 11: On top of that, all the calls are recorded, text
35:46
Speaker 11: messages are visible real-time, and on the patient's pharmacy's.
35:52
Speaker 4: End as well.
35:53
Speaker 6: That's very good.
35:55
Speaker 7: Maya, I appreciate you coming over to the booth here
35:59
Speaker 7: at the NASP, giving us some insights into the realm
36:03
Speaker 7: of logistics as a big part of specialty pharmacy. We
36:07
Speaker 7: hope to work with you in the future, Maya, and
36:08
Speaker 7: see you at the next conference.
36:10
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
36:10
Speaker 11: Looking forward to it.
36:11
Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you.
36:14
Speaker 3: Clearway Health is transforming specialty pharmacy for hospitals, health systems,
36:19
Speaker 3: and the patients they serve. More than a specialty pharmacy partner,
36:23
Speaker 3: Clearway Health is an extension of the care team. Working
36:26
Speaker 3: directly with hospitals and health systems across the country, Clearway
36:30
Speaker 3: Health helps plan, design, build, and optimize specialty pharmacy programs
36:35
Speaker 3: that improve access, reduce barriers, and deliver better outcomes for
36:38
Speaker 3: patients with complex medical conditions. Through their embedded care model,
36:43
Speaker 3: Clearway Health places pharmacists and patient liaisons directly into clinical workflows,
36:48
Speaker 3: supporting providers with prior authorizations, financial assistance coordination, and patient education,
36:54
Speaker 3: freeing up care teams to focus on what matters most,
36:57
Speaker 3: the patient. Powered by advanced technology and real-time data insights,
37:02
Speaker 3: Clearway Health streamlines the entire medication journey, ensuring patients receive
37:06
Speaker 3: the right medications at the right time. Clearway Health brings
37:10
Speaker 3: real-world experience and proven results, helping health systems unlock new
37:14
Speaker 3: revenue streams while expanding access to life-changing specialty medications. Clearway
37:19
Speaker 3: Health is leading the way in transforming specialty pharmacy. Learn
37:23
Speaker 3: more at clearwayhealth.com.
37:38
Speaker 7: Back on the NASP podcast here at Inspire is Mei Tang.
37:44
Speaker 6: Welcome back.
37:45
Speaker 12: Thank you very much. It's always great to see you.
37:47
Speaker 6: It's great to see you too. So lots has happened
37:51
Speaker 6: since the last time we talked.
37:52
Speaker 7: So proud of you and what you've built through the
37:54
Speaker 7: consultancy organization. How many of your customers and clients are
37:58
Speaker 7: relying on you to develop pathways for them so they're
38:02
Speaker 7: not falling off and not hitting the right accreditation standards
38:05
Speaker 7: that they need, um, just being a double checker for
38:09
Speaker 7: them and keeping them on path.
38:13
Speaker 6: And on schedule. So you have a special announcement. I'm excited.
38:17
Speaker 7: It's probably the first podcast that you've been on to
38:19
Speaker 7: actually make the announcement. But talk to us about the
38:22
Speaker 7: new system that you've launched.
38:23
Speaker 12: Yes, I am so excited this year. We hear the
38:27
Speaker 12: buzzword innovation. We hear AI for the last couple of
38:32
Speaker 12: years and innovation. Coming to NASP as a pharmacist and
38:38
Speaker 12: accreditation consultant, for the first time, we are presenting a
38:44
Speaker 12: technology platform built on AI technology, automating compliance tasks, and
38:51
Speaker 12: it's super exciting for us. And we're so proud of
38:56
Speaker 12: what we are able to identify as an pain point
39:00
Speaker 12: from our pharmacies and healthcare organizations and turn it into
39:06
Speaker 12: a real world solution. So we're so proud of launching
39:11
Speaker 12: ToVerify here at NASP Inspire 2026.
39:14
Speaker 6: It's called ToVerify.
39:18
Speaker 4: That is correct.
