My name is Ann Anaya. I'm the chief diversity equity and inclusion officer. Let's just say that the reason I came to AmerisourceBergen was because I was so aligned with and touched by the organization’s purpose of creating healthier futures for all. When we think about how we're so well positioned to address health equity to contribute to increasing access to health care, that's a wonderful purpose. It's a wonderful reason each and every day to come to AmerisourceBergen and serve as chief diversity equity and inclusion officer.

My name is Kathleen Kennedy. I am the Dean of the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana here in New Orleans. Our mission is to produce health care practitioners who are outstanding leaders in their communities to make an impact on eliminating health disparities and moving us closer to health equity by providing patient-centered care, community engagement, and scholarly work.

How does AmerisourceBergen’s broader DEI commitment influence 

support across the business and practice of pharmacy?

When we think about equity, we think about community and our impact on health equity. Our purpose is to create healthier futures and I want to add “for all.” We think about how we're uniquely situated and positioned to make a difference for health equity. We look at the disparities in health care services and access to health care. We want to advance health equity, increase access. To do that, what we can do is we can diversify the pharmacists, the independent pharmacists, so representation. African Americans represent only 5% of US pharmacists. What we want to do is we want to increase that number. We want to increase the number of all underrepresented groups in pharmacy.

 How would you describe the current state of diversity and representation in the pharmacy profession?

Well, we have made some progress here recently, but there's still quite a bit of work to do. Actually, less than 22% of licensed pharmacists in the country are considered nonwhite. In the colleges of pharmacy, we have 141 colleges of pharmacy, only 9% of the students enrolled are Black or African American. When you think about the population in the country, which includes about 13% Blacks, we really need to increase our workforce diversity because it's suggested that the diversity in the workforce should mirror that in the country.

Why is it important to support DEI initiatives both in pharmacy practice and in the business of pharmacy?

 Sure, pharmacists are uniquely positioned for increasing access to health care. Certainly, inclusion is so important, including underrepresented, underserved communities in pharmacy care. When you are inside of a community and have that close touch, you can build relationships of trust. When people need health care services, sometimes they're at their most vulnerable. So having a relationship of trust is so important. Having an emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and of course, health equity, is the way we are going to address those disparities in health care.

Why is it critical to support and invest in pharmacy education and career opportunities for Black professionals?

A lot of times, you'll hear health care providers say that patients want someone who looks like them taking care of them. Actually, some studies have shown that there's increased communication and some increased health outcomes when you have a better race concordance. We also know that in the United States, especially brought out with the pandemic, that there are still significant health care disparities that need to be addressed. I think with pharmacists being in the communities, they are perfectly positioned to make an impact on eliminating these disparities by providing patient-centered care in their communities.

What does it mean to provide patient-centered and culturally competent care and why is it so important?

When you think about patient-centered care, the needs of the patient, as well as their desired health outcomes, are really the center of every decision that is made about their health care. It also means that you’re treating them not only from a clinical perspective, but also considering their emotional, mental, financial, and social health when you're talking about treatment. All of that is taken into consideration for patient-centered care. Then cultural competency really means that the provider has some knowledge and awareness of the cultural beliefs and values of the patient. [Meaning] those things are considered when they're designing their treatment plans. I think that's very important when you expect to improve health outcomes.

Why should culturally competent care be the standard of care for pharmacy?

You want to feel as if you're seen and heard, when you're seeking health care, as if you're somehow understood. Again, coming back to this idea of building trust, we saw during the pandemic and the hesitancy for vaccines, that's all about building trust. When you have that cultural competence, when you have that close relationship, you can really talk about what the hesitancy is and what culture aspects are getting in the way of providing care.

How would increasing the number of Black and minority-owned pharmacies benefit medically underserved communities across the country?

In medically underserved communities, there's a lack of a lot of different things and one happens to be pharmacies that are present. Sometimes it's considered a pharmacy desert. We hear all the time that there are pharmacies on corners all over, but not necessarily in the underserved communities. I know for a fact in New Orleans, especially with Hurricane Katrina, a lot of the independent pharmacies that served in these underserved communities were destroyed. It really is important for us to encourage our students to start their own pharmacy in these areas where there's a need, and where the lack of those pharmacies leaves patients in need of care. I believe that having more emphasis on independent pharmacy ownership in those communities would provide better care for the patients.

Are pharmacy schools having these conversations about DEI?

