Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / Bringing You Outcomes at ThoughtSpot 2025 | ThoughtSpot Recap Part Three

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Bringing You Outcomes at ThoughtSpot 2025 | ThoughtSpot Recap Part Three · Pharmacy Podcast Network

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Speaker 1: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
0:09
Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
0:28
Speaker 2: Welcome to a special series from the Pharmacy Podcast Network
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Speaker 2: with exclusive coverage of the Sancora twenty twenty five thought
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Speaker 2: Spot Conference. This three part series, sponsored by Outcomes, takes
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Speaker 2: you inside one of the most important gatherings in community pharmacy.
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Speaker 2: Thought Spot brings together independent pharmacy owners, operators, and healthcare
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Speaker 2: leaders to share innovations, tackle challenges, and shape the future
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Speaker 2: of care. Across these episodes will deliver key insights, industry voices,
0:55
Speaker 2: and the tools and strategies helping pharmacies thrive. Thought Spot
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Speaker 2: access a catalyst for the future of community care, sparking
1:02
Speaker 2: together the minds of those in the driver's seat of change.
1:04
Speaker 2: We're bringing you to the showroom floor right here on
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Speaker 2: the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
1:10
Speaker 3: John Carlson, Do you like the DJ voice?
1:14
Speaker 4: That is nice?
1:14
Speaker 5: John Carlson here at Potspot twenty twenty five.
1:18
Speaker 3: No, just kidding, Sunday Sunday is it's not even Sunday.
1:23
Speaker 5: It's Saturday when we're recording this. How are you, John?
1:26
Speaker 5: It's nice to see.
1:27
Speaker 6: I'm great, Todd, thanks for having me.
1:29
Speaker 3: You are very welcome.
1:29
Speaker 5: So we're here at Thoughts Spot twenty twenty five in
1:32
Speaker 5: the Outcomes booth.
1:33
Speaker 3: You're part of the Outcomes team.
1:35
Speaker 5: To our listeners, a little bit about your background and
1:38
Speaker 5: why do you like pharmacy.
1:39
Speaker 3: What is about pharmacy that you that you're in this industry.
1:42
Speaker 6: No, it's it's been a passion of mine.
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Speaker 7: I've been in healthcare I for twenty years, okay, and
1:47
Speaker 7: I came over to pharmacy because of the impact that
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Speaker 7: independent pharmacies have for a population, and they are often underserved, undersupported,
2:00
Speaker 7: and it's part of the one of the reasons I
2:02
Speaker 7: came to outcomes is the ability to provide support tools,
2:06
Speaker 7: resources to help them thrive, which supports the community in
2:11
Speaker 7: which they live. So it's just a it's a it's
2:13
Speaker 7: a passion play for me, and I get the joy
2:17
Speaker 7: of helping them understand new technology that comes out, new
2:22
Speaker 7: resources that they can use to help them grow and
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Speaker 7: optimize their business.
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Speaker 5: So one of those resources is a component of the
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Speaker 5: Outcomes family, which is called pill count and it's a
2:34
Speaker 5: whole system and we're kind of featuring that today because
2:37
Speaker 5: you're are you a program manager, are you like overseeing
2:41
Speaker 5: the division? But there's something very special about this program
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Speaker 5: and want you to share that with our listeners now.
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Speaker 7: So pill Count is a newer technology in the outcomes family.
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Speaker 7: I get to help pharmacies, you know, integrate new technology
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Speaker 7: into their work flow to reduce labor costs, to increase
3:03
Speaker 7: safety and security. So pill count is a standalone agnostic
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Speaker 7: platform to use digital technology to count medications. Right, So
3:15
Speaker 7: when we look at how do you make sure that
3:18
Speaker 7: pharmacies are operating at peak efficiency, we give them this
3:22
Speaker 7: tool of pill count, which is built on an I
3:25
Speaker 7: pad pro technology. It's cloud based, so it's super intuitive,
3:30
Speaker 7: super easy to use, and it allows technicians in a
3:35
Speaker 7: pharmacy to quickly and accurately count medications. Great for patient safety,
3:40
Speaker 7: it's great for workflow inside the pharmacy. And because we
3:45
Speaker 7: can integrate with lots of different pharmacy systems, we provide
3:50
Speaker 7: a level of optimization in these pharmacies that just make
3:53
Speaker 7: some hum.
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Speaker 5: So I think of the been in thousands of independent
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Speaker 5: community pharmacies over the years, so of you and even
4:01
Speaker 5: long term care pharmacies, And when I think of our
4:06
Speaker 5: square footage, some pharmacies twelve hundred square feet, some Gargantrum
4:11
Speaker 5: viroremacies six thousand square feet, which is great. But talk
4:14
Speaker 5: to me about the footprint of the pill count system
4:18
Speaker 5: and how that fits into workflow.
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Speaker 7: Now, and that's one of the great attributes of this solution.
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Speaker 7: So one, from a cost standpoint, it's about a third
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Speaker 7: of the cost of most traditional pill counting technologies out there,
4:32
Speaker 7: so we wanted to build something that was cost effective.
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Speaker 6: But then you hit on the footprint.
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Speaker 7: So it's about half the size of a traditional pill
4:41
Speaker 7: count setup.
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Speaker 6: And for some of my smaller stores, they love the.
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Speaker 7: Ability to deploy it somewhere on a tight bench that
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Speaker 7: you know they don't have the ability for other technologies.
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Speaker 7: So small footprint, but powerful attributes to allow them to
5:01
Speaker 7: be more efficient in the store.
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Speaker 5: All right, So how does that play into workflow? What
5:07
Speaker 5: are you teaching, how are you teaching the tech How
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Speaker 5: are you teaching the pharmacist to put the pill count
5:12
Speaker 5: into what stage of dispensing?
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Speaker 6: Now, it's great question.
5:17
Speaker 7: So after the data entry, a prescription label is generated
5:21
Speaker 7: that kicks off the ability to engage pill count scanning
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Speaker 7: a label, then verifying a stock bottle to the NBC.
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Speaker 7: So we've got that safety component built in, and then
5:31
Speaker 7: we allow the technician or the pharmacist to just simply
5:34
Speaker 7: pour the pills on the tray and in nanoseconds it
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Speaker 7: counts those pills, even translucent pills, So that's kind of
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Speaker 7: unique to the industry. Pill Count will allow you to
5:46
Speaker 7: count tesselon pearls or advil or vitamin D and a
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Speaker 7: lot of other solutions struggle with translucent pills. Pill Count
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Speaker 7: does a really really nice job of that. You know,
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Speaker 7: it's like ninety nine point nine to five sent accuracy
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Speaker 7: on the pill counting process.
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Speaker 5: Talk to me about the technology because it sounds like
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Speaker 5: there's high definition cameras involved in you know, looking and
6:12
Speaker 5: counting and being able to quickly get information, get data
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Speaker 5: back to the system, back to the pharmacy management system.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 7: So it's built on the backbone of the Apple ecosystem.
6:25
Speaker 7: So we utilize an iPad pro and with a special
6:30
Speaker 7: kiosk that we have built with a downward facing camera.
6:34
Speaker 7: So not only you're you getting the stability and the
6:37
Speaker 7: intuitiveness of an Apple product, but now you're getting that
6:41
Speaker 7: interface back to the pharmacy management system with information computer
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Speaker 7: x r X thirty our platforms, this information transfers over
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Speaker 7: to final verification.
6:52
Speaker 6: So again now we're talking about.
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Speaker 7: How do you ensure safety, but how do you quickly,
6:58
Speaker 7: you know, work that in your workflow so that the
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Speaker 7: pharmacies are spending less time counting and more time working
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Speaker 7: with patients on clinical services, on mtms and things that
7:11
Speaker 7: can deliver better health but also generate more revenue for
7:15
Speaker 7: the pharmacies.
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Speaker 5: Absolutely, there are listeners listening right now, John, who are like, Okay,
7:20
Speaker 5: I'm looking for a pill counting system. I'd like to
7:24
Speaker 5: reach out and learn more, maybe even talk to you.
7:26
Speaker 5: What's a good way to reach out to you and
7:28
Speaker 5: get a hold of someone at your division so that
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Speaker 5: we can talk more about pill count now.
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Speaker 7: The easiest way to get in touch with our group
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Speaker 7: is outcomes dot com and we've got a number of
7:39
Speaker 7: product pages on the website.