39:18
Speaker 6: That's awesome. So talk to me about.
39:21
Speaker 7: The components within that system that does keep our specialty
39:25
Speaker 7: pharmacies on track through what you're doing.
39:28
Speaker 12: Absolutely.
39:29
Speaker 8: Amen.
39:32
Speaker 12: Organizations require pharmacies to verify pharmacist, pharmacy technician licenses. And
39:38
Speaker 12: then payers also want to make sure that pharmacies are
39:41
Speaker 12: dispensing valid prescriptions regularly. issued by prescribers. So all require,
39:50
Speaker 12: requires pharmacies and healthcare organizations verify licenses through issuing organizations.
39:58
Speaker 12: So currently it's extremely manual process. It takes about someone
40:03
Speaker 12: five to six minutes to go through Each issuing organizations
40:07
Speaker 12: take a snapshot of that and then keep a copy
40:10
Speaker 12: of that and file it away. And then have to
40:14
Speaker 12: find it during the time of accreditation or audit. So
40:18
Speaker 12: we automated that entire process and turned it into a
40:22
Speaker 12: few second of task using AI technology. And not only
40:27
Speaker 12: we are protecting revenue, ensuring compliance, and this is extremely important,
40:36
Speaker 12: especially when we look at OIG, SEM, additional regulatory compliance requirement.
40:43
Speaker 7: So I think of after I've gotten my accreditation, I'm
40:49
Speaker 7: up and running, how many times should I be coming
40:52
Speaker 7: back to you to just make sure that we're doing
40:55
Speaker 7: everything that we're supposed to be up keeping?
40:57
Speaker 12: That's a great question. From an accreditation standpoint, it's only
41:01
Speaker 12: required at two points. One is before you hire someone,
41:06
Speaker 12: and then second is before the license expires.
41:09
Speaker 4: Now, from a.
41:12
Speaker 12: Prescription validation process standpoint, you want to make sure that
41:17
Speaker 12: pharmacist and pharmacy technician checking that prescription holds a valid license. So,
41:25
Speaker 12: and if there are any disciplinary actions against their license
41:30
Speaker 12: you want to know and remove them, from the protection line.
41:35
Speaker 12: Now today it relies on someone to volunteer that information.
41:39
Speaker 12: With our system, we are able to detect that and
41:44
Speaker 12: notify organizations ahead of time. So this protect companies and
41:50
Speaker 12: pharmacies with their revenue because those prescriptions can be at
41:55
Speaker 12: risk for reimbursement.
41:57
Speaker 4: So our frequency.
41:59
Speaker 12: For verification is monthly, so on a monthly basis you
42:05
Speaker 12: verify their license is still valid and there is no
42:10
Speaker 12: disciplinary action against their license. We also verify prescribers. So
42:16
Speaker 12: many of the pharmacy claim system do not verify prescriber
42:21
Speaker 12: licenses or their PICOs or their MPI numbers, so we
42:27
Speaker 12: actually automatically verify their license and PICOs MPI, OIG, and SAM.
42:36
Speaker 12: So that really is a missing piece from pretty much
42:41
Speaker 12: most of the pharmacy claim systems.
42:44
Speaker 7: Very good. I really appreciate the update of what's happening
42:49
Speaker 7: in compliance, accreditation, keeping our specialty pharmacies on task, and
42:56
Speaker 7: from making mistakes that are just, there's so much to
42:59
Speaker 7: think about in running a specialty pharmacy.
43:01
Speaker 6: So This is.
43:02
Speaker 7: One of the most important criterias of running a specialty pharmacy.
43:08
Speaker 7: What's next for Two Trees Consulting? Where are you guys
43:12
Speaker 7: going next other than we're here in Washington, D.C.
43:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
43:16
Speaker 12: We're looking at innovation. What else can we do to
43:20
Speaker 12: really take the extremely manual process out of the daily operations?
43:26
Speaker 12: So we're looking at adding additional training. So we're building courses.
