Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / The Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association's Annual Conference Post Show | Part Two

Transcript

The Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association's Annual Conference Post Show | Part Two · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Your patients need convenient and cost efficient healthcare, and in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the increasingly competitive pharmacy environment, independent pharmacies shouldn't have to struggle.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: That's where Value Drug Company steps in. At Value Drug
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: we treat our members like family, providing first rate, personalized
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: service and the support they deserve. While you provide exceptional
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: care for your patients, we provide you comprehensive solutions to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: help you become efficient, productive, and profitable. We offer online
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: ordering and mobile capabilities with our state of the art
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: distribution center to maintain quality and control. We help your
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: community pharmacy get connected to the right service providers and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: access your market, and we don't stop there. Learn more
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: about how Value Drug can help your pharmacy thrive at
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Value Drug Co dot com. That's Value drugc dot com.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Value Drug Company is a proud sponsor of the Pharmacy
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Podcast Network.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association's annual conference post show
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: presented by the Pharmacy Podcast Network. In this three part series,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: we bring you exclusive interviews from the conference held February
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: twentieth through the twenty second at the Hilton Harrisburg. You'll
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: hear real conversations with industry leaders including doctor Kyle McCormick,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: John de James, the American Pharmacist Association CEO, doctor Michael Hoague,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and many more. This series is proudly sponsored by Value
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Drug Company and the Pennsylvania Pharmacist Care Network PPCN as
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: they celebrate their tenth anniversary of advancing pharmacists led patient
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: care across the commonwealth.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association twenty twenty six Here with Darryl. I
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: want you to introduce yourself to the listeners because they
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: can't see you like I can see.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Darryl Tillman, ppa's president, pennsylvani Pharmacist Association President
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: for twenty twenty six. Thankful for the opportunity, humble to serve.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: I'm ready to go.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: We're here with John to James as well. John is
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: good to see you, always good to see you. Todd
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: was my co host for the Pharmacy fifty Awards.
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: It was so much fun working with you there.
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: I actually enjoyed myself and I thought I was coming
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: just a present an award, and I got to be
• 2:43
  Speaker 6: included in the show, which was phenomenal because just getting
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: to see some of those people I've interacted with in
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: a profession, out of your top fifty, and you know,
• 2:53
  Speaker 6: just knowing them personally, just that little little story about
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: him that I could share was just that was impactful
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: for me. I appreciate given the opportunity ton and.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: John was an incredible mentor to me and an amazing
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: predecessor for me in my wife.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Well, the reason why I'm excited to interview you, Darrol,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: is because every time we get a new president, we
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: get a new opportunity to have new ideas, innovation, whatever
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: that's coming from you. What are you excited about pharmacy
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: in general.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: That's a great question. Thank you for the question. I'm
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: excited to do the work that will bring us together
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: to move this professional coin. I have three main priorities.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: Increase patient access because we have way too many pharmacy
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: deserts here in Pennsylvania. We have when it's both a
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: rural and urban and a suburban problem different dynamics to that,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: but there's way too many deserts. There's people who are
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: having more and more troubles giving the scripts for it. Yeah,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: they need our services and need the access. So that's
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: the first player. And the second priority is to put
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: an investment into our next generation. I call them Generation Next.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: I am oober excited about the next generation and their potential,
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: and I think it needs to be nurtured. It needs
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: to be mentored. So we're going to put an investment
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: of time and talent into that. And then the third
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: thing I want to get done is I want to
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: bring the pharmacy community together. Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association is the
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: largest association representing pharmacist in the whole common law, and
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: we represent pharmacists in every section of pharmacy. And there
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: are other groups out there who represent pharmacists in different
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: sections and pharmacy, but this one represents all and everybody
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: has a place and seek here in PPI. And so
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: my objective is to partner with those other groups, find
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: like minded goals, and let's start moving the ball down
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: the field for the betterment. I'm not just the profession,
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: but the thirteen million people that came It's value Home.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: Yep, you fall right in line with that mission, John,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: and the work that you've done with Value Drug over
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: the years and how that they've assured the survivability and
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: thrive ability of community pharmacy, but then also your partnerships
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: and other sectors of pharmacy.
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: How do you navigate evolution? We're older guys, you.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: And I are veterans. Now we're not the young guys anymore.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: But how do you keep innovation going?
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: I think the big thing Todd you got to look
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: at is if you're not changing, you're going to be
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: left behind. So having the perspective of what that change
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: is showing people the you know, the better end of
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: what that advancement and change is going to do, not
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: just for themselves but for the profession. And you know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: it all flows downstream. So you make that change. It
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: helps your profession, it helps the end user, which is
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: the patient. You know, values just always. I don't want
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: to say they've always been not in the forefront, but
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: I don't have a better way of putting it. It's always,
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: you know, they they led with PPCN when PPCN was
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: in its infancy days. You know, when you look at
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: the amount of you know, I think there's two hundred
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: pharmacies that are Pennsylvania Pharmacy Care Network pharmacies the majority
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: of them are value drug companies. So you know, our
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: shareholders emulate what we we put out there, between our
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: strategist group, our account managers and just you know, the
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: leadership and value drug. When it adds to the it's
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: always promoted the profession. You know, in a very unique way. Yes,
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: we are a wholesaler, but in a very uniquer.
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: Way we do.
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: We do a lot more than sell a product. I
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: would actually say we're more service orientated. That is what
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: we do. And you know who benefits from it, our shareholders,
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: the profession, and the patience. You will not get me
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: off those three. It's just you know, it's it's a
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: full circle moment. I don't want to say it's the
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: circle of life of pharmacy, but when you think about it,
• 6:59
  Speaker 6: you know, as we push continue to push patient care,
• 7:03
  Speaker 6: I don't care where you go in rural or in
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: rural PA, in underserved PA. No matter where you go,
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: there is still an independent pharmacy and the majority of
• 7:17
  Speaker 6: time that independent pharmacy is still the backbone.
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: Of the community.
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: So you know, we're not a big we're not a
• 7:23
  Speaker 6: big chain, but like I said, value in just in
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: PA alone, we have about four hundred independents. Those are
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: the lifeline for a lot of patients that are out
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: there that you know, I don't have to tell you
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: you probably see your pharmacist a lot more than you
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: see your doctor.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So what John just shared Darryl ties back to
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: what pharmacists do in every aspect that they work in.