7:42
Speaker 6: Simply fill out the information.
7:44
Speaker 7: I've got a team of folks that will reach out
7:46
Speaker 7: typically within twenty four hours and just understand the needs
7:49
Speaker 7: of the pharmacy what they're looking to do.
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Speaker 6: It can't be for everybody, but for the folks that
7:56
Speaker 6: have a need.
7:56
Speaker 7: And understand they want to optimize their workflow, Let's have
7:59
Speaker 7: a quick talk about it. We'll show you the solution,
8:01
Speaker 7: we'll see if it makes sense for the pharmacy, and
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Speaker 7: it's a really easy process to go through.
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Speaker 5: John, thank you so much for spending time with me
8:09
Speaker 5: at this podcast series reviewing different things that Outcomes are
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Speaker 5: bringing to the table. Thanks for being part of thought
8:16
Speaker 5: Spot twenty twenty five.
8:17
Speaker 7: Now, pleasure to be here, Todd, Thanks for a chance
8:19
Speaker 7: to sit down and talk.
8:23
Speaker 8: We're back with another interview with pharmacist Heidi Pullock, vice
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Speaker 8: President of Product Management at Outcomes.
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Speaker 5: Hey thought Spot twenty twenty five. Here at the Outcomes
8:33
Speaker 5: booth one three two Heidi Pollock. Guys and gals, I
8:38
Speaker 5: tell you what I met Heidi in October of twenty twenty.
8:41
Speaker 5: So I've known you for some time and your heart
8:44
Speaker 5: has always been centered in pharmacy care. And there's a
8:50
Speaker 5: special story just about your career and evolution and now
8:54
Speaker 5: part of the Outcomes team.
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Speaker 3: Talk to our listeners about who is Heidi Pollock.
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Speaker 9: Heidi Pollock is a third generation pharmacists. So I know
9:03
Speaker 9: in my heart that I'm making my grandfather, my aunt
9:05
Speaker 9: and uncle very proud with all the things that I've done.
9:09
Speaker 9: So I started out in patient care in the western
9:11
Speaker 9: New York area, spent many many years behind the bench
9:15
Speaker 9: caring for patients in that area.
9:17
Speaker 10: I moved into a corporate role, and.
9:19
Speaker 9: That was great because I just felt my worlds of
9:23
Speaker 9: pharmacy expanded behind, you know, beyond a single location. I
9:27
Speaker 9: could impact more stores across multiple states. And I just kept,
9:31
Speaker 9: you know, really digging in and learning from the people
9:34
Speaker 9: that I worked with so that I could get skills
9:37
Speaker 9: outside of that core pharmacy skill, so that I could
9:41
Speaker 9: transition into roles I never dreamed of. I did go
9:46
Speaker 9: into the management role, like I said, but that was
9:49
Speaker 9: in pharmacy. I moved into a farm a company for
9:52
Speaker 9: a couple of years, and then made the crazy leap
9:55
Speaker 9: into technology. Thankfully, I've grown up around computers, you know,
9:59
Speaker 9: and life. I've seen computers, you know, not exist and
10:02
Speaker 9: then become the machines they are gen x. Yeah, and
10:06
Speaker 9: so I've just you know, I love learning, and so
10:09
Speaker 9: I was like I had a company take a risk
10:11
Speaker 9: on me, Like I didn't have much of a tech background,
10:14
Speaker 9: but they were like, we just love your attitude and
10:17
Speaker 9: who you are, and we're just going to hire you
10:19
Speaker 9: and give you this role. And they just threw me
10:21
Speaker 9: into all these technology things and I embraced it. And again,
10:24
Speaker 9: I just kept digging in and you know, questioning all
10:28
Speaker 9: the other people at my company and kind of just
10:31
Speaker 9: knocking on doors and saying, that sounds like a cool meeting,
10:34
Speaker 9: can I join? And that's where I learned about product management.
10:39
Speaker 9: And it was just it just this fire lit up
10:42
Speaker 9: in me and I was like, I can now help
10:45
Speaker 9: build things that will make a pharmacist life easier. And
10:50
Speaker 9: I'm so excited to be here at Outcomes. I've been
10:53
Speaker 9: here since May of twenty twenty three.
10:55
Speaker 10: Working across a lot of our products.
10:58
Speaker 9: I started in our pharmacy management system world and late
11:02
Speaker 9: last year moved over into the specialty pharmacy world. So
11:06
Speaker 9: I manage a specialty pharmacy software platform. And one of
11:10
Speaker 9: the coolest things that I got asked to lead was
11:14
Speaker 9: a new product in the clinical trial space.
11:18
Speaker 5: Yeah, and just for the listener's sake and you pharmacy
11:23
Speaker 5: students out there, the role of the pharmacist has never
11:27
Speaker 5: been more diverse of what pharmacists are doing. And you
11:31
Speaker 5: had to have that grassroots in the trench's experience in
11:36
Speaker 5: order to bring to corporate in order to bring to
11:38
Speaker 5: a technology platform to merge to what really makes sense
11:42
Speaker 5: for the pharmacists that's stressed out behind the counter and
11:46
Speaker 5: wants to do more, but they don't feel like they
11:47
Speaker 5: can do more.
11:48
Speaker 3: And what you've done is you've.
11:50
Speaker 5: Actually helped the tech platforms give our pharmacist the ability
11:55
Speaker 5: to do more with less because of reimbursements, because of
11:58
Speaker 5: the struggles of how we're paying for things. But then
12:01
Speaker 5: you're combining that with treatment management, which actually extends the
12:05
Speaker 5: ability to build new revenues through things that have nothing
12:07
Speaker 5: to do with dispensing, but treatment management. And now you're
12:10
Speaker 5: talking about the role of the pharmacist in what in
12:13
Speaker 5: clinical trials, which it's our pharma companies desperately need the
12:18
Speaker 5: direction and the leadership of pharmacists in clinical trials. But Heidi,
12:23
Speaker 5: you have a special story and announcement that has come
12:26
Speaker 5: right from the heart of how Outcomes is leveraging tech
12:30
Speaker 5: insights and infrastructure support for our community pharmacies and how
12:35
Speaker 5: it dials into clinical trials.
12:36
Speaker 3: This is a good story. I want you to tell this.
12:38
Speaker 9: It is a great story, and you were Our life
12:42
Speaker 9: as a pharmacist is in taking care of patients and
12:45
Speaker 9: making sure they get treatment that actually works, and we
12:50
Speaker 9: cannot have new medications come to the market without clinical trials.
12:56
Speaker 9: And I learned that eighty percent of clinical trial files
13:00
Speaker 9: cannot find enough patients to do the appropriate level of
13:04
Speaker 9: testing they need to do. We are extending the research
13:07
Speaker 9: time by at least a year. Millions of dollars are
13:12
Speaker 9: being spent to just continue to try to find people.
13:16
Speaker 9: And at Outcomes, we have that ability. So we have
13:21
Speaker 9: a patient's medication profile, so we can make some very
13:25
Speaker 9: informed inference as to what disease state they have, and
13:29
Speaker 9: so we're doing that initially, but then where the pharmacist
13:33
Speaker 9: comes into play is we have built a new clinical
13:37
Speaker 9: opportunity workflow on our Outcomes platform that will inform a
13:42
Speaker 9: pharmacy when they have a patient that looks eligible to
13:48
Speaker 9: proceed further for further questioning to see if they qualify
13:51
Speaker 9: for a clinical trial. It's a really quick workflow. You're
13:55
Speaker 9: going to confirm the patient's disease state and obviously their
14:00
Speaker 9: interest and consent to learn more. You're going to ask
14:03
Speaker 9: maybe three to five very simple screening questions and if
14:07
Speaker 9: that patient responds appropriate, okay, we're going to pass them
14:12
Speaker 9: along to the clinical trial organization for further screening.
14:15
Speaker 10: It's that simple, and you're going to get paid for that.
14:17
Speaker 5: Well, that's the fun part at the end, beyond the mission,
14:21
Speaker 5: beyond pharmacists being involved, we are here. Outcomes has always
14:25
Speaker 5: been about what are we taking from the pharmacy management perspective,
14:30
Speaker 5: what can we add on to it from clinical support?
14:33
Speaker 5: And by goodness gracious, how do we use all this
14:36
Speaker 5: evidence based outcomes stuff. Not to make a double raammy
14:42
Speaker 5: on the word outcomes, but literally what's the outcome is
14:45
Speaker 5: going to be? And how does that mean new revenue
14:47
Speaker 5: to support our pharmacies?
