Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / Specialty Pharmacy Access, Innovation & Independent Pharmacy Growth | TWIRx

Transcript

Specialty Pharmacy Access, Innovation & Independent Pharmacy Growth | TWIRx · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You are listening to the Global Network of Podcasters dedicated
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network. It's Friday.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Todd Urie here with This Week in Pharmacy. Excited to
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: be back on the Twerk Sphere. I just made that
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: word up. Twerk Sphere.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I don't think it works. It stumbles. It's awkward.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Do a lot of awkward things live, but that's what
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: we're bringing you. Live information today, September 11th, 2026. 25th
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: anniversary of 9-11 and the horrible events that happened. 25
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: years ago.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: That's crazy.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I remember exactly where I was, AT & T business,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: downtown Pittsburgh. And then just everything that happened, just thoughts
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: and prayers and blessings to the families and to the
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: healthcare workers and to the firefighters and everybody went through that.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I just, I'm sure some of you that are listening
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: remember where you were when that took place.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And yeah, it's a.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: It's a it's something hard to think of. And and
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: I there's always good that can come out of it.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you guys saw the drones that
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: built a light of and it was like two thousand
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: nine hundred sixty some sixty lights that were there representing
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: the lives that were lost.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: It was gorgeous.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: It was a great commemoration. There's so much that we
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: can do in lifting up our cultures as well as
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: our society and merging together. That's what the United States
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: has always been. I don't want anyone to forget that.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: We're celebrating what's coming at the end of September today,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Inspire 2026. I'm so thrilled to be back.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: And guess what?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: We're in D.C. with Sheila Arquette and the NASP team.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: The Pharmacy Podcast Network, I think this is our sixth
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: year partnering with the NASP. We will be inside their booth.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: If you have not signed up for the press coverage,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: please do so. You can go to pharmacypodcast.com, go to
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: the blog section. I think they call it the PPN,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: the Pulse. Yeah. And click on the link with the
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Inspire picture of Sheila and I are sitting there. in
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: front of their booth.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I'm excited. There's a lot going on in the news.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I'm going to do news today.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to do it by myself because I'm
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: bringing back my friend and someone who's been on Twerks
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: many of times, support from Clearway Health. Allison Arant, get
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: into the studio here. Let's get started with Twerks.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: Hey, Todd.
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: You're very welcome.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: It's nice to have you back in the studio and
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Twerks in a way. What are you doing this weekend?
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: It's a big It's a big recovery week. Like I said,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: it felt like a five-day week. I don't know how
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you're feeling, but it felt long to me.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Or like a 10-day week.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: Sometimes it feels like the short weeks or two weeks
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: crammed into one, but it's been a good week.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: It's been a good week at Clearway. This weekend, we.
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: Have fall sports starting back, so I don't know how
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: many listeners spend a lot of Saturdays on sidelines and bleachers.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: I certainly do.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: So doing a lot of sports this weekend and resetting
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: for next week.
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Um, football season's back. Uh, I'm so excited. This is
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: the opening weekend of the NFL ghost dealers. And, um, it's,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: it's like for us in the pharmacy industry, when fall
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: starts creeping up, the kids go back to school, football
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: season comes back. I feel like it's our new year.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: It's never in January. I think with, I think pharmacies
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: year to me, things start heating up in the fall
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: of the year because we're getting ready for big conference seasons.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: We're getting ready for prepping for what's coming in the
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: next new year. There's a lot of work to do
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: in the fall and I get jazzed up. So I
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: think the NASP Inspire helps us to do that. You're
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: going to be there with your team. You're going to
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: be part of the podcast press coverage. We cannot wait
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to see you in person and not necessarily always on
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: a on a zoom, but, um, Hey, this week in pharmacy, man,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: it's like, uh, couldn't have picked a better time to
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: get you guys on. We have a big announcement from
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: clearway health. Uh, and this came out on PR newswire
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: just this week in pharmacy clearway health scales, operational excellence
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: with appointment of a new chief operating officer. Alison, tell
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: me about this gentleman on the clearway health team.
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: We are really excited to welcome Rishi Sepp as Chief
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: Operating Officer of Clearway Health. Rishi joined us on Tuesday.
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: He has had a full week getting to know a
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: lot of the team members across Clearway Health and preparing
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: to meet a lot of our clients as a part
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: of the client organization. We're just really excited about him joining.
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: The timing of him being here is really this pivotal
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: point where we are starting to scale so much more
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: as our client organization grows and really bringing the connectedness
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: of what a service organization requires to grow. We are
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: a people first organization. We provide people that power the
• 6:02
  Speaker 6: services that we provide to hospitals and health systems. It's
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: backed by a lot of product, technology, strategy, and a
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: lot of corporate support. And so Rishi's guidance and leadership
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: is going to be hugely important to carry us into
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: this this next phase of growth for Clearway Health.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: So excited Rishi is here.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I'm excited. We got to get him on twerk sometime
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: and dig in. And I'm going to give him some
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: time though, because it's fire hose right now for Rishi.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: So I'm sure he's taking it all in and transitioning
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: from his previous experiences, but he's going to be up
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: and running quick.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I know it and I'm excited for you guys.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: And This kind of infrastructure from a people perspective really
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: helps the rest of the organization. That's not all we're
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: talking about this week in pharmacy. Let's talk about some
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: of the expansion of health system pharmacy. The whole reason
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Clearway clears the way for health system pharmacy out there
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: to build better specialty pharmacy systems.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about this.
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: I like clears the way, Todd. We'll start using that.
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: We'll credit Todd and Pharmacy Podcast.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Well done. We are so thrilled.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: Lurie Children's Hospital opened their specialty pharmacy in August.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: And so we... I traveled to Chicago and.
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: Joined them for a ribbon-cutting ceremony that was so special.
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: We got together with their team after what had been many,
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: many months of planning. They opened this ambulatory center in
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: Schaumburg in the summer of 25, and there was an
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: absolute perfect place to put a specialty pharmacy. And so
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: as we started our partnership planning process with them back
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: in 2024, we The vision was that this building would
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: hold the future specialty pharmacy for Lurie Children's Hospital.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: And so they have done so much.
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: They're providing more outpatient access for patients and their families
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: in that community.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: And we are just so honored to be a part
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: of it.
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: Clearway Health in the last three months has opened three
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: new pharmacies. Of course, the one in Chicago, a new
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: one in New Jersey, and a new one in California.
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: And so We talked about scalability and really bringing our
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: desk with more rapid speed for our clients. And so
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: just a lot of tremendous work from the Clearway Health
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: team and a lot of trust from our clients.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: And we could not be more thankful.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Thank you for mentioning that. I think it's important. And
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: there's an aspect of this that I want to touch on.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: We hear from five-year and 10-year career pharmacists right now
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: how They want more. They want to dig into a specialty.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: They want to go for pediatrics or senior care, or
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: they want to get involved. There's a new sports pharmacy
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: headquarters in Miami, Florida that just opened up last week.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: It's all about sports pharmacy and athletics. So Clearway Health
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: and what you're doing in the health system are going
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: to expand opportunities for pharmacists that want to dig into specialties.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: And it's kind of a double specialty. It's the specialty
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: in general, but then it's specialty in this case, taking
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: care of babies, taking care of children and how sensitive
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: that is. I think that's exciting because I'm going to
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: WVU next Monday, this coming up Monday, meeting up with Dr.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Mark Garofoli.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: I'm going to be talking to the P3 class. This
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: is the fourth year I'll be doing this. And I'm
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: going to bring this article to them to show them
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: that you may not even realize what opportunities are out
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: there for you as a pharmacist. And you've witnessed some
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: of that change and some of those expansions.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: Absolutely.