• 7:48
  Speaker 5: I spend time with him in specialty.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: I get to spend time with him in a health system,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: pharmacy and independent community and even policy creation. Right here
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: in Harrisburg, where you're going to go to our government,
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: You're going to go to our state representatives and the governor.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: You're going to tell them insider information of how important
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: it is to keep access flowing. Just like you said, So,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: what does the Pennsylvania state, specifically the legislators, the state reps,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: the governor, what do you think they need to understand
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: about the evolution of pharmacy.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: Well, first and foremost, we serve the underserved, we serve
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: the undervalue, we serve the marginalized. So we go to
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: those places and those to the places where people don't
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: want to go. We go into those neighborhoods and those communities,
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: those health systems, and we take care of the most
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: vulnerable of our society. So that's what that's the first
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: thing I want the governor to hear. And we cannot
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: continue to have a recession. A recession will be a
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: poor work, but a decrease in the amount of pharmacists
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: and pharmacies that are all around the commonwealth. I mean,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: if you really think about them, right, when you take
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: away your community pharmacy, let's spread the domino effect of
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: that dominant so the domino effect of themadness. There's no
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: community pharmacy. There's patients. Let's just take one condition diabetes
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: that they don't get.
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: They're insolent, So.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Where do they end up in the er? Let's not
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: even say the worst case scenario. Let's not say they're
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: in diabetic keto acids. Let's just say they have a
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: sugar of four or five hundred and they need insult. Okay,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: now we're taking away resources from the health systems that
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: need them for the sickest patients. But now we have
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: to take care of this situation. Right. And I don't
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: know about twenty twenty four twenty twenty five numbers, but
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: I think it was in twenty twenty three out of
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: one hundred and fifty nine hospitals. Only ten broke even
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: or made a margin a positive margin. I mean, so
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: all these other hospitals and health systems that are already
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: under financial pressure, right, it's only like it works. I mean,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: it's not politics, its math. We've already lost a couple
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: of health systems in this comment. Often over the last
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: couple of years. There's a bunch of others that are
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: in trouble. In the community pharmacies, we've lost what John
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: about eight hundred of them, and it last eighteen to
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: twenty four months.
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: I know, we were probably over six hundred beginning of
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: about the tail end of last year. So it's it's
• 10:29
  Speaker 6: up there.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: So if you have that many pharmacies gone, it's not
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: like we're We're not as prolific as a nurse as
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: a physician, right, but we're the ones who are most
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: accessible because last time I checked, pharmacies are open seven
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: days a week, you know, and only other thing that's
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: open seven days a week is the hospital. Pharmacies are
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: open seven days a week. Pharmacies you don't need an
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: appointment to go to see a pharmacist. We're picking up
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: folks that slip through the cracks of the profession of
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: the health care industry that can't get appointments with other
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: healthcare providers. But whatever, there's enough lame in anybody. But
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: it is what it is.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: So it's critical at this point in time. The governor,
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: the state Assembly, Congress, the president, you know, the HHS
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: secretary all understand that it's time to step up and
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: help us help those who are mostly or else you'll
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: have a bigger problem.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's true, John.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: I think that when we talk about pharmacy deserts and
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: we think of how that affects community health and the
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: loss of that community moving away because maybe they're not
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: close enough to facilities, that in and of itself as
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: a danger to public health.
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: You know, it is. And I think the you know,
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: if you look on the insurance side, I'm going to
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: take the insurance perspective. The first thing they're going to
• 12:05
  Speaker 6: say is, well, you can use a mail order pharmacy.
• 12:09
  Speaker 6: That's the first thing they're gonna say. Every PBM owns
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: their own mail order pharmacy. Every insurance network has a
• 12:14
  Speaker 6: mail order pharmacy. Let me ask you this, thoughd do
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: you think you can deliver good quality patient care service
• 12:21
  Speaker 6: through the mail.
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: No, exactly not.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: You know, so when I go back and I start
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: thinking of that, you know, just to build off with
• 12:31
  Speaker 6: some of the stuff that Darryl said, we're not asking for.
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: We're not asking for like a windfall of money to
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: come to us. What we are asking is to be fair.
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: When you look at surrounding states around US New York,
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: look at the Ohio model, what to see single PBM
• 12:50
  Speaker 6: with a tiered structure in pricing on the medicaid side.
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: You know the fact that you know, you know, we
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: have a law from twenty nineteen, twenty twenty that dictates
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: they're supposed to be a set reimbursement rate on the
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: Medicaid side. But yet I can go to an MCO
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: in the Philadelphia area, two different MCOs pay two different
• 13:14
  Speaker 6: payment models. It's nowhere near the ten dollars that's out there.
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: I can go to the western Pennsylvania side where I live.
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: I have an MCO. When it's paying five sixty three,
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: there's a magic number. I got another one paying six dollars.
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: So when you think about it, we're here east and west.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: There's a couple more MCOs in that picture. But I
• 13:36
  Speaker 6: have four different payment models when it shouldn't need to
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: be one payment.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: All we're asking fair asking for is just that fair pricing.
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: And you know, I don't have to tell you about advocacy.
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: I know you see me around and it's just I
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: say to all these politicians a lot. Any time you
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: care about your do, any time you care about constituents
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: is when you need their vote. Yeah, And I just
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: you know, we're going to continue to have these until someone,
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: hopefully soon in Pennsylvania wakes up. Now, to me, it's
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: an obvious thing if you're the governor of what is happening,
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: and especially in the rural sites. But I tell everybody,
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: even in Pittsburgh, where you know I'm from and you're
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: from that area, I can be in the inner city
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: and have to drive two zip codes over to find
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: a pharmacy that should not be happening in a metropolis.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: It's just it does not make any sense. Perhaps the
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: head of the Department of Health and Human Services in PA,
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: you know, needs to I don't want to say, get
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: a tune, but you know, understand what the issues are.
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: Other than you know, just if you're a politician, you're
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: doing status quo. You're not doing a service for a
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: number one, the people that got you into the office,
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: the people that kept you in an office, and the
• 14:53
  Speaker 6: people that you serve. So you know, I'm just I
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: don't want to put out any names right now. You
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: get I think you get where I'm going. But it's
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: it's an easy it's a pretty easy fixed hut.
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: Just be fair, fair piggybacking off what John just said.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: We lost and I'm from Philadelphia. Originally we lost to
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: a pharmacy in the Gray's Ferry section of Philadelphia. The
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: next closest pharmacy was six miles away. Six miles on
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: Septa is an hour round trip because SEPTA runs, stopping
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: at every red light and stop sign in every corner,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: roughly eighteen miles an hour on the average. I'm not
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: knocking SEPTA because they're doing what they have to do
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: to move people around goods and services. Right. So, But
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: the point is, when you look at two inner cities
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: opposite signs of the ends of the state, you still
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: see the same problem. You go up to a place
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: like Potter County and my colleague's parents lived there. One
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: of my colleagues parents go was there, and parents have
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: to go over forty five minutes on a drive one
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: way to get to a pharmacists. I mean, we're literally
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: talking about people's lives, you know what I mean. And
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: it's not just my life, not just your life that
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: it's our parents, and there's our siblings, and there's our spouses,
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: our children. These are people we love and care about.