14:48
Speaker 4: Right?
14:49
Speaker 9: You know, the dispensing revenue is constantly under attack and
14:53
Speaker 9: pharmacies must it is an absolute must that you find money.
14:58
Speaker 9: You find revenue outside of that workflow. This is a
15:03
Speaker 9: great way to do it. You're already on the platform,
15:05
Speaker 9: or at least I hope you are. The amount of
15:08
Speaker 9: revenue that Outcomes has been able to find our pharmacies
15:12
Speaker 9: that use our outcomes and outcomes premium platform is tens
15:17
Speaker 9: of thousands of dollars a year and it's work that
15:21
Speaker 9: sometimes even your technician can help you do.
15:23
Speaker 10: For the clinical trials.
15:25
Speaker 9: We're keeping this in just the pharmacist scope, but being
15:30
Speaker 9: on this platform allows you to just branch away to
15:34
Speaker 9: really expand your business model outside of that just pure
15:38
Speaker 9: dispensing workflow. And the pharmacists of today absolutely have that knowledge.
15:43
Speaker 9: I mean, the clinical expertise that they have just makes
15:48
Speaker 9: them so perfect for this. The relationship that you have.
15:52
Speaker 9: We see our patients nine times more often than a.
15:56
Speaker 10: Care provider does. We know all of their occasions.
16:00
Speaker 9: I might have to go to two or three or
16:02
Speaker 9: four different doctors and they're really going to have a
16:05
Speaker 9: difficult time understanding all the medications I'm on. So the
16:08
Speaker 9: pharmacist just sits in such a prime spot for doing
16:13
Speaker 9: this type of work. There are some large chains that
16:17
Speaker 9: are doing this already, and we want to make sure
16:19
Speaker 9: this opportunity is out there, you know, for all of
16:23
Speaker 9: our pharmacies. We are starting this as a pilot, so
16:26
Speaker 9: we don't have every pharmacy on the Outcomes Platform receiving
16:30
Speaker 9: these opportunities just yet while we test it out, but
16:35
Speaker 9: very soon we will be launching it to every pharmacy.
16:38
Speaker 3: It is.
16:39
Speaker 10: It's also location based.
16:42
Speaker 9: We look for trial locations that are about thirty to
16:46
Speaker 9: fifty miles maximum from a pharmacy so that your patient
16:50
Speaker 9: is not driving all over you know, heck in high
16:53
Speaker 9: water to try to get somewhere.
16:55
Speaker 10: I just love it. I actually was in a little
16:58
Speaker 10: bit of a clinical.
16:59
Speaker 9: Trial test probably over a decade ago in my former
17:03
Speaker 9: pharmacy role, and it's just been super exciting to be
17:06
Speaker 9: brought back and really see that this is a growing
17:10
Speaker 9: field for pharmacies.
17:13
Speaker 3: You've seen it come full circle.
17:14
Speaker 5: Not only that, but Outcomes actually has multiple two dozen
17:19
Speaker 5: different patients that have gone through the process already, so
17:23
Speaker 5: it's not like it might be a pilot, but you
17:25
Speaker 5: guys are deep in it already.
17:27
Speaker 9: We are deep in it, and you know, it was
17:29
Speaker 9: really exciting. That's the other thing, you know, finding appropriate
17:33
Speaker 9: patients is very difficult.
17:35
Speaker 10: What is you know, kind of.
17:36
Speaker 9: The trial failure rate where the patient just does not
17:40
Speaker 9: qualify is actually pretty high. That's why we need to
17:44
Speaker 9: get this out in front of a large number of
17:47
Speaker 9: patients and pharmacies. But this week alone, again we just
17:51
Speaker 9: launched it this week, We've already had several patients make
17:55
Speaker 9: it all the way through the process and pre qualify
17:58
Speaker 9: and we're in the process of passing them along to
18:01
Speaker 9: the trial sponsor and they are they jumped up and
18:05
Speaker 9: down and immediately went, let's get more opportunities on the platform.
18:09
Speaker 9: Let's really get this one trial going. We're looking for
18:13
Speaker 9: patients with atrial fibrillation to test out a new medication.
18:17
Speaker 9: And by the way, it's it's various stages of the
18:21
Speaker 9: trials as well, so we're doing some you know, mostly
18:26
Speaker 9: phase two, three, and four where the medication has already
18:29
Speaker 9: been pre tested and determined to be safe. You know,
18:33
Speaker 9: like the stage four trials, the drug is already on
18:37
Speaker 9: the market and now they're trying to compare it to
18:40
Speaker 9: other available treatments to see which one is superior. So
18:45
Speaker 9: you know, for all, you know, the patient's going to
18:47
Speaker 9: get something that's already sitting on your shelf, and we're
18:50
Speaker 9: just doing comparator studies. So lots of different unique things
18:52
Speaker 9: that we're doing. Again, I find it's so exciting.
18:55
Speaker 5: It is exciting, and listen to this, pharmacy owners listening
18:58
Speaker 5: right now. This is a marketing opportunity for your pharmacy
19:03
Speaker 5: to stand out in your community, in your region, in
19:05
Speaker 5: your state, because there are connections to how are we
19:09
Speaker 5: bringing more information and more transparency to the communities that
19:14
Speaker 5: you're in the community has already trust you. You're the
19:17
Speaker 5: most trusted healthcare provider that your communities have, the local
19:21
Speaker 5: community independent pharmacy who is advancing healthcare by becoming involved
19:26
Speaker 5: in clinical trials. And then you turn around and use
19:29
Speaker 5: this marketing opportunity and not only take out a little
19:32
Speaker 5: press release or a story in your local paper and
19:34
Speaker 5: of course on your Facebook and your social media, but
19:37
Speaker 5: reach out to your local congress people, congressmen, congresswomen and
19:41
Speaker 5: have them understand the full circle of the importance of
19:44
Speaker 5: keeping our independent community pharmacies alive and thriving, especially in
19:49
Speaker 5: places where we have pharmacy deserts.
19:51
Speaker 3: So this is big full circle stuff.
19:52
Speaker 10: This is big full circle stuff.
19:54
Speaker 9: And you can help promote yourself to your specialists or
19:58
Speaker 9: even your primary care do doctors in the area that
20:01
Speaker 9: you're really advancing patient care and you are trying to
20:05
Speaker 9: find each of your patients the best possible treatment. We
20:10
Speaker 9: all know that everything out there doesn't work for everybody,
20:13
Speaker 9: and you know better than anyone else which patients are
20:16
Speaker 9: struggling and really are still searching, desperately searching for a
20:21
Speaker 9: treatment that will help. And I think letting your providers
20:24
Speaker 9: in the area know that you're just next level, Like
20:27
Speaker 9: you're not just sitting back and trying to just you know,
20:30
Speaker 9: put bills in a bottle, you know, which everybody thinks
20:33
Speaker 9: that's all we can do. We are so much more
20:36
Speaker 9: than that. I actually wrote a blog post once about
20:40
Speaker 9: pharmacists hiding in plane sight.
20:42
Speaker 3: Yes, I remember, we are.
20:44
Speaker 10: We're hiding in.
20:45
Speaker 9: So many different places, lawyers offices, research institutes, EBMs, tech companies,
20:52
Speaker 9: special pharmacy exactly, We're everywhere.
20:56
Speaker 3: Sports pharmacy. There's so many sports.
20:57
Speaker 9: Gosh, that is so exciting to follow, the sports pharmacy
21:01
Speaker 9: stuff that is so important because an athlete can get
21:06
Speaker 9: like kicked out of going to.
21:07
Speaker 3: The Olympics exactly.
21:09
Speaker 10: You know, but I do.
21:11
Speaker 9: I just really love the opportunities that Outcomes has presented
21:15
Speaker 9: me in just a very short time. Again, I've only
21:17
Speaker 9: been here two and a half years, and I've already
21:20
Speaker 9: done some really really cool, exciting stuff.
21:23
Speaker 10: And I think this.
21:24
Speaker 9: Is really the coolest, Like when we talk about it internally,
21:27
Speaker 9: like the eyes just get so excited. And this is
21:31
Speaker 9: back to I have a whole clinical team backing me
21:36
Speaker 9: as we build these opportunities out on the platform. So
21:38
Speaker 9: these are very well vetted clinical trials the questions that.