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: I think it's an important thing for pharmacy schools and
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: mentors to be talking to these pharmacy students about, and
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: even other students in undergrad who may be deciding what
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: the next step for them looks like, because for so,
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: so long, pharmacy was a retail job, you could work
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: in a retail pharmacy or you could work in a
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: hospital or health system pharmacy.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: And even then it was most often in an inpatient space,
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: but you're spot on.
• 10:27
  Speaker 6: There is so much more opportunity beyond the traditional pharmacy roles.
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: Those are wildly important on the front lines and providing
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: access and care to patients. And then you have companies
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: like Clearway Health who are hiring brilliant pharmacists, clinical pharmacists to.
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: Do the work that we do.
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: You have manufacturers, you have pharmacists doing a lot of
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: the research to create these new drugs that are coming out.
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: When we look ahead, you talked about fall being the kickoff.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: To the pharmacy year.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: It's really that last three or four months stretch where
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: we really get our arms around what the drug pipeline
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: is going to look like for 2027 and start to
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: plan accordingly.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: And it's really.
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: Exciting to take in our role, we take you know,
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: the types of specialists and the types of drugs that
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: our clients and their providers are writing for and really
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: start to educate on what's coming out of the drug
• 11:20
  Speaker 6: pipeline and what some of the new therapies are. So
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: we're bringing some of that experience and expertise, knowing that
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: a provider in a specialty clinic may not be tracking
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: a drug pipeline as closely as we are. So tremendous
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: opportunities for pharmacists to work alongside in so many different capacities.
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: So Really tremendous work to you and to WVU and
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: to other folks who are exposing pharmacists to all of
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: the different opportunities that there are in specialty.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: All right. You and I are jazzed up about Inspire 2026.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: There was a rebranding at the NASP, the National Association
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: of Specialty Pharmacies. It's no longer the annual conference and expo.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: It is now called Inspire 2026 or just Inspire this
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: year's 2026. Shout out to Sheila and her marketing team.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: The inspiration that does come from this event, it always
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: inspires me. And like I said in the opening, we're
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: going to definitely be there. So is Clearway Health. Give
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: us a little preview of what you're excited about heading
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: to inspire in our capital, nation's capital, D.C.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: We're excited to be there.
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: And to Sheila and the entire NASP team, congratulations on that.
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: The launch of Inspire, we are excited to be there
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: and to join alongside NASP and the rest of the
• 12:41
  Speaker 6: folks that are going to be at National Harbor.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: The thing that I always look forward to.
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: Is the learning and just hearing what's new in the
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: industry and thinking.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: About the way forward.
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: A couple of things that I think about, especially this year, one,
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: we are hosting demos for Clearway Health's proprietary specialty pharmacy
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: patient management.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: Solution called Charter.
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: And would love to have folks join us in booth
• 13:09
  Speaker 6: 302 to share a little bit more about what Charter
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: does and how it can help to support specialty pharmacy workflows.
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: I think technology is a really big topic that a
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: lot of folks are going to be looking at at
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: Inspire this year. For us, Charter sits at an intersection
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: of existing solutions that a health system has. So you
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: have your EHR, you have your pharmacy dispensing system, TPAs,
• 13:34
  Speaker 6: other solutions that support pharmacy and 340B workflows, but oftentimes
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: we have to figure out how to fill the gaps
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: in between them to make sure that patients are receiving
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: their drug on time, following medication adherence, meeting the requirements
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: for accreditation, and all of those types of things. For us,
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: charter is what powers and enables that work that makes
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: it easier for clinicians and more accessible for patients. Technology
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: broadly is something I'll be looking out for a lot
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: at Inspire in a few weeks. I have seen a
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: flood in the market of different technology solutions. And I
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: think hospitals and health systems have a lot to learn,
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: a lot to choose from when they're thinking about technology
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: that's required to support their programs.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Because we've seen kind of this shift.
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: Many, many years ago when we were in the peak
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: of EHRs for the first time. I think hospitals and
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: health systems had this best-in-class approach where they were choosing
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: the different tech solutions from different vendors that were going
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: to best serve the needs of their organization. We then
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: moved into this single, consolidated, integrated patient record era, and
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: everyone shifted to that single-threaded approach. And I think pharmacies
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: are in a really interesting place right now because for
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: so long, we have had only EHRs and dispensing systems
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: and a few ancillary software solutions to help us. And
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: really finding one that anchors and creates this foundation to
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: really integrate that pharmacy care is an interesting spot for our.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: Industry to be in.
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: And so whether it's best in class or really thinking
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: about how you create this collection of tools that's going
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: to best serve the organization, there's a lot out there
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: and a lot to learn about it.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: So I think Inspire is a great place to do it.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: The guidance around this event. also includes things that aren't
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: necessarily attached to the disease state and the medication in
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: and of itself.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: And that are special.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: And this is something I think you've heard me say
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: this before, Allison, a shout out to Mark Cuban. He's
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: done some really wonderful things in getting roadblocks for PBM
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: reform and proving things. And his stardom has brought a
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: lot of attention and the public understands now what's going
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: on in the insurance realm. And There just has to
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: be some changes to be made to deliver better access
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: to care and getting things paid for. But social determinants
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: of health and other things that surround the patient, this
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: is what specialty pharmacy is. Specialty pharmacy excellence and specialty
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: pharmacy champions, they don't forget about the other aspects of care.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: the families, transportation, food, shelter, other things that are impacting healthcare.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Clearway has your fingers on the pulse of that piece
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: of what it is to be a specialty pharmacy. Talk
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: to our listeners about how important that is in your missions.
• 16:36
  Speaker 6: Social determinants of health and its connectedness, and I would
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: even say dependence on pharmacy is critically important in our communities.
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: So we have long known that pharmacists are often the
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: clinicians or caregivers that a patient sees most often, more
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: than their primary care provider, certainly more than some of
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: their specialist providers. And so pharmacists and pharmacies play a
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: critical role in population health and community health. When we
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: think about social determinants of health and the relatedness to
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: specialty pharmacy, there are so many connection points. You talked
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: about food, shelter, transportation. all of those things, especially for specialty,
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: which has such a high touch requirement and the complexity of.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: Care tie in.
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: We think about the work that specialty pharmacy patient liaisons
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: do in the care journey for a patient who is
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: on a specialty therapy. You have a liaison who has
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: this relationship with a patient for the entire time that
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: they are prescribed a specialty medication. And so from the
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: very beginning of providing patient education, talking to them about
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: their choice to have their prescription filled by the hospital
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: or the health system pharmacy where they already receive care,
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: then talking about how that medication is going to get
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: to them. The high majority of specialty medications are mailed
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: or shipped or delivered to a patient's home.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: We have had incredible.
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: Stories of service for team members who are supporting these
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: patients on specialty therapies. One story is a patient who
• 18:16
  Speaker 6: did not have transportation to come pick up a medication.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: And one of.