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: That's what they need to hear, and that's what it is.
• 16:25
  Speaker 6: Every politician's mantra should be show me you care. Yeah,
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: show me you care, and then I will stop. I'll
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: you know, I'll do anything for you, you know, help
• 16:40
  Speaker 6: with your constituents, but you personally show me that you care.
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: Don't give me lip service.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, we're beyond. We're so far beyond the
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: lip service at this point. The action has to be done. Now,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: what's the final guardrail? Final guardrail is the people. At
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: some point, you're gonna if this continues, people are going
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: to get hurt, ye, and then the people will rise
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: up and that won't be a good day for anybody.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, independent, doesn't matter.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: It won't be a good day. So they have to
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: start listening to what the people on the ground are,
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: and it's and look, I'm not I'm not an owner,
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: I'm not a manager. I'm a frontline pharmacist. I take
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: care of cancer some of your patients, you know, hematology,
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: oncology patients. That's that's what I do. So you know,
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: you can't. I can't have a legislator or a person
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: from the executive brand say well, you're I don't know
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: what's going on. Yeah I do. I'm right there every day.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Ask John. He's seen me all garbed up pictures. I mean,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: you know, and John in a different role, it's right
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: there too.
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: Health should never be associated with the political party. It
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: should be associated with everybody. Yep, that's the end result.
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: It's true.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: John Darryl, thanks for being part of the Pennsylvania Pharmacist
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: Association twenty twenty six post show, and a big shout
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: out to Value Drug Company and the Pennsylvania Pharmacist Care
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Network for sponsoring our coverage of the PPA twenty twenty six.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: Thank you, gentlemen, thank you, thank you.
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: Hey.
• 18:28
  Speaker 8: This is Jonathan from the Wilkes University in Nesbut School
• 18:31
  Speaker 8: of Pharmacy, and you are listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: Jonathan is so good to see you. How are you doing.
• 18:39
  Speaker 7: I'm will Todd you very good.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Hey, there's something special happening at Wilkes. And you've mentioned
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: this that the other seven pharmacy schools throughout the state
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: are starting to do some interesting engagement with the community,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: with these younger tenth grade, eleventh grade, twelfth grade people
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: in high school and starting to introduce them to the
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: new age of pharmacy, not what the public perceives. That
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: you have a white coat and you're standing behind a
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: counter and that's all that you do and you count
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: pals and I hate that. But now all of a sudden,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: we're talking about DNA, and we're talking about pharmacogenomics, and
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: we're talking about being a medical science liaison and so
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: talk to me about that because that's exciting.
• 19:18
  Speaker 8: Yeah, it is at the Nesbud School of Pharmacy, and
• 19:20
  Speaker 8: the other six schools are doing the same. Were offering
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: camps to high school students to explain to them all
• 19:26
  Speaker 8: of the things that you can do with a farm
• 19:27
  Speaker 8: D degree. The United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics
• 19:31
  Speaker 8: will tell us that there are over one hundred different
• 19:33
  Speaker 8: career paths that you can go into with a farm
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: D degree, So explaining to those future, those next generation
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: of pharmacists about pharmacogenomics, about what met working for industry
• 19:46
  Speaker 8: and medical science, liaison, going into government relations, government affairs policy,
• 19:52
  Speaker 8: clinical research, bench research, all of the things that you
• 19:54
  Speaker 8: can do with a farm d really really excites me.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: That would excite me when you think about the changes
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: that have happened over the last twenty years, and now
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: you probably are starting to feel like I am. I've
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: been in pharmacy now twenty two years, been podcasting about
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: pharmacy for seventeen years, and I'm just like, I look
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: back the way that was when I first entered, and
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: there were tight silos around long term care, community, specialty compounding.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: Now those silos have come down and it's starting to
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: get intermixed, and I think that in itself starts to
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: offer up new opportunity too.
• 20:32
  Speaker 8: Oh, it absolutely does. And you and I have been
• 20:35
  Speaker 8: in the game for just as long. I've been listening
• 20:37
  Speaker 8: to your podcast for seventeen years. Gracious, It's one of
• 20:40
  Speaker 8: my favorites. And what excites me now too, Todd, is
• 20:44
  Speaker 8: what it feels to me like we as pharmacists are
• 20:47
  Speaker 8: starting to define who we are by the patients that
• 20:51
  Speaker 8: we serve. I'm a community pharmacist as opposed to the
• 20:55
  Speaker 8: R word, the retail pharmacist. I work in a health
• 20:58
  Speaker 8: system as opposed to a hospital. Pharmacists, physicians, nurse practitioners.
• 21:03
  Speaker 8: They've been doing this for a while. They talk about
• 21:05
  Speaker 8: the specialty of the patients that we serve, and it
• 21:07
  Speaker 8: finally feels like the silos are coming down and we're
• 21:10
  Speaker 8: starting to define our roles by whom we serve.
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: I just read an article about nutrition.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: It was in Drug Topics, just came out last week,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: about how nutrition is a whole opportunity for healthcare coaching
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: from a pharmacist's perspective. Now, mixing in the pharmacological with
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: the nutrition and allergies and different things, and I'm like, Wow,
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: that's a whole position in and of itself.
• 21:36
  Speaker 8: It's amazing. And those pharmacists, they're learning critical thinking skills
• 21:40
  Speaker 8: and communication skills in our farm Deep programs, and they're
• 21:44
  Speaker 8: able to take their blend of science as well as
• 21:47
  Speaker 8: clinical acumen and bring it together and have those conversations
• 21:51
  Speaker 8: with the patients. I find it fascinating when we're interviewing
• 21:56
  Speaker 8: high school students, the days of why do you want
• 21:59
  Speaker 8: to be a pharmacists. While I like science and I
• 22:01
  Speaker 8: like math, and I don't like blood, so I'm not
• 22:03
  Speaker 8: going to be a doctor. Give me the artistic individual,
• 22:08
  Speaker 8: the creative individual, the critical thinker, the one that wants
• 22:11
  Speaker 8: to host a pharmacy podcast, the one that wants to
• 22:14
  Speaker 8: be a pharmacy influencer to talk about what it is
• 22:17
  Speaker 8: that we can do as pharmacists to impact our community
• 22:20
  Speaker 8: and will help teach you the world.
• 22:22
  Speaker 7: And the science and the art of pharmacy.
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: But to be able to communicate that and council patients
• 22:27
  Speaker 8: is also very very important.
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: What do you think about?
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: And I'm pretty proud I'm a little biased because I'm
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: from Pennsylvania, But the evolution of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: and the cultivation of the Pennsylvania Pharmacist Care Network and
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: where we are today celebrating our tenth year anniversary of
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: that organization, Oh.