21:43
Speaker 10: Are going to be in the opportunity itself.
21:46
Speaker 9: So as clinicians, we one hundred and ten percent believe
21:50
Speaker 9: in this well.
21:52
Speaker 5: We are lucky to have had this opportunity to interview
21:55
Speaker 5: you again. Heidi Pauluck on the Pharmacy Podcast Network Outcomes
21:59
Speaker 5: is just as lucky to have you as part of
22:01
Speaker 5: this team and the bigger team of where where is
22:04
Speaker 5: pharmacy care going?
22:05
Speaker 3: Clinical trials is part of it.
22:07
Speaker 5: We're here at thought Spot twenty twenty five at the
22:10
Speaker 5: Outcomes both and we'll be right back.
22:14
Speaker 8: Fellow Pittsburgh multilocation pharmacy owner and Pharmacy fifty Award winner
22:19
Speaker 8: doctor Chris Antipass joins the pod for a discussion on
22:23
Speaker 8: innovation in the business of pharmacy.
22:26
Speaker 5: Guess what plot Spot twenty twenty five, Pittsburgh is in
22:30
Speaker 5: the house. Chris Antipas, my guy from Pittsburgh.
22:33
Speaker 3: How you doing.
22:33
Speaker 4: I'm doing great, So great to see you.
22:35
Speaker 11: I mean the Black and Gold in pits in Vegas
22:38
Speaker 11: from Pittsburgh.
22:38
Speaker 5: Heck yeah, I just don't know what's going to happen
22:41
Speaker 5: to us in twenty twenty five or twenty twenty six season.
22:43
Speaker 5: We can talk about that on another podcast. You got it,
22:46
Speaker 5: but this is a special time. It's nice to see
22:48
Speaker 5: you here at thought Spot twenty twenty five. Just in
22:51
Speaker 5: case people don't know you talk to us. Who is
22:53
Speaker 5: doctor Chris Antipas.
22:55
Speaker 11: Yeah, so pharmacist, pharmacy owner from Pittsburgh. I have a
22:58
Speaker 11: few pharmacies in my ownership, realm Astes Pharmacy, my retail pharmacy.
23:03
Speaker 11: I have colt RX, which is my long term care
23:06
Speaker 11: and compounding pharmacy, and Paragon Pharmacy three sixty which is
23:11
Speaker 11: a specialty pharmacy dual, a credited, nationally licensed and just
23:15
Speaker 11: doing my best effort to stay relevant in this challenging
23:19
Speaker 11: pharmacy world.
23:20
Speaker 5: Heidi, how'd you meet Chris? Because you guys have known
23:23
Speaker 5: each other for a while now.
23:24
Speaker 10: We've known each other since twenty seventeen.
23:27
Speaker 9: I was working at a different tech company than Outcomes
23:31
Speaker 9: and Chris was one of our clients and I was
23:33
Speaker 9: in the Buffalo, New York area at the time, so
23:36
Speaker 9: got in maccarr, drove down to go meet his pharmacy
23:39
Speaker 9: staff and was just absolutely blown away by the patient
23:44
Speaker 9: care that they are doing in the Pittsburgh area. If
23:47
Speaker 9: I lived in Pittsburgh, that would be my pharmacy.
23:50
Speaker 4: She's too kind.
23:52
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the avolation.
23:54
Speaker 5: Heidi and I weren before talking about the role of
23:56
Speaker 5: our pharmacists, and we were talking about clinical trials. But
24:00
Speaker 5: now let's shift some gears and talk about specialty, because
24:03
Speaker 5: I can't think of a better person to dial into
24:06
Speaker 5: what a community of pharmacy has done to transform into
24:11
Speaker 5: truly a specialty pharmacy, and then how to take measurements.
24:15
Speaker 3: We're talking about data, data, data, How are.
24:17
Speaker 5: We finding out what we're doing is actually working because
24:21
Speaker 5: of those complexities within those disease states.
24:23
Speaker 11: Yeah, specialty, our specialty operation grew out of our community
24:28
Speaker 11: pharmacy where we were.
24:31
Speaker 4: Just solving problems like so many pharmacies do.
24:33
Speaker 11: You got people coming in, they have needs, and we
24:36
Speaker 11: stepped up to the plate. And we initially were intimidated
24:39
Speaker 11: by the price tags on these drugs because the more
24:43
Speaker 11: expensive the medication, the more risk there is and dispensing it,
24:47
Speaker 11: you've got you can make a mistake, you can have
24:49
Speaker 11: an audit, all kinds of issues.
24:50
Speaker 4: But we doubled down, we got knowledgeable.
24:54
Speaker 11: That was step one is understanding what is specialty and
24:57
Speaker 11: what is the potential opportunity for us, this is going
24:59
Speaker 11: back to twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, but eventually decided to,
25:04
Speaker 11: you know, take it into its own. Pharmacy built out
25:07
Speaker 11: that pharmacy, got the licensure, got the accreditation, and just
25:12
Speaker 11: like any you know, pharmacy practice setting, the it's evolving
25:17
Speaker 11: and you have to adapt to you have to adapt
25:20
Speaker 11: to ensure that you remain relevant and keep that business
25:24
Speaker 11: alive and keep it going. And so we've identified this
25:27
Speaker 11: opportunity to take advantage of our patient relationships, to engage
25:33
Speaker 11: with our patients and extract information from them that otherwise
25:37
Speaker 11: is unknown, combining that with other data sources to take
25:43
Speaker 11: what we call it taking accountability to the efficacy or
25:47
Speaker 11: taking accountability for the efficacy of the medications we dispense.
25:51
Speaker 11: And that means making sure that the drugs are actually working.
25:55
Speaker 11: And how do we know if the drugs are working well.
25:57
Speaker 11: We have to talk of our patients. We have to
26:00
Speaker 11: use other available data sources and they are many that
26:03
Speaker 11: we are tapping into, like wearables or peripherals that you
26:07
Speaker 11: can gather blood pressure information, or a smart watch that
26:10
Speaker 11: is giving you other information all day every.
26:13
Speaker 4: Day, or a smart ring.
26:15
Speaker 11: And then we also have other sources of information like medical,
26:19
Speaker 11: medical and pharmacy.
26:20
Speaker 4: Claims data or EHR data.
26:22
Speaker 11: And when you compile all that data and you organize
26:25
Speaker 11: it in the age of AI that we can have
26:27
Speaker 11: assistance compiling and organizing this data, we can get some
26:32
Speaker 11: really impactful insights that we can then as pharmacists act
26:36
Speaker 11: on to.
26:37
Speaker 4: The benefit of our patient. And there's a market out
26:39
Speaker 4: there for that.
26:41
Speaker 5: Health plans that are going to eat that up. And
26:43
Speaker 5: now they don't have to rely on just our physicians
26:46
Speaker 5: to pull off what's necessary. They're the quarterback. They're passing
26:49
Speaker 5: the treatment off to the pharmacists. The pharmacist is running
26:52
Speaker 5: for it. Heidi, your division within Outcomes is doing exactly
26:57
Speaker 5: what Chris is talking about. Share with us about how
27:00
Speaker 5: this is pulling in and helping to expand specialty pharmacies.
27:03
Speaker 10: Yeah.
27:04
Speaker 9: I was asked to lead our specialty division December of
27:08
Speaker 9: last year, and since then, just the number of pharmacies
27:11
Speaker 9: that have come to us looking to start specialty pharmacy
27:14
Speaker 9: has just been really really encouraging. For a while there,
27:17
Speaker 9: I thought pharmacist just seemed super content with putting pills
27:20
Speaker 9: in a bottle. You know, That's how I started out
27:23
Speaker 9: in pharmacy, you cannot survive without expanding into additional business models.
27:29
Speaker 10: Chris is the perfect example of that. You heard him say.
27:31
Speaker 9: It all started in his you know, retail pharmacy and
27:35
Speaker 9: now he has long term care and specialty.
27:38
Speaker 10: So I'm very encouraged that our.
27:40
Speaker 9: Outcomes users, our PMS users are all they're branching out
27:44
Speaker 9: into specialty pharmacy and we're helping them do that from
27:46
Speaker 9: the ground up.
27:47
Speaker 10: They haven't been doing it, they don't know how to
27:49
Speaker 10: do it.
27:50
Speaker 9: We have software that can help them do it, and
27:53
Speaker 9: I'm just really encouraged to see the growth in this division.