• 18:21
  Speaker 6: Our team members delivered it to their home in a snowstorm,
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: in an incredible winter storm. We've had scenarios where patients
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: were trying to figure out how they were going to
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: afford medication. One mother that one of our liaisons supported
• 18:37
  Speaker 6: had twins.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Both of them needed an inhaler.
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: And when we were trying to figure out the cadence
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: of refills for this inhaler, realized that she was sharing
• 18:48
  Speaker 6: one inhaler between both of her children and really helping
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: someone understand that we have pathways to help you.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: We will help you with affordability, access to care, delivery.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: Food is medicine. Do you have access to food?
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: We're connecting patients to care and case managers to then
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: provide support from food pantries. to make sure that they
• 19:09
  Speaker 6: have a comprehensive approach to care so that they get
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: the medication and the medication is effective. And so the
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: role of specialty pharmacy and social determinants of health cannot
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: be understated. A few weeks ago, Samir Shah, who is
• 19:25
  Speaker 6: the president of Mount Sinai Hospital at Sinai Chicago joined
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: us on a webinar and shared a lot about the
• 19:33
  Speaker 6: social determinants of health in Chicago Many folks, I'm sure,
• 19:37
  Speaker 6: have heard about the disparities of health in different zip
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: codes across the Chicagoland area, and Samir absolutely attributes specialty
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: pharmacy as an improvement of access to care that even
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: drives things like reducing readmissions and improving adherence, increasing connectedness
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: to the community workers that they have established as a
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: part of the Sinai Chicago organization. So I think it
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: can be measured and described in a lot of ways.
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: And they are tangible ways when we think about the
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: impact of specialty pharmacy on social determinants of health in
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: patients and communities.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I agree. And it's up to the collective to understand
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: what it is to pass the baton and assure that
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: it's still driving that care. It's the pharmaceutical manufacturer. It's
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: the payment methods. It's the entities like the health systems
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: that are out there that are building their specialty. And
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: then Clearway Health, you know, coming in and saying, hey,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: here's all the gaps that you're missing. And here's what
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: we've learned from the success of other specialty pharmacies that
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: have sprouted and grown out into the community through the
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: health system. We are so excited to be supported by
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: Clearway Health, clearing the way for better specialty pharmacy, for sure.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: And I cannot wait to see you in Washington, D.C.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: And spend time digging into some of the special content
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: that we're going to reserve. We're not giving away all
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: the secrets today on twerks. You'll have to tune in.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: And if you're going to Inspire 2026, make sure you
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: stop by the NASP's booth and say hello and participate
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: in the show or just say hi. Let me know
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: who you are and what you're doing and make sure
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: you connect with Allison and her team. Tell us what
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: your booth number is again.
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: Clearway Health is at booth 302 at Inspire 2026.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: So excited.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: We have a great show coming up. Allison, I love
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: doing news with you. You'll have to come back on
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Torx and we'll do more news.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: You guys brought all the news today. I love it.
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: Thanks so much. It was great to be here. Always
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: fun to have a chat.
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: With you, Todd.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Hey, more twerks coming up.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: Rick Seip, CEO, president of Value Drug.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Stand by. We got more twerks coming.
• 22:09
  Speaker 8: Healthcare innovation moves quickly, but innovation is only valuable when
• 22:14
  Speaker 8: clinicians can trust the information behind it. That is where FDB,
• 22:18
  Speaker 8: or First Data Bank, makes the difference. FDB provides trusted,
• 22:22
  Speaker 8: clinically validated medication knowledge and clinical decision support designed for
• 22:26
  Speaker 8: integration into modern healthcare technology. From electronic health records and
• 22:30
  Speaker 8: pharmacy systems to e-prescribing networks, artificial intelligence, payer platforms, and
• 22:35
  Speaker 8: patient-facing solutions, FDB helps turn complex drug data into actionable guidance.
• 22:41
  Speaker 8: FDB is also advancing the future of medication intelligence by
• 22:45
  Speaker 8: enabling AI-powered workflows to draw from reliable, expert-curated clinical content,
• 22:50
  Speaker 8: helping technology move beyond information towards safer, more useful actions.
• 22:55
  Speaker 8: For pharmacists and clinicians, that means more relevant medication alerts,
• 22:59
  Speaker 8: stronger clinical decision support, improved reconciliation, clearer patient instructions, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: information that fits naturally into the workflow. For healthcare technology companies,
• 23:09
  Speaker 8: it means access to proven drug knowledge that can strengthen products,
• 23:12
  Speaker 8: support responsible innovation, and improve the decisions made at every
• 23:16
  Speaker 8: point of care. Learn how FDB is connecting trusted drug knowledge,
• 23:20
  Speaker 8: intelligent technology, and patient-centered care. Visit fdbhealth.com First Data Bank,
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: powering the medication decisions that move healthcare forward every single day, worldwide.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Hey, welcome back to This Week in Pharmacy. This is
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: an interview that I've been waiting for. And as a
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: promotional organization and public relations organization, I am so incredibly
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: proud to be a part of the 2026, the Next
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Dose Summit on October 14th through 15th in Covington, Kentucky,
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: which is right on the border of Ohio and the
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Cincinnati area. We are media partners of this event. I'm
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: so excited to be working with Dr.
• 24:05
  Speaker 8: Jordan.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Jordan, welcome to Twerks. And like I said, I am
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: pumped up about the Nexto Summit.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Todd.
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: Listen, thank you for just believing enough in what I'm
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: doing and trying to accomplish that you're supporting me in this.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: I really appreciate it.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: We also have Melinda Fowler.
• 24:22
  Speaker 9: Dr.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Fowler is known as the hormonal pharmacist. She set the
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: world on fire with not accepting the standards and not
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: accepting the status quo around changes in men and women
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: as we get older.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Melinda, it's so good to see you.
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: Thank you for having me. I'm excited about what's coming.
• 24:39
  Speaker 10: I'm excited about Jordan and her excitement about this whole event.
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: And I'm so glad that Pharmacy Podcast is joining us too.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Jordan, I want you to give our listeners who might
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: not be watching us on YouTube or we're streaming on
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: LinkedIn right now. Talk to us about this event. Talk
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: to us about how this is different. I know why
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: I think it's different, but you're the creator of this.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: So tell us what is the Next Dose Summit?
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: You know, I can't tell you how long I spent
• 25:08
  Speaker 7: thinking about this. And I'm actually.
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: If you know me at all.
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: You know, I'm just like, I'll start with an idea
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: and then I'll just run with it.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: So that's kind of what this started as.
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: And I think.
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: Last year what happened, I started my consulting.
• 25:24
  Speaker 7: Business about a year and a half ago legally.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: And then actually started promoting it about a year ago.
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: And I'm sure Melinda can attest to this, but when
• 25:34
  Speaker 7: someone sees something new and different, everyone's really curious about
• 25:38
  Speaker 7: what are you doing? how do I do that? I
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: didn't know I could do that. And so there's this whole,
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: I think, audience of pharmacists, students even who are curious too,
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: who want to know how to do things differently.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: So it's very scripted, right? Like we've got community pharmacy,
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: we've got.
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: Hospital pharmacy, we've got industry, we've got your pockets of pharmacy,
• 25:59
  Speaker 7: but there's just this whole, like the only thing constant
• 26:03
  Speaker 7: is change. And in this profession, It is evolving rapidly.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: But I think what's happening is I don't know necessarily
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: that pharmacists, and I would say this for anybody, but
• 26:15
  Speaker 7: you don't know what you don't know. And so for
• 26:17
  Speaker 7: people who are out here doing different things and figuring
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: it out on their own, it's really fun to watch them,
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: like people like Melinda and the whole speaker lineup that
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: you've got pulled up there, Todd. And so for me,
• 26:29
  Speaker 7: what this has become is just creating.