I think healthcare generally is becoming more and more focused in on the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We're talking about its impact and influence on health equity. But it's also true that health care generally needs to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The idea of a patient and a doctor’s relationship includes an appreciation for the importance of diverse perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and it takes all that into account when providing care.

I am so excited about this opportunity to talk about the need for diversity in the workforce and the need to provide pharmacists who are going to be working in these communities, which are disproportionately affected by different diseases. These communities lack the care. They lack the resources without the pharmacies, without the pharmacist. I guess the takeaway message is there's a need to increase the number of pharmacists who are practicing in these areas. We need to increase the care that's provided, and pharmacists are perfectly positioned to do that.

 just launched a new scholarship program in partnership with the AmerisourceBergen Foundation. The scholarship will support aspiring pharmacists who identify as Black or African American who are pursuing or plan to pursue a Pharmacy Doctorate Degree at an HBCU or other accredited college/university.‘ 

The formal application process will launch this winter, and the first scholarship will be awarded for the 2023 – 2024 school year. For more information, 

Videos

Ann Anaya and Dean Kathleen Kennedy discuss the importance of diversity in pharmacy and why it matters that patients are treated by someone who looks like them. Plus, Good Neighbor Pharmacy launches a scholarship program to help address these needs.

Conferences

Total Pharmacy

Total Pharmacy Interviews

Representation Matters: Improving Diversity in Pharmacy

 Hi, my name is Jay Dombi. I'm the Vice President of Services & Solutions at AmerisourceBergen. I work to better connect our suppliers and our customers through strategy, analytics, operations, and marketing, so that we can bring the best solutions forward for all parties.

 Hi, I'm Lamont Robinson. I'm the Director of Supplier Diversity for AmerisourceBergen. When you talk about supplier diversity, what it is, it’s a program that allows us to support and do business with companies owned by women, minorities, veterans, LGBTQ, and disabled individuals.

 What are the biggest challenges for nurturing diverse suppliers?

 For us, the biggest challenge in nurturing diverse suppliers is really finding them first off. So, we invested in a tool last year that would allow us to be able to source for diverse suppliers. A lot of these diverse businesses, even if they're not small, we have to provide some development because they have to be prepared to do business with us, as well as others on a higher scale. So, for me, the hardest part is trying to get out there, get into the communities, discover who they are, convince them of doing business and partnering with us, and developing them so that they can be successful.

 Why is it important to provide customers with diverse supplier options?

 So, I grew up on the west side of Chicago, I always love to tell that story. Because when you grow up in an underserved community, the independent pharmacies are the ones that you typically go to the by your products and also to congregate. For me, this is not only an opportunity from an AmerisourceBergen perspective, but it's also a mission to be able to help underserved communities to get the products that they need, to get products that would require them to go outside of the neighborhood. If we can keep it in the neighborhood for a lot of these underserved communities, it's an economic revitalization for these neighborhoods. So again, for me, I look at it as a challenge, because it's something that's new, that's different, that's innovative, but at the same time, it's an impact on those communities.

 Can you give an overview of the AmerisourceBergen Marketplace?

 At the core of it, the goal of the AmerisourceBergen Marketplace is to offer a trusted location for ease of access, to multiple suppliers for our independent pharmacies. Full stop. Beyond that, we know that these customers buy a lot of products that AmerisourceBergen doesn't stock or sell through our warehouses, right? Some are bulky. Some are candy that melts. Canes take up a lot of space, whatever it might be. How can we service these customers more effectively, so that they aren't managing 15 or 20 different suppliers? So, they're not managing reams and reams of purchase orders or various credit card receipts? How do we bring all that together into a very easy solution for them that we can continue to transact with them and build a deeper, stronger relationship?

 What kind of value does AmerisourceBergen Marketplace provide to independent pharmacies and the communities they serve?

 One of the key items here is convenience. Again, we know a lot of these customers buy many of these things. They're managing multiple, multiple suppliers, multiple invoices, multiple purchase orders. With our ability to funnel that through our e-commerce platform, we're able to give them a single-point solution to do that. Working with us, someone who they've worked with for a long time, we're vetting these other suppliers before they come in. The customers can trust that they're going to get the product they asked for and they're going to get the price that they need. Then they can quickly and rapidly service whatever their customers’ needs really are. It starts with convenience and the efficiency associated with that and then listening to the customer to determine what else can we bring in. Do you need new features on the website itself? What other products might interest you? And then continuing to build it from there.

 How does the Marketplace support and elevate the company’s commitment to supplier diversity?