• 22:47
  Speaker 8: My gosh, Dodd, it's absolutely amazing. We would not have
• 22:50
  Speaker 8: been able to on March first, twenty and twenty four
• 22:53
  Speaker 8: when we received word from Pennsylvania State Medicaid that we
• 22:57
  Speaker 8: were able to build for our services. That wouldn't have
• 23:00
  Speaker 8: happened without the PPCN. That would not have happened without
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: the PPA, their leaders, its members rallying around, communicating, collaborating,
• 23:10
  Speaker 8: whether it be had annual conferences or zoom calls throughout
• 23:14
  Speaker 8: the years. But I have no doubt in my mind
• 23:17
  Speaker 8: that we wouldn't be we were today if it weren't
• 23:19
  Speaker 8: for PPA and PPCN.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and a shout out to other people listening. This
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: is going out nationally. We're getting people from all over
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: the country listening to the show. If you are in
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: a state and you haven't engaged in the CPESN way
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: of thinking and the tribes that they build within the state,
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: reach out to your pharmacy network, reach out to your
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: pharmacy association and ask what they're doing.
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: If you're missing pieces.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Reach out to the PPA, reach out to the Pennsylvania
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Pharmacists Association. Because PPA has done an amazing job at
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: taking what it means to be a treatment management pharmacist
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: and a clinical driven pharmacist and really showing this date
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Medicaid systems. Money can be saved and people don't get
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: dropped or lost in the shuffle.
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: It's amazing.
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: All right, Well, thanks for being on the show.
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: Thanks for having me talk.
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: The future of pharmacy.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I have two future farm d's standing here with me
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: in the podcast booth at the PPA twenty twenty six. Jake,
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: introduce yourself to our listeners.
• 24:26
  Speaker 9: I'm Jake grecken Walker. I'm P Y one at Duke University.
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: All right, you've Anthony, you're up.
• 24:32
  Speaker 10: I'm I'm also a P one student at Dukeane University.
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so you have to say your name though, Anthony.
• 24:38
  Speaker 10: Everbody, I'm Anthony Kane.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: So the future of pharmacy and what I've seen, I've
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: been in it now for twenty two years, and I
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: think that there's so much opportunity with technology and the
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: things that are happening in different disease states and the
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: expansion of specialty pharmacy.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: But Jake, let me start with you. What are you
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: excited about?
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: What sector of pharmacy and what do you what do
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: you feel like you want to do as a pharmacist.
• 25:05
  Speaker 9: I'm mostly intrigued about industry in the MSL position, just
• 25:10
  Speaker 9: mostly because it dabbles in clinical but also has a
• 25:14
  Speaker 9: fair amount of like industrial and air communication, and so
• 25:19
  Speaker 9: that's exciting to me.
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, what about you, Anthony.
• 25:23
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I think there's two main things that excite me.
• 25:26
  Speaker 10: For personally, I want to get into managed care, I think,
• 25:30
  Speaker 10: and see how we can maybe reform the healthcare system
• 25:32
  Speaker 10: a little bit and get some transparency and where the
• 25:36
  Speaker 10: money's going. And then secondly, on everyone's mind, AI is really interesting.
• 25:41
  Speaker 10: I want to see how it's integrated into the pharmacy career.
• 25:43
  Speaker 10: So those are two things that excite me.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: So there's a company here called TJM Labs. I'm not
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: sure if you've got a chance to talk to them,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: but they're they're an AI company that is specific to pharmacy.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: They were born in pharmacy. So I think there's a
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: power to that.
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: Like if you throw AI.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: At anything, it's only as good as the context of
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: what you can really like get out of it.
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: So what have you experienced in.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: The use of AI so far in your life and
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: how would that tie back to pharmacy do you thing?
• 26:13
  Speaker 11: Like?
• 26:13
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean I use it every day alongside my learning,
• 26:18
  Speaker 10: so I have it up in class sometimes to answer
• 26:22
  Speaker 10: quick short questions. I recognize that it can't you know,
• 26:28
  Speaker 10: everyone is afraid of replacement. It can't replace the pharmacist
• 26:31
  Speaker 10: because of clinical like you know, judgment and you need
• 26:35
  Speaker 10: that you need a human to do that type of stuff.
• 26:38
  Speaker 10: But I think it's a great tool, like everyone says,
• 26:42
  Speaker 10: and just like it isn't learning, it can't replace my
• 26:46
  Speaker 10: my you know, testing or whatnot, But I mean it
• 26:49
  Speaker 10: can help me to do better in school. Now in
• 26:53
  Speaker 10: terms of career, I like, in the actual field, people
• 26:59
  Speaker 10: seem to be mistrusting of AI too, and I understand that.
• 27:03
  Speaker 10: And how we've used it in class is to kind
• 27:06
  Speaker 10: of like just work alongside of us and we'll respond
• 27:10
  Speaker 10: to a question like a DII question, and then we'll
• 27:14
  Speaker 10: have AI respond to that same question and see where
• 27:16
  Speaker 10: it made the mistakes. So yeah, I mean I'm interested
• 27:19
  Speaker 10: to see where it might be utilized in pharmacy.
• 27:23
  Speaker 12: Chick, what about you, Yeah, piggybacking off what Tony said
• 27:28
  Speaker 12: about us using AI in class, I use AI for
• 27:33
  Speaker 12: like to create tests and test my knowledge as well
• 27:36
  Speaker 12: using stuff uploaded by the teachers or study guides.
• 27:40
  Speaker 9: And so I agree it's only as good as.
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: The information you feed it, so.
• 27:44
  Speaker 9: You really have to be critical and careful of what
• 27:46
  Speaker 9: you're putting in. And I think it could be a
• 27:48
  Speaker 9: really powerful tool in the future. But once again, yeah,
• 27:51
  Speaker 9: I don't think you can replace clinical judgment, and I
• 27:54
  Speaker 9: think that nobody's going to be willing to ensure a
• 27:58
  Speaker 9: I'm making a mistake, so.
• 28:01
  Speaker 10: Take a lot of legislation has to be done around it.
• 28:03
  Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, But so I don't think it's going
• 28:06
  Speaker 9: to replace pharmacy whatsoever. So I think I'm really excited
• 28:10
  Speaker 9: to use it as a tool though.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, me too.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: I think the data analysis has helped me. I take
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: seventeen years of podcast data and I've asked AI, what
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: have been my most popular podcast subjects over seventeen years?
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: What's the hottest ones, what's the ones that keep repeating
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: that keep getting me more listeners than another? And I
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: guess what it told me. It mapped out the top
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: ten subjects. I love that, you know, how long it
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: would it take me to take seventeen years and podcast data?
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: Like that's where I think it's like.