• 26:33
  Speaker 7: A two-day non-traditional pharmacy experience designed to show pharmacists, student pharmacists.
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: I've even created a space for technicians because for me,
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: having worked with technicians in community pharmacy for 20 years
• 26:47
  Speaker 7: and started in pharmacy as a technician myself, you never
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: know when you can inspire a technician to want to
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: be a pharmacist. And so like, if we're talking about
• 26:57
  Speaker 7: changing the profession and we're talking about bringing in new talent,
• 27:00
  Speaker 7: we're talking about you know, like where's the interest in
• 27:03
  Speaker 7: pharmacy again, it's this summit and it's this summit because
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: you are watching these pharmacists out here doing wild, phenomenal
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: things on their own independently or in collaboration with other providers. Um,
• 27:17
  Speaker 7: and they're just delivering care differently. And I think where
• 27:20
  Speaker 7: pharmacy is going, I want to expose the pharmacists who
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: are out here doing the really cool things. And so
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: I wanted to create a space where, um, This is
• 27:29
  Speaker 7: not CE.
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: This is not a massive exhibit hall.
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: This is not your traditional continuing education conference masses all
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: coming in where it's very not personal. So I wanted
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: something personal, intentional, engaging. I wanted to bring in the
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: pharmacists strategically who are doing very different things, but then
• 27:49
  Speaker 7: also bring in the audience of the ones who are
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: watching them, but then can also come there and learn.
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: But then maybe they're going to leave inspired. and instill
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: confidence in the fact that they can also do those things.
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: And how cool is it to put you in front
• 28:01
  Speaker 7: of the people who are doing those really cool things
• 28:03
  Speaker 7: so that you can learn from them and they can
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: be a resource to you. But then we can take
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: those pharmacists and put them back out in the community.
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: So that is what the Next Dose Summit is. And
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: I'm really excited about it because I do think it's new.
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: It's different.
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: I'm so thankful for all of the speakers and you
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: two who have backed me on this and they believe
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: enough in it that they're showing up too.
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: Because they believe the same thing. So they're doing it.
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: And so they're coming to talk to everyone else to
• 28:31
  Speaker 7: show them you can, it's not easy, but you can
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: do this too. And that's what I'm really, really excited about.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I love that. I love the groundwork.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: I love the stage being set because it is the
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: next dose. It's literally the next phase of what's happening
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: to the pharmacy markets and what the pharmacist is going
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: to be doing. I've been watching this change humming and
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: louder and louder and louder. It started about 12 years
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: ago where I started understanding, wow, I had no idea
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: a pharmacist could become the pharmacogenomics expert or the hormonal
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: expert or the pediatric expert. And then the board of specialties,
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: even in of itself, are starting to expand. Melinda, what
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: attracted you to being a speaker? Because before we started recording,
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: Jordan confessed that she reached out to you first and
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: within moments, almost like that Jerry Maguire line, you had
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: me at hello, like you just signed right up. So
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: why are you part of this?
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: Oh my goodness.
• 29:31
  Speaker 10: I want pharmacists to know that there is more to
• 29:36
  Speaker 10: pharmacy than counting pills.
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: There's so much more. And in the days of AI and.
• 29:43
  Speaker 10: Robotics are coming, we've got to learn how to pivot
• 29:47
  Speaker 10: out of the space and practice at the top.
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: Of our license.
• 29:51
  Speaker 10: And I think back to Melinda from seven years ago,
• 29:54
  Speaker 10: I was the one that thought, I'm stuck in this career.
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: I'm going to be counting to 30 for the rest
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: of my life.
• 30:00
  Speaker 10: I'm going to be the old woman that's got Alzheimer's
• 30:02
  Speaker 10: and I'm still going to be counting to 30. But
• 30:05
  Speaker 10: I've got to figure out a way to enjoy my work.
• 30:10
  Speaker 10: And so it was actually through healing myself through perimenopause
• 30:14
  Speaker 10: and all the hormonal changes that come with midlife that
• 30:17
  Speaker 10: I learned how.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: To do hormones. And I was like, hmm, can I
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: teach other women how to do this?
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Maybe.
• 30:24
  Speaker 10: And then it became other pharmacists looking at me and saying,
• 30:28
  Speaker 10: how did you do that? And so I'm like, when
• 30:30
  Speaker 10: she asked me, I was like, oh my gosh, you
• 30:33
  Speaker 10: spoke to my soul. Like, this is like godsend for
• 30:37
  Speaker 10: me to be able to get my message out there
• 30:39
  Speaker 10: to more people that were just like me. I mean,
• 30:43
  Speaker 10: I'm sure there's people that are going to be attending
• 30:45
  Speaker 10: because they have reached out to me and said, I
• 30:47
  Speaker 10: feel stuck in my job. I want to know what
• 30:49
  Speaker 10: else is out there. And what better lineup of people
• 30:52
  Speaker 10: that Jordan has asked amazingly lined up. I mean, you've
• 30:56
  Speaker 10: got Delon Canterbury and Jesse McCullough and you've got Melody
• 31:00
  Speaker 10: Hartzler and Jay Phipps and all these people that I
• 31:03
  Speaker 10: have looked at for years and admired their work. And man,
• 31:08
  Speaker 10: I'm just pumped to be able to like actually lock
• 31:11
  Speaker 10: arms with them and shake their hands. And actually, I mean,
• 31:14
  Speaker 10: you feel like, you know, people through LinkedIn or Instagram
• 31:17
  Speaker 10: or whatever, but actually getting to know people and networking
• 31:21
  Speaker 10: is so powerful. Um, so just practicing at the top
• 31:25
  Speaker 10: of your license is a possibility. And I know as pharmacists,
• 31:28
  Speaker 10: we're real inside the box.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: We're real.
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: We got to stay to the letter.
• 31:33
  Speaker 10: It's black or white, you know, and that's a good thing.
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: That's what makes us good at what we do.
• 31:38
  Speaker 10: So it's kind of a challenge for us to, to
• 31:40
  Speaker 10: stretch our creative brains and help help kind of think
• 31:44
  Speaker 10: of what is out, what else is out there. And
• 31:46
  Speaker 10: so the lineup of people that are, that are going
• 31:48
  Speaker 10: to be there is, um, Freaking amazing. Jordan, you've done
• 31:51
  Speaker 10: a great job getting that lined up. You're just like
• 31:54
  Speaker 10: a rock star. And getting Todd to come and promote
• 31:56
  Speaker 10: it for us is even the icing on the cake.
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: So I cannot wait.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm excited as well.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: Jordan, you've picked some people that are nothing. There's not one,
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: I would say, I want to say ordinary. Like there's
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: no one that hasn't just... blasted and paved their own
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: way and what they wanted to build. And they believe
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: in themselves. They have connections to pharmacy. They're either a
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: pharmacist or a technician, even a student that isn't even
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: become a PharmD yet.
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: I'm so excited about her.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: And I reached out and told, and Saki was very
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: much the same way. She was like, absolutely. When is it?
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: I want to go.
• 32:42
  Speaker 7: And that was, that was very strategic and intentional too.