 A lot of supplier diversity programs really revolve around buying products and services from diverse businesses. But for me, supplier diversity is more than just that. It's really about revenue generation. It's about establishing an infrastructure that supports diverse businesses. It’s also about education and development of those diverse businesses. AmerisourceBergen Marketplace gives us an opportunity to create a platform that provides all those elements. It allows us to be able to help our customers generate revenues for their stores, because it provides products that are needed by the underserved communities. It's about infrastructure, in terms of helping to build a culture that better supports diverse businesses. It's about finding ways for the customer to be able to purchase products that they normally would not be able to purchase in their community. Then ultimately, the development and utilizing our ability as a corporate citizen to help these businesses grow. That's important for us to be able to have a successful and world class supplier diversity program.

 Can you talk about the experience of launching the Marketplace program?

: Our pilot program has been going on for a little over a year. And for us, it's really been a great listening and learning experience. We’re getting into a new environment here. Our current platform is called ABC Order. Because it was set up as an ordering platform, a pharmacist went in, knew they needed albuterol, typed in albuterol, and bought it. Now, we need to create a browsing and shopping experience for them. So, we really spent a lot of time through this pilot, listening and learning what new features we need. We need better searchability. We need better categorization. We need the ability to shop on a page because these pharmacists now expect a more consumer-like experience in terms of shopping versus coming in to just buy something. We've had over 200 pilot participants. We've been really close with and been thankful for all the feedback they've given us. Trust me, they haven't held back. That's what we need to hear, we need to hear ‘you need to do this better, focus here'. So, we've been able to take that feedback and continue working with our IT partners, working with our supplier partners, to really try and build that to a world class offering.

 Is there one key takeaway from the pilot phase?

 I'd say one of the key takeaways is continuing to evolve. This is not going to end up being a static solution. The solution will not end up being ‘one size fits all’. We need to continue to listen and learn. Our customers are in different parts of the country, serving different communities, with different types of needs. I'll give one example. We're working now with one of our suppliers who is a supplier of diverse and ethnic haircare products. We've linked them together with a group of our pharmacies that are inner city and want to have better access to those products. We've now partnered together with that supplier and those pharmacies to create a number of marketing programs, so that they can better target and service that community, as well as get access to marketing materials, planograms, upcoming products that are going to be new to market, so that each of those individual customers can better work exactly with their patients and fulfilling their needs.

 What are the short- and long-term goals for the program?

 From a short-term goal standpoint, it's taking the feedback we've heard from our customers and actioning that. We need to enhance our platform. We need to bring in more products. We need to bring in more suppliers. We need to create a more customer-centric shopping experience for them. So that we can expand our program from the 200 stores now to 5000, 7000, all of our customers across all of AmerisourceBergen and continuing to set up those mechanisms to listen and learn. From a long-term goals perspective, once we've set up those mechanisms, we have the environment and we can continue to listen and learn. It's about personalization and making sure that we move from a ‘one size fits all’ approach, to be able to work with each of those various communities to get the solution that works best for them so they can get access to the diverse suppliers for the specific supplies that they need to service their unique communities. Our independent pharmacies range from rural Montana to inner city New York or Philadelphia. And those two examples right there? They have very unique needs. We need to make sure that we can service their needs and that they can go into our platform and get access to exactly what they need, exactly when they need it, to serve their diverse commercial customer base.

 What is the key to creating a successful supplier diversity program?

 The key to creating a successful, world class supplier diversity program for me is more about understanding who the customers are, understanding what their needs are, and really building a supplier diversity program around those needs. And when I mentioned customers, it's not just external customers. It's also internal as well. Looking at and understanding the team members, looking at the various groups internally within the organization and how they could use supplier diversity to further their efforts, that's important to me. Having this platform gives us a chance to be able to create something that's not only innovative, but also something that allows us to be able to increase the awareness of supplier diversity internally. When that happens, you have a whole entire organization that supports the supplier diversity needs. When you try to convince the diverse suppliers, who are for profit and they understand that we're a top 10 company, in terms of revenues in the country, even if they've never heard us before, they know that there's an opportunity. With me being in supplier diversity, that my role is to support businesses that are like them, they get excited. I've always been into innovation. For me, it's always a matter of trying to find ways that we can partner together to do something that's different and impactful. You get a lot of diverse suppliers that get excited about that. Once we get connected, we let them know what our mission is, and we give them an opportunity to prove to us that they are who they say they are. Beautiful things happen because we all get a chance to get in there and be more innovative, more impactful in terms of the approach that we have with the businesses.