• 28:42
  Speaker 10: Yeah, laying out the data and organization is really important
• 28:45
  Speaker 10: with AI, but I think as humans we have to
• 28:47
  Speaker 10: do the interpretation. And that's probably the separation you can
• 28:50
  Speaker 10: find in the career field too. But I think it's
• 28:53
  Speaker 10: a great tool for that, you know, data organization and
• 28:56
  Speaker 10: kind of laying it out in the visual manner.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: Pharmacy Podcast Network has had an awards program that's been
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: running for four years now called the Pharmacy Fifty Most
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Influential people in pharmacy, not just pharmacists, but people in pharmacy,
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: and six of the fifty or social media.
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: Influencers that are pharmacists.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: So where do you think, with the need for transparency,
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: with the need of truth, where do you think social
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: media fits into being a pharmacist.
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: Well, I think that.
• 29:30
  Speaker 9: Social media fits into being a pharmacist, especially through just
• 29:33
  Speaker 9: the idea of people trusting pharmacists the most where the
• 29:36
  Speaker 9: first people they see when they go to pick up
• 29:37
  Speaker 9: their medication, and we're the first point of contact for
• 29:40
  Speaker 9: many patients. So being able to see one on social
• 29:43
  Speaker 9: media allows you to know you're in good hands automatically
• 29:46
  Speaker 9: and you can trust the source as long as they
• 29:48
  Speaker 9: actually do have a farm by and so I feel
• 29:51
  Speaker 9: like it could be very influential and powerful just putting
• 29:53
  Speaker 9: the right words out there from the right people along
• 29:56
  Speaker 9: for patients to get better informed on subject that the
• 30:01
  Speaker 9: pharmacist is willing to talk about.
• 30:02
  Speaker 10: A big factor of that is, I mean social media
• 30:06
  Speaker 10: is a large source of misinformation. Yeah, so having the
• 30:10
  Speaker 10: right role models out there, actual farm ds on social
• 30:14
  Speaker 10: media promoting the correct I mean information would be very powerful.
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there is a little bit of a controversy happening
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: right now with two extremely prominent pharmacists who are challenging
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: each other with the kind of information that they're putting
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: out and trying to make it evidence based in order
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: to sell products. And the knife's edge of where it
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: is where you're grifting versus where you're providing really good
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: sound information. So shout out to everybody listening. If you're
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: a pharmacist, I want you to be on social media,
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: but you have to hold yourself to a higher standard
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: based on the oath of the pharmacists, based on your
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: farm d. You don't get to just be the layperson
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: or the general consumer on TikTok and whatever you say.
• 31:06
  Speaker 5: You actually are held to ano per suon.
• 31:08
  Speaker 10: Yeah, the farm dey doesn't leave your name just because
• 31:10
  Speaker 10: you're not at work. You gotta present that offline on
• 31:15
  Speaker 10: social media and outside of work too. So I agree
• 31:18
  Speaker 10: with that.
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: We have a forty two active podcasts right now. I
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: hope that you guys are two new subscribers to be
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: able to learn from pharmacists out there doing some amazing things,
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: and I appreciate you guys being on the show.
• 31:30
  Speaker 10: Hey, thank you so much for us.
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: The Pennsylvania Pharmacist Care Network or PPCN, is transforming how
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: community pharmacy contributes to patient care across the Commonwealth. PPCN
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: is a network of more than two hundred pharmacies committed
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: to delivering high quality, patient centered care that goes far
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: beyond traditional dispensing.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Through PPCN, pharmacists collaborate with physicians, health plans, and healthcare
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: providers to improveation use, enhance outcomes, and lower the total
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: cost of care. They're pharmacists deliver services like comprehensive medication management, immunizations,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: medication synchronization, product disease support, and other enhanced clinical services
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: designed to help patients stay healthier and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: What makes PPCN unique is it's focused on measurable outcomes.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Member pharmacies participate in a clinically integrated network that emphasizes accountability, performance,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and real patient results. By working directly with payers and
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: healthcare partners, PPCN creates sustainable reimbursement opportunities for pharmacies providing
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: these critical care services For pharmacists.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: PPCN offers the opportunity to expand beyond dispensing and become
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: a vital part of the healthcare team.
• 32:45
  Speaker 5: For patients.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: It means better medication management, improved health outcomes, and more
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: personalized care right in their neighborhood pharmacy.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: Learn more about how PPCN is advancing pharmacy practice and
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: improving patient care across Pennsylvania at PA Pharmacists Now dot com.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: That's PA Pharmacists Network dot com.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: Hey, Pennsylvania Pharmacist Association. Twenty twenty six, we're talking with
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: doctor Gavin Muran and also Angela Yorke from the Value
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: Drug Company's Specialty Pharmacy division. Is so good to have
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: you both.
• 33:26
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you all right.
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: Specially pharmacy is one of the most fascinating sectors of pharmacy.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: I love going to this NASP every year. Shout out
• 33:37
  Speaker 3: to them. They're one of our network members. When I
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: think of specialty and I think of the fusion of community,
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: it's powerful because you're meeting patients where they are. They
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: want to trust their community pharmacy. If you're on a
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: specialty medication, there's probably an elevated level of stress in
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: your life of something that's going on with you. Angela,
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: I'm going to start with you talk to me about values, strategy,
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: and specialty pharmacy.
• 34:01
  Speaker 13: So we're a little unique, which is nice. If you
• 34:04
  Speaker 13: are a member of the Value Drug Company and you
• 34:07
  Speaker 13: use them as a wholesaler, we offer what we call
• 34:10
  Speaker 13: a care site opportunity, so they have their core set
• 34:14
  Speaker 13: of patients that they come in and they service their
• 34:16
  Speaker 13: regular medications. When they get a specialty prescription that's coming
• 34:20
  Speaker 13: in for O Tesla or do Pixent, things that are
• 34:24
  Speaker 13: in that specialty realm, they can actually refer that to us.
• 34:28
  Speaker 13: We are able to process the patient to fill the prescription,
• 34:32
  Speaker 13: get them the assistance that they need, maybe for copays,
• 34:35
  Speaker 13: and then when we fill it, we send it to
• 34:37
  Speaker 13: the pharmacy that refer that prescription to us, so that
• 34:41
  Speaker 13: that patient stays centered central to that pharmacy so they're
• 34:45
  Speaker 13: able to pick it up there they can be. They're
• 34:47
  Speaker 13: counseled by our pharmacists, but they can get additional counseling
• 34:50
  Speaker 13: from their local pharmacists that they trust, and it keeps
• 34:52
  Speaker 13: those prescriptions all within that particular pharmacy, which is nice.
• 34:57
  Speaker 13: Oftentimes we see in other setting where it may be
• 35:00
  Speaker 13: referred out to one of the bigger box stores. And
• 35:03
  Speaker 13: when that happens, even their maintenance medication sometimes get pulled.