• 32:46
  Speaker 7: Because I thought, what better way to showcase this to
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: students than to show them a student that has already
• 32:52
  Speaker 7: got this entrepreneurial spirit and sees an opportunity and is
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: filling a gap and is teaching people that are coming
• 32:59
  Speaker 7: in behind her.
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: So I'm really excited about Saki, too.
• 33:02
  Speaker 7: And Saki's mom's a pharmacist and her mom's coming, too.
• 33:05
  Speaker 7: So I'm really excited about that. But the speaker lineup
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: is fantastic. it was very intentional, very strategic. I wanted,
• 33:14
  Speaker 7: I wanted people like, even like, look at Janan. Janan
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: is a pharmacist. She's in Louisville, Kentucky, but she, she
• 33:22
  Speaker 7: publishes books. Like the other point of this was to
• 33:27
  Speaker 7: also all these people are pharmacists. But they also even
• 33:32
  Speaker 7: you can even take something that you're passionate about outside
• 33:34
  Speaker 7: of pharmacy. So like Melinda's talking about, we do have
• 33:37
  Speaker 7: burnout culture.
• 33:38
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: And so there may be people who love what they do,
• 33:42
  Speaker 7: but then they thought passions outside of pharmacy.
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: So, OK, great.
• 33:46
  Speaker 7: How do you maybe build a business or integrate some
• 33:48
  Speaker 7: of your pharmacy knowledge or background into building a business
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: like J.? Jay is running a personal training company and
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: he's investing for Bitcoin.
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: So he's taking all of his, like.
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: He's got a full daytime job, but he has created
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: a business on the side that he can take that education,
• 34:06
  Speaker 7: training and knowledge into fueling something else that he's passionate
• 34:09
  Speaker 7: about too.
• 34:10
  Speaker 4: So whether you are a pharmacist who has built.
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: A business and you have transitioned into your own business
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: and you're delivering care that way, like Delon, deprescribing pharmacist
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: and Melinda, who's hormonal pharmacist or, Jill who's peptide pharmacist, um,
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: or you've got something you do part-time and then you've
• 34:29
  Speaker 7: got your consulting business or your independent practice that you're
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: doing too. So the speaker lineup was intentional because I
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: wanted to showcase people who maybe started in community pharmacy
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: and have transitioned into doing something else or people who
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: are their full-time job is X, Y, Z type pharmacy,
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: but they've got things on the side or just showcasing, um,
• 34:51
  Speaker 7: pharmacy and pharmacists exactly what we are just jack of
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: all trades we can do anything and i'm showcasing that when.
• 34:59
  Speaker 10: Showcasing it is great but also the networking that you're
• 35:02
  Speaker 10: going to get from being there i can think back
• 35:05
  Speaker 10: to my very first pharmacy conference i went to i
• 35:08
  Speaker 10: was scared to death i felt like a fish out
• 35:10
  Speaker 10: of water it was functional medicine conference so there were
• 35:13
  Speaker 10: physicians and pas and mps and i didn't feel like
• 35:15
  Speaker 10: i deserved to sit at the table and i remember
• 35:18
  Speaker 10: um Melody Hartzler and Lauren Castle were there with Functional
• 35:22
  Speaker 10: Medicine Pharmacists Alliance.
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: It had just started.
• 35:25
  Speaker 10: And they put out a Facebook Messenger group message and said,
• 35:30
  Speaker 10: if you're at this conference, meet us in the hotel
• 35:32
  Speaker 10: lobby and we'll go to dinner.
• 35:34
  Speaker 5: And I was scared to death. I told my husband,
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: do you think I should do this? I'm freaking out.
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: And he's like, it's dinner. Go meet some people. It's dinner.
• 35:42
  Speaker 10: And so I met them, did not know them from Adam.
• 35:46
  Speaker 10: just had seen their faces on Instagram, Facebook. We went
• 35:49
  Speaker 10: to dinner, had the best time, networked, and now I'm
• 35:52
  Speaker 10: so proud to call them my friends. And so I'm
• 35:54
  Speaker 10: glad that Melody's going to be there and speaking too,
• 35:57
  Speaker 10: because I already know her. And so I want that
• 36:00
  Speaker 10: connection with so many other pharmacists so that when we
• 36:02
  Speaker 10: do see each other showing up and doing things big
• 36:06
  Speaker 10: and innovative, that we can be like, hey, I know her,
• 36:09
  Speaker 10: you know, and I've met her and the networking that's
• 36:11
  Speaker 10: going to be here is just going to be amazing.
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: Another thing, Jordan, you said that there are pharmacy students coming.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: That brings joy to my heart because we have to
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: start brainwashing the next generation of pharmacists that you do
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: not have to go a traditional path. And as much
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: as I think every pharmacist should experience six months, 12 months,
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: maybe two years of working in retail because of the
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: community interaction of the people, it's almost like boot camp.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: for becoming a pharmacist. It's not the end all be all,
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: meaning your life at a hospital system or your life
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: in community pharmacy in a retail space, that's not the
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: only thing that's happening out there. And I've been observing
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: the blossoming of pharmacists who have paved their own way
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: for forever. I mean, Tony Guerra was one of our
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: first podcast hosts network participants. And he had a show
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: that was all about pharmacy future leaders. It was about,
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: let's interview some of these pharmacy students. And we did
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: several features. Brandon Antonopoulos out of Pittsburgh, he had a
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: dream at a P2 that he would open a pharmacy
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: that had nothing to do with insurance.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: And guess what?
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: Him, the same as Kyle McCormick out of Pittsburgh, Blueberry
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: Pharmacy and Forward RX, those pharmacies take zero insurance. and
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: they're in control of their whole destiny. They don't have
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: to worry about, I mean, it took forever to get
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: it started. I mean, it took a little longer than
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: what you would think, but thank goodness both of their
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: wives were pharmacists. They leaned on the income of the
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: stable to grow the business, and now the business is blooming,
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: and they are starting a fire that is being watched
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: nationally by wholesalers, by insurance providers, by organizations that have
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: other programs that are cash-based. that are now starting to
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: come after them saying, hey, we kind of like this
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: because we don't have to worry about a PBM or
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: we don't have to worry about something else. It's the patient.
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: It's the physician. It's the physician order. It comes to
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: the pharmacist. The pharmacist gets to embrace the patient, sit
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: down with them, take their time.
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: There's no metrics.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's just like, yeah, it's almost like going
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: back in time the way that pharmacy used to be.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: And I want I want the students that come to
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: this event to talk with and network with so many
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: of these speakers and understand, listen, this is very capable.
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: It's very possible to do. You have to be committed
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: to it. Your passion might start out as a side hustle,
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: just like mine. When I worked a full-time 40, 60-hour-a-week job,
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: I did podcasting when I came home. There was no
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: money in podcasting. I made zero money. dollars into like 2018-ish, 2019-ish.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: And now it's a PR agency that I get to
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: promote events like this and be a part of what
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: is the next thing happening in our industry. So this
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: summit is, I think, more important than maybe what you realize, Jordan,
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: because it's part of the gasoline that we have to
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: feed the fire of change and we have to keep
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: it going and make the next generation realize you do
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: not have... to do a traditional role as a pharmacist forever.
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: You know, maybe it's good experience up front, but it's
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: not the end. It's not the end of you. It's
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: not the cul-de-sac of your career.