27:58
Speaker 5: What's the challenges Chris that you you've run into in
28:01
Speaker 5: making this kind of transition from that community to a
28:06
Speaker 5: truly standalone specially pharmacy, but being able to take advantage
28:10
Speaker 5: of the customer connection from both of those spaces.
28:14
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean the challenges are many, because you know,
28:18
Speaker 11: there are a lot of forces out there that don't
28:20
Speaker 11: want pharmacies to succeed. And that's not just specialty pharmacy.
28:23
Speaker 11: We all know the payer PBM challenges that we face.
28:27
Speaker 11: Those exist and they're amplified in the specialty pharmacy space.
28:31
Speaker 11: You know, the challenges of just getting licensure and getting accreditations,
28:35
Speaker 11: and the financial challenges and the investment that's necessary there
28:39
Speaker 11: to just the man hours that are necessary to go
28:43
Speaker 11: and get all of those applications done. So it's in
28:48
Speaker 11: part you have to build an infrastructure. That infrastructure and
28:51
Speaker 11: includes your licensure, your certifications, your accreditations. It also includes
28:56
Speaker 11: your technology because you know it's a it's a very
29:00
Speaker 11: competitive space and so you need to be able to differentiate.
29:04
Speaker 11: And we differentiate primarily by our not our software, excuse me,
29:08
Speaker 11: but by our service. And in order for you to
29:11
Speaker 11: execute on that, you have to have software that helps
29:14
Speaker 11: you do that. It enables you. The software is a
29:18
Speaker 11: means to the end, and so you have to configure that.
29:21
Speaker 11: You have to be the right partner. And so that
29:23
Speaker 11: that has been a journey for us to figure out,
29:25
Speaker 11: like how do we best position ourselves And then we
29:28
Speaker 11: do what we do best, which is build relationships not
29:30
Speaker 11: just with our patients, but with providers, with with payers,
29:35
Speaker 11: with manufacturers. And a lot of folks probably listen to
29:37
Speaker 11: this and say, oh, well, that's like so hard, how
29:39
Speaker 11: do you do that? But we know how to build relationships.
29:42
Speaker 11: You've got to be in the right place at the
29:44
Speaker 11: right time to do that. But you know, it means
29:47
Speaker 11: going to new trade shows or places that you weren't
29:49
Speaker 11: going to you know, previously, And you know, unfortunately it
29:53
Speaker 11: doesn't happen overnight, but over time you begin, you know,
29:57
Speaker 11: if you can kind of have the grit and the
29:59
Speaker 11: resilien is to survive long enough, some of these things
30:02
Speaker 11: start to fall in place. Because there is no there's
30:06
Speaker 11: definitely not enough high quality providers out there.
30:10
Speaker 4: To meet the demand.
30:12
Speaker 11: It's just can you survive long enough to get to
30:15
Speaker 11: the point of relevance where you're considered for that, And
30:18
Speaker 11: that's kind of been our journey and we're at a
30:20
Speaker 11: place now where we're finding some success and it's exciting.
30:25
Speaker 4: We still many challenges, but we're really thrilled with where we.
30:31
Speaker 11: Are and excited about the partnerships that we continue to build.
30:34
Speaker 5: Well, i'd like to thank you for spending time with
30:36
Speaker 5: us here at a thought spot. Heidi, thanks for wrangling
30:38
Speaker 5: him in into the booth and talking to this.
30:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thanks you.
30:43
Speaker 11: Thanks to you both and for all the work you're
30:45
Speaker 11: doing and amplifying our voice.
30:48
Speaker 4: And Heidi for being a pioneer and innovation. So thanks
30:51
Speaker 4: for having me on.
30:52
Speaker 3: All right, thank you, thought Spot twenty five. Thought Spot
30:56
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. We'll be right back.
31:00
Speaker 8: Fellow podcaster and product manager at Outcomes Dalia Rios talk
31:04
Speaker 8: shop on why it's important to keep going with more
31:07
Speaker 8: training and education on new systems and processes in pharmacy.
31:13
Speaker 5: Hey, we are here at the Outcomes booth and I'm
31:16
Speaker 5: with Dalia Rio's and you're a fellow podcaster.
31:20
Speaker 3: What's that like?
31:22
Speaker 12: Different?
31:22
Speaker 13: Very different.
31:23
Speaker 12: It's one thing is talking to clients where you are
31:29
Speaker 12: actually interacting with the clients, talking back and forth, getting feedback,
31:34
Speaker 12: ask asking questions, and you know, giving them the answers
31:37
Speaker 12: that they're looking for. But it's totally different having to
31:41
Speaker 12: look into the camera and trying to, you know, figure
31:43
Speaker 12: out what's I mean, what's what really?
31:46
Speaker 3: Yes exactly.
31:47
Speaker 5: So I've been doing this for sixteen years and I
31:50
Speaker 5: still get weirded out by having to look at a
31:54
Speaker 5: camera where I know that's my audience. But it's like
31:57
Speaker 5: it's better when I'm in front of someone. I think
32:00
Speaker 5: it feels more natural. And you're a teacher at heart.
32:03
Speaker 5: When I've listened to you throughout this entire conference. People
32:07
Speaker 5: completely surround your area because they're looking for the knowledge
32:10
Speaker 5: that you have based on the system, breaking it down
32:13
Speaker 5: into components so it's easier to understand.
32:16
Speaker 3: That's what our X thirty Unlocked is. Our thirty Unlocked.
32:20
Speaker 5: Is a podcast by Outcomes that's going to break things
32:24
Speaker 5: down and make things much simpler to understand because you're
32:28
Speaker 5: taking components and you're making it a little bit more
32:31
Speaker 5: understandable in structural information. Talk to me about some of
32:36
Speaker 5: the some of the feedback that you've been getting from
32:39
Speaker 5: from clients that listen to the content.
32:42
Speaker 12: Oh, I mean, the feedback is invaluable. They're just loving it.
32:47
Speaker 12: The the fact that, of course, you know, the staffing
32:51
Speaker 12: is revolving door right, They're always getting new texts and pharmacies,
32:57
Speaker 12: and so to start from scratch having to them it's
33:00
Speaker 12: just time consuming, but just to be able to give
33:03
Speaker 12: them a link and say here, learn it on your
33:06
Speaker 12: own and it's step by step. We also have a
33:09
Speaker 12: client certification program that they can download or view the
33:16
Speaker 12: trainings and it's invaluable the feedback that I get.
33:19
Speaker 5: Dahlia, how did you start in pharmacy technology? What industry
33:24
Speaker 5: were you in before you got into pharmacy.
33:27
Speaker 12: Believe it or not, I was in the IT I
33:29
Speaker 12: have an IT background and I actually started seventeen and
33:35
Speaker 12: a half years ago at Outcomes.
33:36
Speaker 3: It was previously TDS.
33:39
Speaker 12: And I was hired for my Linux skills, my IT skills,
33:43
Speaker 12: and I was in support for a few years, and
33:45
Speaker 12: then I went into implementation did the onboarding for about
33:48
Speaker 12: eight years, and I absolutely loved it. I met so
33:51
Speaker 12: many wonderful people. I was able to train the staff
33:56
Speaker 12: and just from different levels. Right, You've got folks that
34:00
Speaker 12: are not technical savvy, they're not tech savvy, and then
34:03
Speaker 12: you've got the really it technical folks that that I
34:07
Speaker 12: can speak on each level, and so yeah, it was
34:10
Speaker 12: very exciting.
34:11
Speaker 5: What's it like to engage with clients at the national
34:16
Speaker 5: conferences of here at Thoughts Spot twenty twenty five.
34:19
Speaker 12: Yeah, I love it because, like I said, in the
34:21
Speaker 12: last seventeen and a half years, I've spoken to many
34:24
Speaker 12: of them over the phone, and to be able to
34:27
Speaker 12: come to the shows for the last couple of years,
34:30
Speaker 12: to be able to meet them and them looking for me,
34:32
Speaker 12: I mean it was. It brings me great pleasure to
34:35
Speaker 12: know that hey, they're using some of the skills that
34:38
Speaker 12: I've already taught them and they're wanting to learn more.
34:41
Speaker 5: It's fun to be listening, and I'll hear one of
34:45
Speaker 5: the other outcomes team members say, Yep, Dahlia's busy, but
34:49
Speaker 5: she'll be right back. And they're always like coming around
34:51
Speaker 5: looking for you because they want that information about something specific,
34:54
Speaker 5: probably in the system.
34:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is great.
34:57
Speaker 5: Well, we appreciate you being part of the post show
35:00
Speaker 5: here at Thoughts about twenty twenty five, and hopefully we
35:02
Speaker 5: collaborate with you in the future as a fellow podcast.
35:05
Speaker 10: Yes, that'd be wonderful. Thank you so much for having me.
35:08
Speaker 3: Thank you.
35:09
Speaker 10: Take Care.
35:11
Speaker 8: Nicknamed the godfather of long term care pharmacy, Paul Shelton
35:15
Speaker 8: joins us to share a plan to increase revenues from
35:18
Speaker 8: services you're probably already providing to your community.
35:23
Speaker 5: I tell you what, I show up at these conferences.
35:26
Speaker 5: I was in Tennessee, Nashville, I had a team covering
35:32
Speaker 5: Denver conference, and now we're here in Vegas and I run.
35:37
Speaker 3: Into you again. Introduce yourself to listeners.
35:41
Speaker 5: They might not know you, but I everybody if you
35:45
Speaker 5: got to know this guy, all.
35:46
Speaker 13: Right, thanks Todd. My name is Paul Shelton.
35:48
Speaker 14: I'm the president of Pharma Complete Consulting Services and the
35:51
Speaker 14: CEO and executive vice president of Strategy for the Long
35:54
Speaker 14: Term Care at Home Pharmacy Network.
35:56
Speaker 13: And uh yeah, really happy to be here. Good to
35:58
Speaker 13: see you, and again I just like to time I've
36:00
Speaker 13: seen you the last two months.
36:01
Speaker 5: I know it was credit, but it's fun because I
36:04
Speaker 5: what I'm excited about is that there is a pathway
36:08
Speaker 5: to saving a lot of our independent community pharmacies by
36:12
Speaker 5: shifting a couple gears, putting things in motion, getting the
36:16
Speaker 5: right tech systems and technology platforms. We're here at outcomes
36:21
Speaker 5: all about technology and system platforms. But let's go back
36:24
Speaker 5: to the original the term, and that is long term
36:29
Speaker 5: care pharmacy at home and serving people that don't want
36:33
Speaker 5: to be in a nursing home or can't be in
36:34
Speaker 5: a nursing home. They want to age in their home,
36:37
Speaker 5: but we want to get paid for those services. So
36:39
Speaker 5: give the listeners just a little breakdown of long term
36:42
Speaker 5: care pharmacy at home.
36:43
Speaker 13: Yeah, absolutely, So it starts with patients.
36:45
Speaker 14: I mean the patients that we're serving or boomers. They've
36:48
Speaker 14: broken every market they've ever entered, whether it was housing, college, car, ownership.
36:53
Speaker 13: They've broken everything, so now they broken healthcare.
36:55
Speaker 14: They don't want to go into the facilities that we
36:57
Speaker 14: have set up for long term care. They want to
36:59
Speaker 14: stay in their own They've got the ability to do that,
37:01
Speaker 14: and we found that the treatment is actually cheaper and
37:04
Speaker 14: more effective if they're in a familiar environment. And so
37:07
Speaker 14: what we've found is if pharmacy can provide long term
37:09
Speaker 14: care levels of service so equivalent to a skilled nursing
37:12
Speaker 14: level of engagement, provide compliance, packaging, monthly medication, reconciliation, coordination
37:17
Speaker 14: of services, coordination of benefits.
37:19
Speaker 13: Transitions of care.
37:20
Speaker 14: If they can do all of that, these patients are
37:22
Speaker 14: able to stay at home, healthy and happy longer, have
37:24
Speaker 14: longer lifespans and much lower costs of care.
37:27
Speaker 5: I love it, and you've teamed up with our Safe.
37:30
Speaker 5: I've teamed up with our Safe because they're a big
37:33
Speaker 5: piece of this puzzle. Talk to us about being here
37:37
Speaker 5: at thoughts Spot twenty twenty five and teaming up with
37:40
Speaker 5: the ARC Safe.
37:40
Speaker 13: Absolutely, it's been incredible.
37:42
Speaker 14: We've had a lot of fun talking to people in
37:43
Speaker 14: the booth coming by saying hey, I'm doing fifty seventy
37:45
Speaker 14: five one hundred patients really talk to you about Okay,
37:48
Speaker 14: that's awesome.
37:49
Speaker 13: When are you gonna have to hire another technician? Where
37:51
Speaker 13: are you gonna have to bring in that person?
37:52
Speaker 14: They're like, now I have to do that today and
37:55
Speaker 14: so well, instead.
37:56
Speaker 13: Of doing that, why don't we look at.
37:57
Speaker 14: Hiring a piece of automation or a piece of tech
38:00
Speaker 14: knowledgy that makes sense And we've really seen people be
38:04
Speaker 14: able to really embrace that in a way that's interesting
38:07
Speaker 14: and saying, what's the one.
38:09
Speaker 13: Hundred patients on blister cards? What does that mean?
38:12
Speaker 14: I've got one hundred patients on a dispill system or
38:14
Speaker 14: something from pharmacy automation supplies.
38:17
Speaker 13: If I convert that over to the rapid card r
38:20
Speaker 13: X or the rapid pack our AX, I'm going.
38:21
Speaker 14: To save about twenty five hours in technician time on
38:24
Speaker 14: those hundred patients. Additionally, I'm going to save about seven
38:27
Speaker 14: hundred minutes of pharmacist time on those same hundred patients,
38:31
Speaker 14: which is huge. That frees your pharmacists up to do
38:34
Speaker 14: more clinical engagement, to go find more patients to qualify,
38:37
Speaker 14: and that technician now is twenty five more hours a.
38:39
Speaker 13: Month to go out and grow the business.
38:41
Speaker 14: That person can become your marketer that person can become
38:43
Speaker 14: someone who's converting patients into the program.
38:46
Speaker 4: I love it.
38:47
Speaker 6: I love it.
38:47
Speaker 5: So it's conference season. You've been all over the place.
38:50
Speaker 5: I've been all over the place. What's the next city
38:53
Speaker 5: that you're going to show up in for the next conference?
38:56
Speaker 14: Oh, for the next conference? I think the next conference
38:59
Speaker 14: we're going to. Yeah, it's gonna be in NCPA. It's
39:01
Speaker 14: gonna be down in New Orleans this year. Really looking
39:04
Speaker 14: forward to that when New Orleans is always a fantastic conference.
39:06
Speaker 14: And then after that it's gonna be Jerry Meant for
39:08
Speaker 14: Marco Island down in Florida.
39:10
Speaker 13: I think I've got that scheduled correctly.
39:12
Speaker 14: And then possibly getting out to Las Vegas for the
39:14
Speaker 14: SPS Show a little bit before that, just to check
39:17
Speaker 14: out what those guys are doing in the actual closed
39:20
Speaker 14: door long term care space.
39:21
Speaker 5: What's your favorite place to go for conferences? Because I
39:24
Speaker 5: don't like Vegas. I don't care for Vegas, but I
39:27
Speaker 5: mean when I get here, once I get here, being
39:30
Speaker 5: in this in this trade show hall and being with
39:33
Speaker 5: hot spot people, I love it. But it's the Vegas
39:36
Speaker 5: part that I'm like, absolutely I'd rather so if you're like,
39:39
Speaker 5: if I answer that question, I'm gonna say probably Southern Florida.
39:43
Speaker 5: Like I love going to Fort Lauderdale, I love Marco Island,
39:48
Speaker 5: even Orlando, even though it's a little stuffy because it's
39:50
Speaker 5: in the base of Florida.
39:52
Speaker 3: But what's your favorite place?
39:53
Speaker 14: So if it's a summer show, so winter shows, I
39:56
Speaker 14: agree completely, if it's serting, if it's like October through
39:59
Speaker 14: basically March, Southern Florida is by far my favorite.
40:02
Speaker 13: Love Orlando.
40:02
Speaker 14: My family loves to come with me because they have
40:05
Speaker 14: a Disney addiction, if you will, But in southern Florida,
40:08
Speaker 14: it's fantastic.
40:09
Speaker 13: Did you get you to get you away from the
40:10
Speaker 13: cold during the summer. I haven't figured out why people
40:13
Speaker 13: haven't heard of places like Minneapolis Saint Paul. They've got
40:16
Speaker 13: a phenomenal conference center.