43:31
Speaker 12: within to verify to help pharmacy staff and healthcare organizations
43:38
Speaker 12: learn and make sure everybody is competent with their job
43:42
Speaker 12: related training. We are also adding on additional regulatory compliance
43:48
Speaker 12: elements from these various boards across 50 states and DC.
43:55
Speaker 12: So that will be really, really helpful when pharmacies are Increasingly,
44:00
Speaker 12: having their footprint nationally, it becomes really, really difficult to
44:05
Speaker 12: track everything, so our system will be able to automatically alert, hey,
44:09
Speaker 12: your license is expiring in 30 days, and you can't
44:13
Speaker 12: just change your pharmacist in charge because this person is
44:17
Speaker 12: also licensed in another state, and they require notification, they
44:21
Speaker 12: require pharmacist to also be licensed in that state before
44:24
Speaker 12: you make a change. So we're really excited to add
44:28
Speaker 12: additional value to our customers, taking the manual process away
44:34
Speaker 12: from their, helping them to really enhance their monitoring alerts
44:41
Speaker 12: so that they can focus their time on doing clinical screening,
44:46
Speaker 12: improving patient safety. So we're really excited on what's to come.
44:50
Speaker 12: And next year when we're returning here, I hope to
44:54
Speaker 12: share with you more exciting news about two trees and
44:59
Speaker 12: to verify.
45:00
Speaker 7: Well, we're looking forward to that May. You've been wonderful
45:06
Speaker 7: on the show. Thank you for sharing with us. We'll
45:08
Speaker 7: see you in Orlando at Inspire 2027.
45:13
Speaker 12: It's always great to come up on your podcast. And
45:16
Speaker 12: I love following you on LinkedIn and all your podcasts.
45:20
Speaker 12: So thank you so much for having me.
45:22
Speaker 6: Thank you.
45:25
Speaker 11: Dr.
45:26
Speaker 6: Michael DePaz back on the pods.
45:29
Speaker 7: You were with Lumicera and now you're with a new
45:31
Speaker 7: company called Clairventa.
45:32
Speaker 6: Michael, talk to us about that.
45:34
Speaker 16: Yeah, absolutely. So Clairventa is under the same umbrella as
45:38
Speaker 16: Navitas and Lumicera.
45:39
Speaker 8: Okay.
45:39
Speaker 14: So we are one of the sister companies.
45:41
Speaker 16: So Navitas is our PBM, Lumicera is our specialty pharmacy,
45:45
Speaker 16: and then we have Clairventa, which is our new procurement
45:48
Speaker 16: GPO and supply chain company. solution for really the industry.
45:53
Speaker 14: As it's changing.
45:53
Speaker 6: It's like the new baby of the family, huh?
45:55
Speaker 14: Oh, absolutely.
45:56
Speaker 6: Is it the cutest part of the family?
45:58
Speaker 14: We are the cutest part of the family.
46:00
Speaker 16: Absolutely.
46:01
Speaker 1: Yeah.
46:01
Speaker 16: So we're super excited to be able to launch ClearVenta
46:04
Speaker 16: here in March and are working on ultimately building out
46:07
Speaker 16: kind of this solution with two separate pathways. So one
46:11
Speaker 16: pathway being kind of those traditional GPO services on How
46:15
Speaker 16: can we ultimately support kind of our pharmacy membership in
46:18
Speaker 16: the independent pharmacy space, health systems, really piggybacking off of
46:22
Speaker 16: the work that Lumis Air has done.
46:23
Speaker 1: That's terrific.
46:24
Speaker 14: Which is fantastic.