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I appreciate that.
• 39:44
  Speaker 7: And I think too, and I'm not going to speak
• 39:46
  Speaker 7: for Melinda, but I think we're in a lot of
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: the same groups on social media. I mean, and there's always,
• 39:52
  Speaker 7: everyone's out there looking for different opportunities or like, what
• 39:56
  Speaker 7: are all these extra certifications I could get to get
• 39:58
  Speaker 7: a better job or, um, who, what, who, or what
• 40:03
  Speaker 7: do you think is most valuable when it comes to time,
• 40:05
  Speaker 7: money and investment in XYZ program to get this job specifically?
• 40:10
  Speaker 7: And I think too, and I'm, I'm saying this because
• 40:13
  Speaker 7: I read it all the time and I see it,
• 40:15
  Speaker 7: but I also, you just said it Todd, like bringing people,
• 40:18
  Speaker 7: like How do we fuel the fire of change? And
• 40:22
  Speaker 7: right now it does seem very scripted from a student perspective.
• 40:26
  Speaker 7: They know three things, hospital, community, or residency. It's very like,
• 40:33
  Speaker 7: this is what I have to do. And it's because
• 40:34
  Speaker 7: we don't do a good job putting things like this
• 40:36
  Speaker 7: in front of them, but also to everyone that is
• 40:41
  Speaker 7: inspired by people like Melinda and they aspire to want
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: to do those same things. It may not be that
• 40:48
  Speaker 7: you need 15,000 extra certifications. It may just be that like,
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: you need to connect with Melinda to figure out what
• 40:54
  Speaker 7: exactly did you do? And could you put me on
• 40:56
  Speaker 7: the right path to maybe do that on my own?
• 40:59
  Speaker 7: And so the summit is not intended to tell people
• 41:02
  Speaker 7: how to build a business, but to expose you to
• 41:05
  Speaker 7: all of the different types of things that pharmacists are
• 41:08
  Speaker 7: doing so that you can, to Melinda's point, network and
• 41:11
  Speaker 7: create those relationships and have a connection to go home
• 41:15
  Speaker 7: and be inspired to you know what, I'm really passionate
• 41:17
  Speaker 7: about pharmacogenomics. I know because I met this person that
• 41:23
  Speaker 7: I should get this certification, but I can connect with
• 41:26
  Speaker 7: this company or I can do this lab partner or
• 41:29
  Speaker 7: just creating those relationships so that people have the foundation
• 41:33
  Speaker 7: to build a business.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: Yes. All right.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: We are wrapping up this week in pharmacy, the 2026.
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: The next dose summit is October 14th, 15th, 2026 in Covington, Kentucky.
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: There will be a link in our show notes. But
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: if you Google the next dose summit, it does come
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: up the next dose summit. It comes right up on Google.
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: It's already hot. So it's already out there on. Facebook,
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: it's got its own landing page. And so look it up, people.
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: The Next Dose Summit. I want to see you there.
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: Reach out to us. Reach out to Melinda on LinkedIn.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: If you have some questions, reach out to Jordan, any
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: of the speakers. If you have questions, don't miss an
• 42:24
  Speaker 3: opportunity to be part of what's happening next in pharmacy.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: The Next Dose Summit. And thank you so much for
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: being here, Melinda and Jordan.
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
• 42:33
  Speaker 7: Thanks for having us.
• 42:36
  Speaker 11: Your patients need convenient and cost-efficient healthcare, and in the
• 42:40
  Speaker 11: increasingly competitive pharmacy environment, independent pharmacies shouldn't have to struggle.
• 42:45
  Speaker 11: That's where Value Drug Company steps in. At Value Drug,
• 42:50
  Speaker 11: we treat our members like family, providing first-rate, personalized service
• 42:54
  Speaker 11: and the support they deserve. While you provide exceptional care
• 42:57
  Speaker 11: for your patients, we provide you comprehensive solutions to help
• 43:01
  Speaker 11: you become efficient, productive, and profitable. We offer online ordering
• 43:06
  Speaker 11: and mobile capabilities with our state-of-the-art distribution center to maintain
• 43:10
  Speaker 11: quality and control. We help your community pharmacy get connected
• 43:14
  Speaker 11: to the right service providers and access your market. And
• 43:17
  Speaker 11: we don't stop there. Learn more about how Value Drug
• 43:20
  Speaker 11: can help your pharmacy thrive at valuedrugco.com.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: That's valuedrugco.com.
• 43:27
  Speaker 11: Value Drug Company is a proud sponsor of the Pharmacy
• 43:30
  Speaker 11: Podcast Network.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: Hey, we are back on Twerks.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: It's This Week in Pharmacy, and we are back with
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: Rick Seip. This is becoming like a regular thing for
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: us to meet up here on Twerks.
• 43:45
  Speaker 10: Absolutely.
• 43:45
  Speaker 9: Well, it's great to see you again. So really enjoy
• 43:48
  Speaker 9: the time we get to spend together.
• 43:50
  Speaker 7: I know.
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: We're here at the headquarters again. Where is the headquarters
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: of Value Drug Company?
• 43:56
  Speaker 9: Right outside of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in Duncansville. So we're about
• 44:00
  Speaker 9: two hours east of Pittsburgh.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: New facility, around 10 years old. warehouse.
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: We got to take a tour last time we were here.
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: Let's talk about something very important. This is important for
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: pharmacy owners, small mini chains, and that is expansion. And
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: that's the growth hockey stick that we're all on in
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: expanding pharmacies that had an opportunity to pick up pharmacies
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: that have closed over the pharmacy deserts that have been
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: out there. Rite Aid, we know that that's right in
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: our backyard here in central Pennsylvania.
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: But let's talk about it as.
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: A strategic business partner and wholesaler from Value Drugs' perspective.
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 44:43
  Speaker 9: Well, there's been just some tremendous opportunities and challenges at
• 44:46
  Speaker 9: the same time in the pharmacy industry. And really, we've
• 44:50
  Speaker 9: taken the opportunity with some of the closures to continue
• 44:55
  Speaker 9: to expand and continue to just help with our services
• 44:59
  Speaker 9: into the pharmacies and other markets as well. both at
• 45:03
  Speaker 9: home but then expanding. So north into New York State,
• 45:08
  Speaker 9: east as far as Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, but particularly
• 45:11
  Speaker 9: west as well into Ohio and into Kentucky. And particularly
• 45:17
  Speaker 9: when you get into rural areas, some of the services
• 45:20
  Speaker 9: that other wholesalers and other partners of those pharmacies really
• 45:24
  Speaker 9: have been sparse and really not only bringing just the
• 45:27
  Speaker 9: wholesaler relationship but the services that we have for them
• 45:31
  Speaker 9: to those areas as well.
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: So Kentucky is special. Uh, lots of pharmacy owners in
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: Kentucky expansion to that point in delivery. When you think
• 45:42
  Speaker 3: of the mile radius around the, the, the headquarters here,
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: where are you mapping out expansion?