40:17
Speaker 14: There was actually a brewers conference up there a few
40:19
Speaker 14: years ago that we went to. Is absolutely brilliant, cool weather,
40:24
Speaker 14: very nice.
40:24
Speaker 13: Lovely people.
40:27
Speaker 14: Another great one we went to was a few years
40:28
Speaker 14: ago Cardinals RBC show, which was in Boston. I was
40:32
Speaker 14: I was shocked by how great Boston was as a
40:34
Speaker 14: host city, and so during the summer I'd love for
40:37
Speaker 14: them maybe explore the places like Denver.
40:39
Speaker 13: Dinver is a great spot, which we do that more
40:41
Speaker 13: often so.
40:41
Speaker 3: I kept they have a pharmacy conference in Pittsburgh.
40:43
Speaker 5: For goodness sakes, we have a huge absolutely trade shore.
40:47
Speaker 13: Conference at Pittsburgh.
40:49
Speaker 14: I'm doing one in I think we had one in
40:50
Speaker 14: Seattle a few years ago, which was amazing. I mean,
40:53
Speaker 14: just again during the summer, getting us maybe out of
40:55
Speaker 14: the hot, sweltering, humid part of the United States, you know,
41:00
Speaker 14: explore other options.
41:02
Speaker 5: Paul Shelton here at thought Spot twenty twenty five. Thanks
41:05
Speaker 5: for spending time with me.
41:06
Speaker 13: Absolutely, thanks so much.
41:07
Speaker 5: Time.
41:08
Speaker 8: We wrap up the thought Spot podcast press coverage with
41:11
Speaker 8: Tim cerna House, Senior vice President of Community Retail in
41:15
Speaker 8: Long Term Care Pharmacy at Sencora.
41:19
Speaker 5: Hot Spot twenty twenty five. What an amazing gathering of
41:22
Speaker 5: our independent community pharmacists and pharmacy owners. I'm here with
41:27
Speaker 5: the senior vice president of Community Retail and Long Term
41:30
Speaker 5: Care Pharmacy at Sincora, Tim cerno House.
41:33
Speaker 3: It is so good to have you here. Tim.
41:35
Speaker 15: Welcome, Thanks Todd, and great to be here with you
41:39
Speaker 15: and to chat a little bit about thoughts about twenty
41:41
Speaker 15: twenty five.
41:42
Speaker 5: Tim, this was an electric event. When I walked into
41:45
Speaker 5: the hall, it was enormous.
41:48
Speaker 3: It was packed.
41:49
Speaker 5: There was a lot of excitement. And I've been attending
41:52
Speaker 5: pharmacy conferences it makes me foold for over twenty years,
41:56
Speaker 5: and I've seen where the mood wasn't as exciting. It
42:00
Speaker 5: was maybe, you know, a little bit more of a
42:03
Speaker 5: of being worried about.
42:05
Speaker 3: What was happening. And this wasn't that.
42:07
Speaker 5: This was a bunch of business owners coming together trying
42:10
Speaker 5: to find new solutions and new services in ways to
42:14
Speaker 5: serve their community and be profitable while doing it. And Sincora,
42:20
Speaker 5: you guys were at the center of it all. So
42:22
Speaker 5: give us an overview of thoughts Spot twenty twenty five.
42:25
Speaker 15: Yeah, thanks Toad, and thank you again for being there
42:28
Speaker 15: and thanks for giving us the opportunity to be able
42:30
Speaker 15: to comment.
42:31
Speaker 16: Here on your show. Really appreciate that opportunity.
42:34
Speaker 15: So I would agree with your reflection on thoughts about
42:37
Speaker 15: twenty twenty five, just as you know the show overall,
42:40
Speaker 15: as we went through everything, phenomenal attendance this year.
42:43
Speaker 16: We just saw a huge response.
42:45
Speaker 15: Our overall attendance was up this year and it was
42:50
Speaker 15: we've really hit the point where we're pre pandemic levels
42:53
Speaker 15: now again. And so to your point on the on
42:56
Speaker 15: the shut Thoughts Spot trade floor, it was customers were
43:02
Speaker 15: energized and they were out there looking for opportunities to
43:06
Speaker 15: really help improve their practice. And we saw large we
43:10
Speaker 15: saw chains that were there, We saw health systems that
43:13
Speaker 15: were there, community based providers and long term care providers,
43:16
Speaker 15: and as you know, you know more and more many
43:18
Speaker 15: providers are kind of also crossing over from one segment
43:21
Speaker 15: to the other and really searching out a lot of
43:24
Speaker 15: technology components.
43:26
Speaker 16: Was one of the big things that I certainly saw.
43:28
Speaker 15: How do we make workflow more efficient, How do we
43:30
Speaker 15: connect with our customers and stay engaged with them, How
43:33
Speaker 15: do we make sure that they come back in for
43:35
Speaker 15: either refills clinical encounters. That was a really big part
43:41
Speaker 15: that I saw and I heard from a lot of
43:43
Speaker 15: both the vendors as well as the pharmacy participants. The
43:47
Speaker 15: other piece that I would say, over over and beyond
43:52
Speaker 15: probably two other parts that I would just highlight, a
43:54
Speaker 15: lot of excitement around its clinical You know a lot
43:57
Speaker 15: of pharmacies trying to figure out how do we take
44:01
Speaker 15: disparate clinical programs that they really are committed to doing
44:04
Speaker 15: as and for myself as a pharmacist and a prior clinician,
44:08
Speaker 15: it's hard.
44:09
Speaker 16: You have these opportunities.
44:11
Speaker 15: We're trained as pharmacists to go and provide that direct
44:14
Speaker 15: patient care, but it's hard to figure out how do
44:16
Speaker 15: I connect with a patient, maybe asynchronously and so, how
44:20
Speaker 15: do I identify them within the course of my workflow,
44:22
Speaker 15: how do I identify them when they're coming in to
44:24
Speaker 15: pick up their prescription? How do I do it in
44:27
Speaker 15: an offline mode in a way that's efficient And so
44:29
Speaker 15: I saw a lot of engagement around pharmacy providers, so
44:32
Speaker 15: pharmacy management systems, So I should clarify that pharmacy software
44:36
Speaker 15: providers that we're really trying to help do patient identification,
44:41
Speaker 15: documentation and then ultimately secure that reimbursement. So there was
44:45
Speaker 15: a lot of really good work happening around that front,
44:47
Speaker 15: which we really support. I think that's one of the
44:50
Speaker 15: biggest opportunities for pharmacy and pharmacists is to continue to
44:54
Speaker 15: lean into that, to use that training, to use our
44:57
Speaker 15: differential knowledge around pharmaceutic goals to be able to provide
45:01
Speaker 15: that direct patient care, intervene and improve patient outcome. So
45:04
Speaker 15: something that we're just totally committed to and we want
45:07
Speaker 15: to see it also be simplified. There's just a lot
45:10
Speaker 15: of different channels, if you will, out there, and so
45:13
Speaker 15: we want to try to bring that together so it's simple,
45:16
Speaker 15: although it's not necessarily real simple for everybody right now.
45:19
Speaker 15: So I saw a lot of engagement around that and
45:23
Speaker 15: figuring out how do you do that. The last piece
45:25
Speaker 15: that I would say saw a lot of excitement around
45:28
Speaker 15: is as you maybe saw, really a broad diversity of
45:32
Speaker 15: vendor suppliers in terms of their products that they're trying
45:35
Speaker 15: to bring to market. As patients kind of think about
45:39
Speaker 15: where do they choose to get their pharmacy services. Are
45:42
Speaker 15: they going to a chain, are they going to a
45:44
Speaker 15: mass merchant, or are they growing to a grocer or
45:46
Speaker 15: an independent Obviously, we believe strongly in the voice of
45:49
Speaker 15: the independence and making sure that those independents have the
45:52
Speaker 15: right product mix for customers to bring them into store
45:56
Speaker 15: as well.
45:57
Speaker 16: And so we're really excited. There was a number and
46:00
Speaker 16: I don't want to call.