46:25
Speaker 16: And then our second solution is really kind of our
46:28
Speaker 16: key disruptor, I'd say, within the industry and market. So
46:31
Speaker 16: with all of the changes that are coming around in
46:33
Speaker 16: the PBM industry, we are ultimately creating kind of a new,
46:38
Speaker 16: I'd say, rebate type of model. So we're doing point-of-sale
46:42
Speaker 16: discounts and point-of-sale rebates, so ultimately taking a look at
46:47
Speaker 16: those payer rebates and applying them on the front end
46:50
Speaker 16: through kind of our pharmacy network. So really everything at
46:54
Speaker 16: the point-of-sale, all value for our clients, patients, pharmacies, is
46:59
Speaker 16: recognized up front versus that very antiquated rebate model where
47:04
Speaker 16: there's no transparency, no clarity in pricing. That's our entire goal,
47:08
Speaker 16: and that's been the Navitas Lumisera model as well. How
47:12
Speaker 16: do we just increase transparency and pricing within the market?
47:16
Speaker 7: Can the PBM be connected maybe to another organization, but
47:21
Speaker 7: you still play into a piece of it? Or does
47:24
Speaker 7: it have to kind of take the whole model where
47:27
Speaker 7: you're not able to?
47:28
Speaker 6: No, absolutely.
47:29
Speaker 16: Yeah, so we can plug in in multiple different ways, right?
47:32
Speaker 16: So we can work with that pharmacy partner that they're
47:35
Speaker 16: working with, just to be able to help provide kind
47:37
Speaker 16: of better cogs, improve their pricing, right, make it more
47:41
Speaker 16: affordable for patients, or we can work directly with that
47:44
Speaker 16: PBM partner to be able to kind of provide that
47:47
Speaker 16: true net pricing model, right? And ultimately, that's kind of,
47:51
Speaker 16: you know, starts to get away from the traditional just
47:55
Speaker 16: rebate model of the big three, where there's value captured
47:58
Speaker 16: all the way at the top that never gets passed
48:00
Speaker 16: through to clients. So that's our entire goal is negotiate
48:03
Speaker 16: for that value and make sure it applies to those
48:06
Speaker 16: key stakeholders who are doing all of the work downstream.
48:09
Speaker 6: That's incredible.
48:10
Speaker 7: So I want to congratulate you on helping to launch
48:14
Speaker 7: this company and be a part of this company. Talk
48:16
Speaker 7: to me about young pharmacists that might be listening that,
48:22
Speaker 7: They're in their career. They want to get deeper into specialty.
48:25
Speaker 7: What's the opportunity with an organization like Clairventa?
48:28
Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely.
48:30
Speaker 16: So, yeah, so as we get growing, right, one of
48:33
Speaker 16: the things that we'll be looking at is collaborating with different,
48:36
Speaker 16: you know, pharmacy schools. So I'm in the Pittsburgh region
48:41
Speaker 16: as well, so working through kind of Duquesne, University of Pittsburgh,
48:46
Speaker 16: but then also with Lumicera and Clairventa being based out
48:49
Speaker 16: of Madison. We also have close ties to UW, right,
48:53
Speaker 16: as well. So I think reaching out to us, getting
48:56
Speaker 16: that interaction with us on LinkedIn to identify how can
48:59
Speaker 16: we get you into an internship, an Appy-like rotation. Those
49:04
Speaker 16: opportunities are available through Lumicera today.
49:06
Speaker 14: And as we grow, we're going to continue to have that.
49:08
Speaker 6: Available through Clevento.
49:11
Speaker 7: All right, Michael, let's plan to meet up at the
49:14
Speaker 7: Pittsburgh Pharmacy Network maybe sometime. They're a great organization that's
49:18
Speaker 7: been growing. We been there a couple meetings now over
49:21
Speaker 7: the last five years, but let's do some Pittsburgh-ing together.
49:27
Speaker 6: Absolutely.
49:28
Speaker 1: Would love nothing more.
49:28
Speaker 16: All right.
49:29
Speaker 6: Thanks for being on the show.
49:30
Speaker 16: Thanks for having me.
49:34
Speaker 7: Michael Heimel with HealthWell Foundation. You and I talked at
49:39
Speaker 7: Assembia 2026, just.