• 45:49
  Speaker 9: Um, really as far east as through Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
• 45:55
  Speaker 9: down through Virginia, out west through Kentucky, through Indiana, Ohio,
• 46:00
  Speaker 9: and all the way through the Great Lakes. So those
• 46:03
  Speaker 9: are all areas that we can reach overnight. And that's
• 46:06
  Speaker 9: what's important to us. And we want to make sure
• 46:09
  Speaker 9: that we can provide those services. So you order one night,
• 46:12
  Speaker 9: the next day, that product is there for you, and
• 46:14
  Speaker 9: that you can count on that and can count on
• 46:16
  Speaker 9: the product being there. And If for whatever reason we
• 46:20
  Speaker 9: don't have a lot of pharmacies in that area, we'll
• 46:22
  Speaker 9: make sure that we ship it in alternative means like
• 46:25
  Speaker 9: FedEx or UPS overnight. Make sure that you have that
• 46:28
  Speaker 9: product as well.
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: All right. And last time we talked, actually it wasn't
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: last time, it was the time before that, we were
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: also talking about cash-based models, expansion of that. You know,
• 46:43
  Speaker 3: there are pharmacies out there who may have three, four pharmacies,
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: and when they decide to open up a new pharmacy,
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: they're like, hey, let's go cash-based.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: Let's go cost-plus.
• 46:53
  Speaker 3: Talk to us about the expansion of that model as well.
• 46:55
  Speaker 9: We've, ironically, with some of the other closures that are happening,
• 46:59
  Speaker 9: we knew and we've partnered. We've piloted with some of
• 47:03
  Speaker 9: our partners here in Pittsburgh, in Blueberry and ForwardRx. But
• 47:07
  Speaker 9: beyond them, if you start to look at other markets,
• 47:10
  Speaker 9: out into Ohio specifically, into Connecticut, into Kentucky, where folks
• 47:15
  Speaker 9: are starting to reach out and call and talk about
• 47:17
  Speaker 9: cost plus and that they have a cost plus and
• 47:20
  Speaker 9: they look to expand that as that next pharmacy or
• 47:23
  Speaker 9: converting a current pharmacy into cost plus. And they're seeing
• 47:26
  Speaker 9: the benefits, one, from the bottom line, but then secondly
• 47:30
  Speaker 9: is just their interactions and being able to pull in
• 47:33
  Speaker 9: more and more patients, especially in socioeconomic areas that are challenged.
• 47:37
  Speaker 9: They can really bring in patients that they wouldn't normally
• 47:40
  Speaker 9: be able to do. So that's been exciting to talk
• 47:43
  Speaker 9: to more and more of those pharmacies. And it's not
• 47:45
  Speaker 9: just a one or two store trend. This is one
• 47:49
  Speaker 9: or two stores. It's really turning into a trend and
• 47:51
  Speaker 9: really a change in the industry as we continue to
• 47:54
  Speaker 9: move forward.
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: I was lucky enough in the experience of the business
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: of pharmacy to start a small buying group back in
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: 2013 with a pharmacy owner, 17 retail locations, a long-term
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: care division, all out of the Pittsburgh area. And our
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: backbone wholesaler was H.D. Smith. And originally, H.D. Smith split
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: off between H.D. Smith and then Smith. And then Smith
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: went south and then H.D. kind of hung out in
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: Illinois somewhere. I can't remember the name of it.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: But when H.D.
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: Smith shut down and now Smith shut down, it's left
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: this void, especially for our independent community pharmacies that rely
• 48:39
  Speaker 3: on those kind of, I don't want to, more intimate
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: relationships in some way because they just know the markets.
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: The people that are the representatives in the markets that
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: Smith was controlling and serving, people really had good relationships
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: with that. If you move from a Smith to a
• 48:59
  Speaker 3: Cardinal or a Smith to a McKesson or a Smith
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: to a Sincora, it's.
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: A different vibe.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: So if you got an opportunity to go from Smith
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: to value drug company, You're staying within that same element
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: of understanding the business from that independent pharmacy perspective. And
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: not that the three, you know, don't get it, but it's,
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: you know, the vibe I'm talking about, Rick.
• 49:24
  Speaker 7: It is.
• 49:24
  Speaker 9: And we try to bring that, uh, that is, that's
• 49:27
  Speaker 9: at the base or the core of our culture is
• 49:30
  Speaker 9: to make sure that we're treating people the right way. Uh, and,
• 49:34
  Speaker 9: and just speaking to us and how, how we interact
• 49:37
  Speaker 9: with our pharmacies, it is that partnership. It is what
• 49:41
  Speaker 9: do they need to succeed, giving that same information to
• 49:46
  Speaker 9: them that they may need, and getting them specific information
• 49:51
  Speaker 9: based upon their practice, just like what they had with Smith.
• 49:54
  Speaker 9: And I'd like to even think that we were doing
• 49:57
  Speaker 9: with our pharmacies just as much, if not better, and
• 50:00
  Speaker 9: continue to bring that even into more areas. And it
• 50:03
  Speaker 9: was funny you mentioned long-term care. As we've been going
• 50:07
  Speaker 9: into different marketplaces, it's interesting to see how pharmacies that
• 50:13
  Speaker 9: didn't either interact or interacted not with the Smith team
• 50:17
  Speaker 9: or with value, to see how some of the information
• 50:20
  Speaker 9: that they had and other areas that they could open
• 50:23
  Speaker 9: their practice to do long-term care at home, or how
• 50:28
  Speaker 9: to lift that, how to open that up, and how
• 50:30
  Speaker 9: to care for patients a little bit differently. And there's
• 50:33
  Speaker 9: some real benefits to those pharmacies, both on the buying
• 50:35
  Speaker 9: side and the reimbursement side, which we don't talk about
• 50:38
  Speaker 9: enough or you hear about it, but you just think
• 50:40
  Speaker 9: it's so out of reach. And it's really not because
• 50:42
  Speaker 9: so many things that independent pharmacies do really are already
• 50:46
  Speaker 9: taking care of the patients. And it's just really getting
• 50:49
  Speaker 9: the reimbursement and the, and the savings of what they
• 50:52
  Speaker 9: do every day. Just like a pharmacist gives so much
• 50:56
  Speaker 9: free advice without really billing for it. And there's so
• 51:00
  Speaker 9: many opportunities to do that anymore that it's, Really, the
• 51:04
  Speaker 9: pharmacies need to take advantage of it, and we want
• 51:06
  Speaker 9: to make sure that we bring that opportunity to them
• 51:09
  Speaker 9: and do it the right way.
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: Part of expansion in my mind, if I'm looking for
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: my wholesaler partner, I want a full line. I don't
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: want things that I can't get based on maybe the
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: larger three. I need technology for expansion. I need to
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: rely on my wholesaler to bring me product services, durable
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: medical equipment, that will allow me to extend services into
• 51:35
  Speaker 3: the home. So I know last time you were on Twerks,
• 51:38
  Speaker 3: we were talking a little bit about, if you didn't
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: hear the episode, go back in Twerks. I think it
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: was the.
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: 28th of August.
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: We're talking about a little bit about long-term care at home,
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: remote patient monitoring. Value Drug Company isn't limited as a
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: smaller wholesaler in the capacity of wholesalers where you're not
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: limiting your client and your customers on technology.
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about technology.