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: To those scores too.
• 35:09
  Speaker 13: So this allows them to kind of stay in that
• 35:11
  Speaker 13: independent pharmacy and we can service things that they aren't
• 35:14
  Speaker 13: able to do themselves.
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: Nice.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: So, Kevin, what role are you playing here at Value
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: Drugs specially?
• 35:20
  Speaker 7: Yeah?
• 35:21
  Speaker 11: So I am their current their first pharmacist fellow. Nice So,
• 35:25
  Speaker 11: I graduated back in May and started up in mid
• 35:29
  Speaker 11: June July, and I have pretty much popped on as
• 35:33
  Speaker 11: a clinical pharmacist of sorts in you know, the process
• 35:36
  Speaker 11: of getting medications out to the patient, you know, onboarding them,
• 35:40
  Speaker 11: you know, giving them the instructions on how to use
• 35:42
  Speaker 11: the medication side effects to expect, you know, how to
• 35:45
  Speaker 11: manage certain side effects as well as you know, continuing
• 35:48
  Speaker 11: to monitor the patient on their therapy and see how
• 35:50
  Speaker 11: they're going after the fact, you know, whether there's a
• 35:54
  Speaker 11: need for a change in therapy or if you know
• 35:56
  Speaker 11: they're being clinically managed properly with their current therapy. So
• 36:00
  Speaker 11: I feel like I've learned a lot just between you know,
• 36:03
  Speaker 11: my appy rotation at Penn State. Their specialty pharmacy and
• 36:06
  Speaker 11: then continuing on here with Value specialty field.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: Gavin, do you feel like you want to stay in
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: the specialty sector.
• 36:13
  Speaker 6: Yes, I do.
• 36:14
  Speaker 11: I have enjoyed every second of you know, being in
• 36:18
  Speaker 11: the specialty sector. I attended NASS back in I guess
• 36:23
  Speaker 11: that was August, and you know, loved all of the
• 36:25
  Speaker 11: continuing education credits that they had in meeting you know,
• 36:29
  Speaker 11: other individuals within the specialty field and kind of learning
• 36:31
  Speaker 11: from them as well, you know how their operations kind
• 36:35
  Speaker 11: of work and how they kind of differ from ours.
• 36:37
  Speaker 10: But having that opportunity.
• 36:39
  Speaker 11: To do specialty medications is something that I want to,
• 36:43
  Speaker 11: you know, continue.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: Doing as I So NAFP has a certification, it's like
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: a certified specialty pharmacist or something.
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: Yes, are you Is that something you will your post
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: do as well? Yes, that is my main goal.
• 36:57
  Speaker 11: I will be, I believe, a thousand hours short at
• 37:00
  Speaker 11: the conclusion of my fellowship in July, and I will
• 37:04
  Speaker 11: be working to get those remaining one thousand hours so
• 37:07
  Speaker 11: that I can sit to that exam.
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: Gun Ange.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Let's talk to me about the refreshing, the excitement that
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: the that the Value member now says, I don't have
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: to lose my patient if there's a specialty met involved.
• 37:22
  Speaker 13: Yeah, oftentimes specialty medications are extremely expensive, so being able
• 37:28
  Speaker 13: to refer that in house allows them not to have
• 37:31
  Speaker 13: to carry that product on their shelves. Sometimes they can't
• 37:34
  Speaker 13: even build that product because you need to have certain
• 37:37
  Speaker 13: licensures in order to process those specialty prescriptions. So it's
• 37:41
  Speaker 13: it's a very good it's a mutual beneficial setup.
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: We are getting referrals that we're.
• 37:47
  Speaker 13: Able to service, and they're able to keep those patients
• 37:49
  Speaker 13: and keep those dollars on the on the prescriptions that
• 37:52
  Speaker 13: are their maintenance medications in house. So it's a win
• 37:55
  Speaker 13: win for both of us. And I think a lot
• 37:57
  Speaker 13: of the care site pharmacies really enjoy that.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: All right, So I think of the future of the
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: fusion of our community and especially together. Yeah, I don't
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: think it can be done unless you have a value
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: drug between them to kind of navigate everything for them,
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: because there's a lot of things from a pricing perspective,
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: like you said, that comes into play.
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: Where do you think the where do you think the.
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: The opportunity is for pharmacy, A pharmacy that's listening right now,
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: community pharmacy listening right now. They're not necessarily in specialty,
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: they know they have patients that are in specialty. What's
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: the opportunity for them in partnering with Value.
• 38:38
  Speaker 13: So Value actually has a few different tiers of membership,
• 38:42
  Speaker 13: So give them the call, reach out to them, see
• 38:44
  Speaker 13: what's available for If you're local to Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia.
• 38:53
  Speaker 13: How we're expanding all the time, So reach out to
• 38:55
  Speaker 13: us if you're within that area, we can service you
• 38:59
  Speaker 13: and all a on to your partnership opportunities, maybe even
• 39:02
  Speaker 13: with just the specialty pharmacy network.
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: If the whole tailor is not something that we're able to.
• 39:06
  Speaker 13: Service to run from one platform right away. We're working
• 39:10
  Speaker 13: into that, but reach out. There's opportunities.
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: We're always changing, some awesome.
• 39:14
  Speaker 13: It might be something we can still.
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: Do all right.
• 39:17
  Speaker 3: So this is a national podcast publications, so people that
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: are all over the United States are listening. If you're
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: going to a Simbia, if you're going to the NSV
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: and you want to hook up with a with Value
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: drug company who is a extremely intimate working with members organization,
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: your member your members don't I heard from several of
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: them they feel like they never get lost in the
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: shuffle of you know, the big some of the big wholesalers.
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: So reach out to them, reach out to Gavin, reach
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: out to Angela, or reach out to Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 39:48
  Speaker 5: We'll get you connected with them.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: But I want to thank you Gavin for being on
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: the PPA twenty twenty six post show, and Angela, I
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: want to thank you for supporting the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: Thank you, yes, thank you very much.
• 39:59
  Speaker 13: And just one shout out. We do have a fellowship
• 40:01
  Speaker 13: program for this coming school year starting in August. So
• 40:05
  Speaker 13: if you are going to be graduating in May and
• 40:08
  Speaker 13: you are looking into specialty, please reach out to Value
• 40:11
  Speaker 13: Specialty Pharmacy might be something we can we can set
• 40:14
  Speaker 13: up with you as well.
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: That is a big opportunity for a young pharmacist to
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: get exposure like that.
• 40:20
  Speaker 7: That's awesome.
• 40:20
  Speaker 13: Yeah, absolutely, and we're looking forward to talking to you.
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: Thank you, Yes, thank you, special friend.