49:41
Speaker 16: Earlier this year, right?
49:43
Speaker 15: I think it was about a year ago when I
49:44
Speaker 15: first started with HealthWell Foundation.
49:46
Speaker 6: It just all runs together. It's like a blend of
49:49
Speaker 6: where am I?
49:50
Speaker 7: Sometimes I remember during conference season in the fall, I
49:55
Speaker 7: think I was in Vegas, but the time difference was
49:57
Speaker 7: messing with me. I woke up in the middle of
49:59
Speaker 7: the night, and I'm like, I actually was.
50:02
Speaker 6: In the middle of a dream. I didn't know where
50:03
Speaker 6: I was. It's like all of the traveling that we do.
50:07
Speaker 6: All right, you were on a panel.
50:08
Speaker 7: Discussion here at Inspire 2026. Share with us how patient
50:15
Speaker 7: assistance programs and some of the things that you guys
50:18
Speaker 7: are doing. Talk to us about what's changed, what's upcoming.
50:23
Speaker 7: and refresh us on this panel discussion if the listener
50:26
Speaker 7: didn't get to hear it.
50:27
Speaker 15: Yeah, we talked on a panel about the, from regulatory
50:30
Speaker 15: changes to the pharmacy counter and what that all really
50:34
Speaker 15: means for the patient as well as for specialty pharmacies.
50:39
Speaker 15: As you go through it, we had representatives from another
50:42
Speaker 15: independent charitable co-pay foundation as well as specialty pharmacy representation,
50:49
Speaker 15: Andrew Babb from Biotech Remedies, And one of our grant recipients,
50:54
Speaker 15: Janelle Bush, who is a two-time cancer survivor, was stage
50:58
Speaker 15: four ovarian cancer when she had to find her way
51:01
Speaker 15: to HealthWell for financial assistance. And so there's been a
51:05
Speaker 15: lot of changes really since the Inflation Reduction Act was
51:08
Speaker 15: passed and the caps on Medicare Part D, and then
51:12
Speaker 15: the change in the administration and all of the changes
51:15
Speaker 15: around the Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring, people falling off
51:20
Speaker 15: of the ACA marketplace, what that does to Medicaid.
51:23
Speaker 14: Enrollment and uninsured.
51:26
Speaker 15: But also looking forward in 2027, the Part D caps
51:32
Speaker 15: for Medicare beneficiaries are going to go up to $ 2, 400.
51:36
Speaker 15: The administration has telegraphed that they intend to sunset the
51:43
Speaker 15: subsidies for Medicare Part D insurance companies, which is probably
51:48
Speaker 15: going to introduce a lot of turmoil into that market
51:51
Speaker 15: and increase premiums. And I would expect we'll probably see
51:55
Speaker 15: some of the insurers leave the market as part of that.
51:58
Speaker 15: So things are going to get a lot more expensive
52:01
Speaker 15: for patients, despite all of the focus that there has
52:06
Speaker 15: been on the affordability of pharmaceuticals in particular. And so
52:12
Speaker 15: taking into consideration Kaiser Family Foundation's It estimates the median
52:17
Speaker 15: income for Medicare recipients about $ 47, 000, $ 48, 000 a year. But
52:23
Speaker 15: one in four Medicare recipients have an income of about $ 24, 000
52:28
Speaker 15: a year. So they're living below the federal poverty limit, $ 2, 400
52:33
Speaker 15: a month. They're going to have a $ 2, 400 Part D cap.
52:38
Speaker 15: If it's a Part D formulary drug, if it's not,
52:41
Speaker 15: they're going to have to pay cash. And if they're
52:45
Speaker 15: on a Part B drug, they still are going to
52:46
Speaker 15: face their 20% co-pays along the way with rising premiums
52:51
Speaker 15: in the Medicare Part D market as well as premiums
52:54
Speaker 15: that may go up in the Medicare Advantage market.