 In what other ways is AB working to advance supplier diversity?

To ensure our supplier diversity goals are met, one of the things that we did is establish a Supplier Diversity Council in 2021. That council allows us to be able to look at supplier diversity from different perspectives. It consists of roughly 30 members and leaders within the organization. The beautiful thing about that is that we have 4 workstreams coming from that council and those 4 workstreams have given us the chance to look at innovations that integrate supplier diversity into 4 main elements: revenue generation, infrastructure, building in, and education and development. The more that we go out and establish programs and initiatives such as this with AmerisourceBergen Marketplace, the more that it allows supplier diversity to be viewed as an innovative center within a company.

 How does supplier diversity contribute to creating a more resilient pharmacy supply chain?

 There used to be a stigma that was associated with diverse businesses bringing in added costs, but that stigma does not exist today. What I've seen in the 18 years that I've been in supplier diversity is actually supply chain cost reduction through supplier diversity because you have more diverse businesses that are able to be viable competitors against their larger counterparts. Then again, you give more options and selections to the customer. For me, you're strengthening your supply chain by having a supplier diversity program and focusing on diverse businesses because you give yourself a chance to be able to buy more products and services that are different than what you've traditionally purchased. It gives you the ability to develop these businesses so that they can become better solutions and provide other products.

 I want to again thank our independent pharmacy participants who've been so great in helping us understand their needs and shape this experience as well as our various suppliers. We've had a lot of great outreach from a variety of suppliers. The one example of this diverse ethnic haircare supplier working lean to partner with us to work more closely with this group of inner-city pharmacies. I think it's just an early example of the types of partnerships and the type of connections we can grow through working with our partners, internally at AB that drives supplier diversity, as well as our external supplier and customer base

For an independent pharmacy to be able to support the AmerisourceBergen Marketplace, it gives them a chance to be able to help their communities in different ways, which ultimately will lead to job creation. The more jobs that are in those underserved communities, the more customers that you can have coming in and out of your door.

 to learn more about the AmerisourceBergen Marketplace. To learn more about AmerisourceBergen’s Supplier Diversity team – a key partner in the development of the new solution, 

Jay Dombi and Lamont Robinson share how the AmerisourceBergen Marketplace can help pharmacies and why having diverse suppliers is important.

Pharmacy Inventory

Expanding and Diversifying the Supply Chain

At the conclusion of American Associated Pharmacies (AAP) Annual Meeting, chairman of the board David Dingman, RPh, joined 

to discuss the importance of pharmacy advocacy work, the biggest issues facing independent pharmacists today, and his top takeaways from the recent meeting.

 Thanks for joining today. My name is Dave Dingman. I’m currently serving as chairman of the board for American Associated Pharmacies Cooperative Group. I’m a graduate of Albany College of Pharmacy, 1993, and that date gets farther back every time I do one of these. Thanks for having me.

 Why is it important for pharmacists to get involved in legislative advocacy work?

Traditionally, over the years, pharmacists have not done a good job of grouping themselves together as 1 professional entity, and we've been left grabbing what's left over from the other the other [health care] professions, both in services and in compensation.

Now more than ever, with reimbursements shrinking and the cost of medications going up, our margins are just evaporating; many of [us are] actually losing money on prescriptions. Who would have thought that that would even be possible? I know my accountants scratching their head wondering how this business model works. But now more than ever, it's important to get involved, be active, and have a voice at that table saying, “Hey, enough is enough. We need to be viable; we need to be compensated to continue to do what we do.”

What kind of advocacy work is AAP supporting to improve the practice of independent community pharmacy?

AAP does support advocacy groups and organizations as far as legislation. We don't do it on our own, but a perfect example would be [the National Community Pharmacy Association] NCPA. We support NCPA, we continue to donate, we do membership drives for them in order to advocate their agenda, rather than create one of our own. We're good at what we do, but as far as supporting the profession in general, we support the groups that are good at what they do.

What is the biggest challenge that you think independent pharmacists and pharmacy owners are facing today?

The biggest challenge that pharmacy owners are facing today… That's a big barrel to choose from.