• 52:02
  Speaker 9: Absolutely. And I think one thing really first, too, to
• 52:06
  Speaker 9: bring up is that service. You're not limited for not
• 52:10
  Speaker 9: only technology partners, but also from a service side. So
• 52:14
  Speaker 9: you may need some items for durable medical equipment, and
• 52:18
  Speaker 9: you may not see a product that we have. Simple
• 52:21
  Speaker 9: contact a customer service. It doesn't get lost. It's not
• 52:24
  Speaker 9: thrown into an abyss. You actually talk to a person
• 52:27
  Speaker 9: who may not have the answer, but they go down
• 52:29
  Speaker 9: the hall and get the answer and special order a
• 52:31
  Speaker 9: product for you. If you think about the last time
• 52:33
  Speaker 9: you went to a store and you were able to
• 52:34
  Speaker 9: order a special order something, I don't know that you
• 52:36
  Speaker 9: can remember when that happened. And that happens every day
• 52:39
  Speaker 9: for us. And that's what's exciting is bring those special
• 52:44
  Speaker 9: items back to a pharmacy that they need, that Mrs.
• 52:48
  Speaker 9: Joan needs to take care of herself. But then you
• 52:50
  Speaker 9: need the technology to support that too. And whether it
• 52:53
  Speaker 9: be remote patient monitoring, clinical billing, or just a technology
• 52:59
  Speaker 9: partner for a dispensing system, those are things that each
• 53:02
  Speaker 9: one of our pharmacy partners has a unique challenge, has
• 53:04
  Speaker 9: a unique need. And that's what our teams here do.
• 53:08
  Speaker 9: You don't have to talk to me. You can talk
• 53:09
  Speaker 9: to any of the members of our team and they
• 53:11
  Speaker 9: get you to the right person and people with that
• 53:15
  Speaker 9: knowledge set to connect you to the right partner and
• 53:18
  Speaker 9: Sometimes it's even the switch. Which switch should you work
• 53:21
  Speaker 9: with or provider? And what's the best way that the
• 53:25
  Speaker 9: technology interlaces? Technology continues to change so fast with AI
• 53:29
  Speaker 9: as well, too. And those are things that we're focused
• 53:32
  Speaker 9: on here.
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: I remember going with my mother to JCPenney and she
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: looked for something, couldn't find it. She went back to
• 53:40
  Speaker 3: customer service and started flipping through a magazine and then
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: placing an order with this strange telephone that you'd pick
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: it up.
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: And you'd be like, hey, I want.
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: To place this order. And I'm like, there's generations that
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: will never get some of those nuances.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: This is hilarious when you said that. Why did I
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: even think of that?
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: It was weird.
• 53:59
  Speaker 9: It's just like the old-fashioned catalog stores. And so you'd
• 54:04
  Speaker 9: be very surprised the amount of different items that we
• 54:07
  Speaker 9: bring that sometimes you have to have a smaller partner,
• 54:12
  Speaker 9: but a partner that values you to really get the
• 54:16
  Speaker 9: most out of the relationship and That's what we try
• 54:18
  Speaker 9: to do.
• 54:19
  Speaker 3: And a partner that understands the markets too, because what's
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: going to continue to grow in certain parts of Kentucky
• 54:25
  Speaker 3: may not be popular in Pittsburgh or may not be
• 54:28
  Speaker 3: popular in Connecticut or something. And you have to understand that.
• 54:32
  Speaker 9: And absolutely. And we're set up for that even from
• 54:36
  Speaker 9: our distribution facility perspective is we have items that everyone
• 54:40
  Speaker 9: is using, all those brand names that roll off the
• 54:42
  Speaker 9: top of your tongue. But then there's items that are
• 54:45
  Speaker 9: lower velocity items that maybe are only used in one
• 54:48
  Speaker 9: or two towns because of one provider may depend upon it.
• 54:51
  Speaker 9: But it's critically important in, you know, hometown USA. And
• 54:56
  Speaker 9: that's what we pride ourselves on is being able to
• 54:59
  Speaker 9: pivot and get that. And obviously get it at a
• 55:03
  Speaker 9: reasonable cost, too, because just because you can get it,
• 55:06
  Speaker 9: if you're not priced right, that doesn't help either. you
• 55:10
  Speaker 9: can get a product, but if it's a million dollars,
• 55:12
  Speaker 9: that doesn't help the situation. So I want to make
• 55:14
  Speaker 9: sure that it's affordable to the pharmacies, and then they
• 55:17
  Speaker 9: can either sell it directly to their patients or bill
• 55:20
  Speaker 9: it appropriately.
• 55:21
  Speaker 3: Hey, if you're listening, I want you to take a
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: look at Value Drug Company. Rick, give them the domain
• 55:28
  Speaker 3: name or where they can go to. It's going to
• 55:30
  Speaker 3: be in the show note links. If you're driving, if
• 55:34
  Speaker 3: you're walking, don't worry about it. It'll be in the
• 55:36
  Speaker 3: show notes, but Give our listeners where to get ahold
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: of you.
• 55:38
  Speaker 9: Absolutely. Appreciate it. Valuedrugco.com. So Valuedrugco.com.
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: That's awesome.
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: Hey, next time Rick comes back, it might not be Rick.
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: It might be someone else on your team. We're going
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: to talk about expansion again, but we're going to twist
• 55:53
  Speaker 3: it and we're going to talk about specialty pharmacy. You
• 55:56
  Speaker 3: might not realize this listeners, but Valued Drug Company. is
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: also in specialty pharmacy.
• 56:01
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 56:02
  Speaker 9: We have two specialty pharmacies and really servicing not only patients,
• 56:06
  Speaker 9: but physician offices here in Altoona and then also down
• 56:10
  Speaker 9: in Memphis, Tennessee. And the specialty pharmacy business is extremely dynamic,
• 56:16
  Speaker 9: but it's just so rewarding, especially we focus a lot
• 56:20
  Speaker 9: on mental health and addiction. And in today's world, those
• 56:23
  Speaker 9: are just so important areas.
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: Very much. And having the pharmacists involved, especially in that
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: addiction side, And then when I actually, mental health as well,
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: because sometimes physicians feel like they're throwing darts at a
• 56:36
  Speaker 3: dartboard with a blindfold on when it comes to which
• 56:39
  Speaker 3: medication to get the patient on.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: Hey, guess what?
• 56:43
  Speaker 3: Run a pharmacogenomics test and let's dial in and see
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: which drug's going to work. I can't wait to have
• 56:49
  Speaker 3: you back, Rick. Thanks for being on Torx.
• 56:50
  Speaker 9: Appreciate it. Thank you so much. See you next time.
• 56:54
  Speaker 10: What does it.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: Mean for a pharmacist to go above and beyond? It
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: may mean staying late to locate an essential medication, catching
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: a dangerous interaction, improving access to a life-saving therapy, comforting
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: a worried caregiver, or finding a solution when a patient
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: feels they have nowhere else to turn. The Love Your
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: Pharmacist campaign, presented by Clinigen, celebrate those defining moments and
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: the remarkable professionals behind them. This awards program was established
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: to recognize pharmacists whose leadership, clinical expertise, Innovation, advocacy, and
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: compassion create change. Across community pharmacies, hospitals, health systems, specialty practices,
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: long-term care, academia, and other settings, pharmacists are improving outcomes
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: and strengthening healthcare every day. Recognition matters. It reminds pharmacists
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: that their dedication is seen. It introduces patients and healthcare
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: leaders to the true scope of pharmacy practice. Most importantly,
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: The Pharmacy Podcast Network proudly supports the Love Your Pharmacist
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: Awards and their mission to honor excellence throughout the profession.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Learn more about the awards and the pharmacists being celebrated
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: at loveyourpharmacistawards.com because extraordinary service deserves extraordinary recognition.