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: Somebody I've been looking forward to interviewing Tom de Petro.
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: He is a pharmacist here.
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: In Pennsylvania here at the twenty twenty six PPA Tom, Welcome, Well.
• 40:43
  Speaker 14: It's great to be here. It's great to finally connect
• 40:46
  Speaker 14: with you. You know at night as a as a nerdy
• 40:50
  Speaker 14: pharmacist that I often fall asleep listening to your show.
• 40:53
  Speaker 14: So it's actually meet in person. It's a pleasure, and
• 40:55
  Speaker 14: to be honest, it's even more exciting.
• 40:56
  Speaker 7: That's wild.
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: Thank you so much. You know, when I put.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: People's names in Google, AI is now bringing up information
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: about you, and it says that you it even it
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: even it says that there's a philosophy that you have,
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: and it says that Tom to Pietro's philosophy is to
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: focus on attentive, personalized service and community based care. And
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: he's recognized as one of the best local pharmacies in
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: his area for five consecutive years by The Times Tribune
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: and received.
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: Awards for the Business of the Year.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: A graduate of Dunmore High School and Temple University School
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: of Pharmacy, that's pretty special. When AI is picking that
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: stuff up about it.
• 41:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it's you know, it's humbling to read.
• 41:41
  Speaker 14: You know, next month, to Petro's Pharmacy will turn fourteen years.
• 41:47
  Speaker 14: You know, looking back, it's just it's been such a
• 41:50
  Speaker 14: long road, but it's it's been cool to meet industry
• 41:53
  Speaker 14: partners figure out problems that you didn't think you'd have
• 41:55
  Speaker 14: to figure out and then along the way like that
• 41:59
  Speaker 14: has been what has been left behind in the years
• 42:02
  Speaker 14: that have you know, now become history.
• 42:04
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 42:06
  Speaker 14: But yeah, I mean I'm just so excited for pharmacy
• 42:08
  Speaker 14: open fourteen years ago. I think the last thirteen of
• 42:11
  Speaker 14: them I've spent advocating for pharmacy benefit manager reform, you know,
• 42:15
  Speaker 14: just wanting our community to know the stuff that exists
• 42:20
  Speaker 14: behind the scenes that you would never know or think.
• 42:24
  Speaker 14: And you know, I feel like right now pharmacy has
• 42:27
  Speaker 14: never had so much momentum. So to see this big
• 42:31
  Speaker 14: boulder that we've all been collectively pushing up the hill
• 42:35
  Speaker 14: to almost hit hopefully what's going to be a peak
• 42:39
  Speaker 14: and hopefully what's going to drive insurance reform is so
• 42:42
  Speaker 14: exciting because thirteen years ago, when I would say PBM,
• 42:47
  Speaker 14: nobody would even know what it is. Now it's common
• 42:49
  Speaker 14: to pop open LinkedIn or you know, turn the news
• 42:53
  Speaker 14: on and you hear the harms of pharmacy benefit managers
• 42:58
  Speaker 14: are the harms of insurance comempanies. And I think our
• 43:03
  Speaker 14: community is now in tune to the fact that healthcare
• 43:06
  Speaker 14: is dysfunctional and it needs to change, and that's what
• 43:11
  Speaker 14: makes me so exciting to actually, you know, come out
• 43:14
  Speaker 14: to shows like this and see the people that are
• 43:16
  Speaker 14: doing the work day in and day out to make
• 43:19
  Speaker 14: this happen.
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: Tom, how do you take your pharmacy from where you
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: were fourteen years ago? Much different landscape a little bit.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: I'm not going to say it was easier, but it
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: was definitely different. And PBMs weren't as they didn't have
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: as many teeth, and they weren't as sucking up as
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: much profit. I mean, they were still doing some things,
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: but now we're in a new age where I was
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: talking to Colin McCormick and I said, you know, what
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: other services are you doing? Are you doing contraception, are
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: you doing clinics? Are you doing you know, vaccinations? And
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: he's like no, he goes because I'm cash based, I
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: don't have to put up with the PBMs, So I'm
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: dispensing and caring for my patients and doing what pharmacy
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: did in the you know, in the yester.
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: Years per se.
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: But that's not the case for the majority of our
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: independent pharmacies. So I want to see pharmacies thrive, and
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: I want to talk to owners who have a new
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: a new blueprint ready to get to the next phase
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: of growth.
• 44:22
  Speaker 5: So what is that growth? Yeah.
• 44:24
  Speaker 14: I was talking to two pharmacy owners outside the room
• 44:27
  Speaker 14: right before coming onto the show, and what I said
• 44:30
  Speaker 14: to them is, U, this is my philosophy. But it's
• 44:33
  Speaker 14: my philosophy because that's how I grew the store. You know,
• 44:37
  Speaker 14: like this wouldn't be the approach that Kyle would want
• 44:40
  Speaker 14: to take and explain to listeners, but I think it's
• 44:42
  Speaker 14: important for pharmacists to recognize that they do need an approach,
• 44:46
  Speaker 14: and we're all here to offer one approach. Kyle's is
• 44:50
  Speaker 14: more of the cash base. My my my focus is
• 44:54
  Speaker 14: on medication management for my for my community. And what
• 44:58
  Speaker 14: I what I mean by that is, you know, there
• 45:01
  Speaker 14: are certainly friends of mine that just get prilosec and
• 45:04
  Speaker 14: they stop at CVS on their way home, They pick
• 45:07
  Speaker 14: up their prescription, they grab a jug of milk, they
• 45:09
  Speaker 14: go home.
• 45:11
  Speaker 7: They just need a pharmacy.
• 45:13
  Speaker 14: And there are a lot of people that just need
• 45:15
  Speaker 14: a pharmacy. My belief, I want customers that need a pharmacist.
• 45:21
  Speaker 14: And what does that mean. They need me to organize
• 45:24
  Speaker 14: their twelve thirteen medications, They need me to oversee what
• 45:28
  Speaker 14: vaccines they may need. They turn to me when they
• 45:32
  Speaker 14: have questions for their over the counters, or they turn
• 45:36
  Speaker 14: questions to me for their supplements. So we're more focused
• 45:40
  Speaker 14: on doing what our competition will not do. Medication management
• 45:46
  Speaker 14: does a couple of things. It drives your sales, right,
• 45:49
  Speaker 14: so unfortunately the business economics is I want high sales,
• 45:55
  Speaker 14: so then I could qualify for better discounts on my
• 45:59
  Speaker 14: cell side, right, because the reimbursement's going to be what
• 46:02
  Speaker 14: it is. So you know, I'm a volume driven business,
• 46:06
  Speaker 14: but high touch on the customer, So a lot of transactions,
• 46:11
  Speaker 14: but my customers don't feel it because we're organizing their
• 46:14
  Speaker 14: medicine and we're only touching them, you know, twice or
• 46:18
  Speaker 14: three times a month, but in a cohesive manner. It's
• 46:21
  Speaker 14: not Betty's calling in one prescription every other day and
• 46:25
  Speaker 14: picking it up twelve times. So, you know, high touch,
• 46:29
  Speaker 14: high volume, better buyside to deal with this poor reimbursement side.