46:01
Speaker 15: Anybody else because I'll leave somebody out, but there were
46:02
Speaker 15: a lot of great vendors that were bringing new products
46:05
Speaker 15: to the show marketplace. Is a Sikora tool that was
46:09
Speaker 15: prominently featured there. We're really trying to make it as
46:12
Speaker 15: simple as we can for pharmacies to be able to
46:14
Speaker 15: access a massive array. So we within Marketplace, there's over
46:18
Speaker 15: sixty thousand products that are now on Marketplace that pharmacies
46:22
Speaker 15: don't have to deal with, you know, hundreds of different
46:25
Speaker 15: vendors in order to be able to procure that product
46:27
Speaker 15: that they can go through the portal, they can go
46:29
Speaker 15: into the market.
46:30
Speaker 16: That they need that's right for them.
46:32
Speaker 15: And so saw a lot of energy around that, both
46:34
Speaker 15: on the vendor side and vendors that were participating and
46:37
Speaker 15: are participating in Marketplace, as well as customers that had
46:41
Speaker 15: kind of seen Marketplace maybe a couple of years ago,
46:43
Speaker 15: had maybe not given it too much look, and then
46:46
Speaker 15: now we're coming back and really figuring out, Man, this
46:49
Speaker 15: is a way that I can bolster sales within my
46:51
Speaker 15: front end. It's seamless, really efficient for my team, whoever
46:55
Speaker 15: that might be that's helping on the front end, to
46:58
Speaker 15: be able to access these products and try different things
47:01
Speaker 15: for my community and their situation that might otherwise.
47:04
Speaker 16: Have been difficult for them to be able to find.
47:06
Speaker 15: So those are just a few things that I saw
47:08
Speaker 15: kind of the energy on the thoughts Spot floor, So
47:12
Speaker 15: pause there and just reflect on any any reflections that
47:17
Speaker 15: you might have on the event as well that you
47:19
Speaker 15: saw out on the floor.
47:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, I have to give a shout out to my
47:23
Speaker 5: friend Thomas McDowell was chosen as the twenty twenty five
47:27
Speaker 5: Clinical Care Champion. You mentioned clinical and Thomas has been
47:32
Speaker 5: committed to clinical for years. He's a fourth generation pharmacy owner.
47:37
Speaker 5: He's a champion. I've worked with him on other podcasts presentations,
47:42
Speaker 5: so I was really excited to see that he was
47:44
Speaker 5: recognized for his leadership as the future of pharmacy.
47:49
Speaker 3: This is the future of pharmacy.
47:50
Speaker 5: We're going to be moving into a different dynamic with
47:53
Speaker 5: a lot of treatment follow up in chronic disease, state
47:57
Speaker 5: management and technology being in involved.
48:00
Speaker 3: But what it.
48:02
Speaker 5: Gets you excited to see pharmacies, pharmacies thriving the way
48:06
Speaker 5: that the Thomas is and for fourth generation, I mean
48:09
Speaker 5: that's huge.
48:10
Speaker 15: Yeah, it was great to be able to recognize him
48:13
Speaker 15: to highlight the great work that they're doing. That that's
48:15
Speaker 15: really pretty young too, right, they haven't been doing it.
48:18
Speaker 16: That many years.
48:19
Speaker 15: It's not like they've been out there for ten years.
48:22
Speaker 15: To have his dad in the audience too as we
48:24
Speaker 15: celebrated his work, and I know that there was a
48:27
Speaker 15: lot of traction that other customers had that went up
48:29
Speaker 15: and talked to him to see how how do I
48:33
Speaker 15: do this?
48:33
Speaker 16: How do I get started?
48:34
Speaker 15: Because it can be intimidating, and so I think he
48:35
Speaker 15: really can make it much more or less threatening than
48:40
Speaker 15: what it needs to be. But he is definitely a
48:42
Speaker 15: champion for us.
48:43
Speaker 5: Absolutely over four thousand community pharmacy owners, so many of
48:48
Speaker 5: the vendors plugged in.
48:50
Speaker 3: Like I said, there was a buzz there.
48:51
Speaker 5: So give our listeners a little taste of where we're
48:55
Speaker 5: going in twenty twenty six.
48:56
Speaker 3: Thoughts Spot twenty twenty six? What's up next?
48:59
Speaker 15: Yeah, so thoughts about twenty twenty six We will be
49:02
Speaker 15: going to our Landoh, so we're excited to continue to build.
49:05
Speaker 16: On the show.
49:06
Speaker 15: So one of the things you know that I mentioned
49:09
Speaker 15: just a few minutes ago is that I was a clinician.
49:12
Speaker 15: I was in practice just four short years ago, and
49:16
Speaker 15: so it's always kind of top of mind for me
49:19
Speaker 15: that when I'm being asked to be pulled away or
49:21
Speaker 15: when I was in practice, you know, to say, hey,
49:23
Speaker 15: can you come in and participate?
49:24
Speaker 16: In this conference, this event.
49:27
Speaker 15: That's that's really hard to do, and especially for the
49:30
Speaker 15: independent owners where maybe there's not somebody to step in
49:33
Speaker 15: behind them that might be having, you know, our relief
49:35
Speaker 15: pharmacists come in and the cost that's associated with that,
49:37
Speaker 15: and so we're really cognizant of that and we're always
49:40
Speaker 15: trying to improve the show. We're trying to make it
49:43
Speaker 15: the best use of their time that we can possibly
49:46
Speaker 15: do that. So what does that look like for us
49:48
Speaker 15: in twenty twenty six. That looks like continued expansion of
49:52
Speaker 15: our expo itself, bringing in more diversity. So we really
49:57
Speaker 15: want to continue to broaden the ray vendors and also
50:01
Speaker 15: activities and experiences that pharmacies can have, So that's going
50:06
Speaker 15: to be more hands on. So what we want to
50:08
Speaker 15: be able to have pharmacies and pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
50:11
Speaker 15: be able to do is when they leave the event,
50:14
Speaker 15: to be able to have actionable information, to have tried, manipulated,
50:19
Speaker 15: maybe interacted with even a virtual type of visit that
50:22
Speaker 15: then they can take back into their practice literally the
50:25
Speaker 15: next week. So we're going to continue to see more
50:29
Speaker 15: CE sessions that are focused on the hottest topics of
50:33
Speaker 15: the day. What are the things that I need to
50:35
Speaker 15: take and walk away from this meeting, this conference, the
50:39
Speaker 15: CE and then be able to put into practice next week.
50:42
Speaker 15: What are the vendors that I can connect with? Maybe
50:44
Speaker 15: what are the vendors that are already integrated with some
50:46
Speaker 15: of my different stakeholders that I might be involved with,
50:49
Speaker 15: whether those be pharmacy management systems, buying groups, or the like.
50:53
Speaker 15: But we're really that actionability. That's going to be one
50:56
Speaker 15: of our key things next year is how do we
50:58
Speaker 15: help make sure that everything we're doing alignings at advancing
51:02
Speaker 15: the practice, moving the pharmacy practice forward, and that can
51:05
Speaker 15: be clinical, operational, retail and focus. Advocacy is always top
51:10
Speaker 15: of mind for US, and so there's going to continue
51:12
Speaker 15: to be advocacy efforts. We're really hoping to get PBM
51:15
Speaker 15: reform done this year. That's even if we get that done,
51:18
Speaker 15: there's going to be new challenges next year. We're going
51:20
Speaker 15: to have IRA, and so the focus for US is
51:24
Speaker 15: continued to broaden the tent to bring in more providers,
51:27
Speaker 15: be able to interact with more pharmacies, more peer to
51:30
Speaker 15: peer learning that really they can take back they can
51:32
Speaker 15: deploy into their practices. To ultimately be more successful in themselves.
51:37
Speaker 5: And this has been a great time for Pharmacy podcast Networks.
51:41
Speaker 5: The first time we got to a tend thought Spot,
51:43
Speaker 5: it was the one of the best conferences I've been at.
51:46
Speaker 3: There really, like I said, lots of energy.
51:48
Speaker 5: I want to thank the outcomes team for helping us
51:52
Speaker 5: to get there.
51:52
Speaker 3: I wanted to give a shout out to the.
51:54
Speaker 5: Sincora Communications team for being so open and inviting us
51:58
Speaker 5: to cover the show. Can't wait to be back in
52:01
Speaker 5: Orlando in twenty twenty six. Tim, thank you, Thanks.
52:04
Speaker 15: Doott, appreciate the time, and just thank you welcomes as well.
52:07
Speaker 15: They're a great partner of us and so thank you
52:09
Speaker 15: for giving us the opportunity to interact with you and
52:13
Speaker 15: your guest today