52:58
Speaker 7: So is it the specialty pharmacy that's working directly with
53:02
Speaker 7: you introducing their patient to your organization? Is it the
53:06
Speaker 7: health systems? Is it a combo of those? How are
53:10
Speaker 7: patients getting a hold of you?
53:11
Speaker 15: It's a combination of both. But an overwhelming majority of
53:15
Speaker 15: patients that come to us are referred by specialty pharmacies
53:19
Speaker 15: because that's where you really begin to see the financial
53:22
Speaker 15: impact of the treatment plan on the patient. Many times,
53:26
Speaker 15: providers' offices don't have time to work through that. They
53:30
Speaker 15: don't have the staff to work through that. And I
53:33
Speaker 15: think as somebody who came out of the hospital and
53:36
Speaker 15: health system industry after almost 40 years, I don't want
53:40
Speaker 15: my providers to have to think about the affordability of
53:44
Speaker 15: the prescription they're writing. I want providers focused on making
53:48
Speaker 15: sure the patient's going to get the best treatment for
53:51
Speaker 15: their disease that they can. And so the script comes
53:55
Speaker 15: into the specialty pharmacy and they start working with the patient.
53:59
Speaker 15: And the shock happens when they get told what their
54:01
Speaker 15: copay is going to be. And specialty pharmacists have been
54:05
Speaker 15: wonderful partners for us over the years in referring patients
54:09
Speaker 15: into us and really helping those patients find financial assistance.
54:15
Speaker 15: But there's still too many patients out there that don't
54:17
Speaker 15: know this kind of assistance exists. Janelle Bush, our grant
54:22
Speaker 15: recipient that was on the panel with us, you know,
54:25
Speaker 15: Jeanette's a wonderful story because she.
54:29
Speaker 1: She's very educated.
54:31
Speaker 15: She was a state and city attorney in Minnesota and
54:35
Speaker 15: Minneapolis for a number of years. She's informed, and she
54:41
Speaker 15: went through cancer treatment, didn't need financial assistance or didn't
54:47
Speaker 15: think about financial assistance, found a way to make it
54:49
Speaker 15: work with her insurance, and then several years later gets
54:53
Speaker 15: diagnosed with ovarian cancer and begins to realize that She
54:58
Speaker 15: spent a lot of her savings and other funds on
55:01
Speaker 15: her first go-around with cancer, and now it was going
55:04
Speaker 15: to be more challenging. And she was going to do
55:07
Speaker 15: everything that she could to figure out how she was
55:10
Speaker 15: going to be able to get the drugs that they
55:12
Speaker 15: were recommending for her treatment plan. And she found her
55:16
Speaker 15: way to health well, not through a pharmacy, not through
55:19
Speaker 15: a provider group. But that's really the thing is, how
55:23
Speaker 15: do we make sure patients know that That assistance that
55:27
Speaker 15: we offer is available to them before they really get
55:32
Speaker 15: hit in the face with this huge bill that sends them.
55:36
Speaker 15: The shock of being told you have cancer is devastating enough.
55:42
Speaker 15: The shock of being told you may not be able
55:45
Speaker 15: to afford the specialty drugs that you need to cure
55:50
Speaker 15: your cancer or treat your cancer or improve your.
55:52
Speaker 1: Quality of life.
55:54
Speaker 15: Really just adds to that devastation and creates a really
55:59
Speaker 15: toxic condition for the patient from a social, economic, mental,
56:07
Speaker 15: spiritual well-being standpoint.
56:10
Speaker 6: Michael, this has been good.
56:12
Speaker 7: Appreciate you giving us an update on the NASP podcast,
56:16
Speaker 7: inviting you back if you're going to be at Assembia again,
56:20
Speaker 7: just if there's any updates that you can bring to
56:22
Speaker 7: our listeners.
56:23
Speaker 6: But thank you so much for this update.
56:25
Speaker 14: Yeah, thanks Tom for
56:26
Speaker 15: Having me and I'll see you at Assembia in April.