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: Now, what about like compounding, What about getting into specific
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: counseling for patients around their disease, state management?
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: What other things are you?
• 46:46
  Speaker 14: Yeah, I think healthcare is always going to be local, right,
• 46:49
  Speaker 14: so we definitely offer compounding.
• 46:51
  Speaker 7: We don't.
• 46:52
  Speaker 14: It's not a primary focus. But you know what, when
• 46:55
  Speaker 14: people turn to you and say, hey, could you make
• 46:57
  Speaker 14: this or could you compound this, being able to offer
• 47:00
  Speaker 14: the service to say yes we could is sometimes often
• 47:03
  Speaker 14: brings us a new family. You know, we're able to
• 47:06
  Speaker 14: take care of their cat, We're able to take care
• 47:08
  Speaker 14: of their dog. And then they say, hey, I should
• 47:10
  Speaker 14: get my prescriptions here. How do I transfer my family?
• 47:13
  Speaker 14: So I would say healthcare is always local and then
• 47:19
  Speaker 14: that the second part of it is, uh, you.
• 47:22
  Speaker 3: Know, it's other things that could lead to more services. So,
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: for example, if you have a patient that's suffering with
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: diabetes or hypertension or something's happening where they're looking to
• 47:34
  Speaker 3: you as a healthcare coach, that extends the relationship but
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: also extends the earning opportunity from that from that patient.
• 47:42
  Speaker 14: Yeah, and that's a great that's a great point. And
• 47:44
  Speaker 14: you know, I know our staff does you know cmrs
• 47:48
  Speaker 14: and tip phone calls. But at the conference, one of
• 47:52
  Speaker 14: the presentations was on remote patient monitoring, and that's something
• 47:55
  Speaker 14: that I continue to tell myself I'm going to dedicate
• 47:58
  Speaker 14: some time to look into because I do see that
• 48:02
  Speaker 14: as as something todd that we're kind of already doing
• 48:06
  Speaker 14: anyway with a check and phone call. So being able
• 48:11
  Speaker 14: to have visibility of you know, say the patient's blood pressure,
• 48:16
  Speaker 14: I think is just a perfect fold in for a pharmacy,
• 48:19
  Speaker 14: especially one like ours that's offering.
• 48:21
  Speaker 7: Medication management to so many of our customers.
• 48:23
  Speaker 14: So I do see that as as definitely an opportunity.
• 48:28
  Speaker 14: I even spoke to another woman who works as a
• 48:31
  Speaker 14: long term care pharmacy consultant in her and I sat
• 48:35
  Speaker 14: next to each other in that presentation, and she said,
• 48:37
  Speaker 14: you know, this may even be like a concierge type
• 48:40
  Speaker 14: service that even if a person's insurance might not cover it,
• 48:45
  Speaker 14: I totally see value in maybe a care a family
• 48:48
  Speaker 14: paying for it. For a caregiver, how could you not
• 48:51
  Speaker 14: want a pharmacist overseeing your health on a day to
• 48:53
  Speaker 14: day basis. So, you know, great, so many cool takeaways
• 48:57
  Speaker 14: at the conferences.
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the big term right now, the big shift is
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: doing doing things that you've always done, but finally getting
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: paid for them and extending into long term care at home.
• 49:09
  Speaker 3: Where now your community patients who have been coming to
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: Dipetro's for years, all of a sudden something happened to
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: them and they can't get out of their house, so
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: why give that patient up? Therefore you're entering their home
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: multitude different different ways. Technology is there, but now you
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: get a tackle box, you get some compliance, you know,
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: issues done, you build a certain way, call up Jerry
• 49:35
  Speaker 3: Matt or something, and now you're and you.
• 49:38
  Speaker 14: Know that's the other thing I say too, is like,
• 49:40
  Speaker 14: we have to be able to redefine ourselves as pharmacies.
• 49:44
  Speaker 14: I think you know one other thing I would challenge
• 49:47
  Speaker 14: other owners to do is for the longest time, we
• 49:50
  Speaker 14: did free delivery. So you mentioned, you know, getting paid
• 49:52
  Speaker 14: for something that you're already doing. You know, we impose
• 49:56
  Speaker 14: like a very small fee three five dollars I believe,
• 49:59
  Speaker 14: per delivery. But for the longest time, I said, oh no,
• 50:02
  Speaker 14: we have to do it for free. It's always been
• 50:04
  Speaker 14: done for free. It's a free it's free, it's free.
• 50:06
  Speaker 14: But you know that doesn't work in today's world. So
• 50:09
  Speaker 14: you know, you see people are willing to pay, you know,
• 50:12
  Speaker 14: some of the big food delivery apps and other delivery apps.
• 50:15
  Speaker 14: So you know, why should we be left out just
• 50:18
  Speaker 14: because we have done it for free, which we certainly
• 50:20
  Speaker 14: know it's not free, So you know, adding revenue like
• 50:23
  Speaker 14: that is going to help you stay afloat. Your customers
• 50:27
  Speaker 14: are willing to pay. They just if you don't ask
• 50:29
  Speaker 14: for it, they're not going to be able to offer
• 50:31
  Speaker 14: it to you. But you'd be surprised about how many
• 50:34
  Speaker 14: people are supportive of our story and our journey. You know,
• 50:37
  Speaker 14: we'd be scared to charge. But you know, when I
• 50:40
  Speaker 14: imposed a FIA, I had a customer come up to
• 50:42
  Speaker 14: me and said, you guys deserve more than this. Charge
• 50:44
  Speaker 14: me whatever you want. And it's stuff like that, So
• 50:47
  Speaker 14: I think, you know, we have to continue to collaborate
• 50:51
  Speaker 14: as owners, share ideas and what works for us, Like
• 50:56
  Speaker 14: you know that medication management might work for me, Maybe
• 50:59
  Speaker 14: it's only worked going to work for you for twenty
• 51:01
  Speaker 14: percent of your effort. But you know, I think that
• 51:03
  Speaker 14: the wheel of opportunities is out there. It's just a
• 51:08
  Speaker 14: matter of what do you want to be your eighty
• 51:11
  Speaker 14: percent focus and then what's going to be your other
• 51:13
  Speaker 14: twenty percent focus.
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: Tom Depetro, thanks for being on the show and here
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: at the PPA twenty twenty six.
• 51:19
  Speaker 7: Thanks for all you do for pharmacy Time