Right off the top of the head, [the answer] is reimbursement. We have these shrinking margins and these big, huge [pharmacy benefit managers] PBMs just kind of push in, bullying us around, with take-it-or-leave-it contracts. Traditionally, pharmacists are pleasers. Everybody who walks through the door, we want to help them out—regardless of what their insurance is, or their background is, or anything like that; we're here to help and we're here to serve our communities. Over the last few years, as a business owner, you have to make some decisions… [such as], “Look, if you take this insurance, every customer that comes walking through the door is a liability to your business and you cannot afford to continue to fill their prescriptions.” It's absurd that it's come to this, and we need to advocate to fix it, sooner rather than later, because more and more of us independents are going by the wayside. [Many of the] seniors in our group are just throwing up their hands and saying “enough is enough.” We don't have any place to turn; It's getting desperate out there.

Pharmacists have been integral to the COVID-19 vaccination effort, and the recent test-to-treat initiative includes pharmacies as a part of the strategy. Are you hopeful that this expanded practice will become standard for pharmacists?

COVID has, without a doubt, expanded the horizons of what the community pharmacy can do for their communities. I think we've been tremendous with the access, the speed with which we can deliver the care, and the affordability of the care. This is this has been a big bailout for pharmacies that have participated in both testing and in [providing] COVID-19 shots. I think it's a shot in the arm; we're all scrambling through the middle of a pandemic to get this thing up on its feet.

Unfortunately, community pharmacies and the independent pharmacist were kind of left out of the first wave in most parts of the country. Once we got involved, we really shined, and I'm super proud of my peers for doing that.

Now, depending on the state you're in, that has a drastic effect on what you can do and how expansive the rules are. I'm excited about the prospects of the future—new revenue streams, obviously—but it's just 1 more step where we can benefit our communities individually, [and for example,] take some of the what the [physician’s] offices would consider to be a menial task and streamline them into our tasks. I think if we if we work together, as opposed struggling with this turf war, our communities will benefit, ultimately.

This year’s AAP Annual Meeting took place at the end of April in Tampa, Florida. Are there any high-level takeaways that you’d like to share?

The AAP [Annual Conference, held this year in Tampa, Florida from April 21 to April 23], it's a very intimate thing to me, being chairman of the board [and being as] involved and as engrossed with AAP as I am. I'm excited to showcase what the executive staff and the board have come up with for the year. I'm excited to see our members; I get much more out of [the meeting] than I can ever bring to those [meetings], just talking to the other owners and operators and [learning] what they're doing and find out what their solutions to the problems have been. It's been tremendous.

The speakers were high energy, very engaging. It wasn't just number crunching [CE sessions] where you’re kind of half nodding off; it was exciting, it was uplifting. I really praise the AAP executive staff for putting such a great program together.

We do things the way we do, whether it's your ordering, how you fill a prescription, the smart sync program… It's not changing the way the business is done, it's just tweaking a little to accommodate how to become more profitable. It’s taking shipping dollars and putting them into health care dollars. Those are the kinds of things that I've taken away [from the meeting].

As far as the conference personally, I've been exposed to it all year long. So, there wasn't really [much that was] new to me, but I got fired up listening to new our members get fired up—they're like, “Oh my lord, you guys found a fantastic solution to this problem.” Or maybe they didn't understand the problem, but in standing around and having a discussion with them, and explaining it to them, [now they do].

It's great to interact; it's been a few years since we've been able to, and we're looking forward to kind of hitting the ground running and moving forward together.

Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to leave with our audience today?

At the conference, we got to meet a couple of gentlemen who are running for office that are some of our own members. One is a local assembly candidate for Florida. Florida is in a big hotbed battle legislatively to help our members down there. We also have a couple of congressional candidates who are pharmacists. I would encourage you to listen to their platform. Obviously, they have very similar interests being pharmacy owners like yourself, and seriously consider supporting them, or at least hearing their platform.

Get involved: call your local guys, call your local legislators at both the state and federal level, and get involved. It's simple to send an email; if you just ping them once a month, it's not hard to do. In New York, I’m a member of PSSNY, the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York. They give you a cookie cutter [template that you can use to] ping your legislators and just let them know you're there. I think the majority of the problem that we're facing as independent pharmacies today is our problems are so complex, and we're going up [against] such a behemoth of an opponent with these PBMs, and there's so much money coming from the other side, that they don't know how to fix it. And that's mainly because they don't know what the problems are; they don't understand the problems. We have to do a better job of explaining our problems, addressing our problems, and getting legislation through to level the playing field and ultimately take care of the customer.

Expert Interviews

In today’s practice landscape, Dingman’s advice for independent pharmacists is simple: “Get involved.”

AAP: Pharmacists Must Band Together and Advocate for a Seat at the Table

Lauren Biscaldi is the Managing Editor of Drug Topics. 

As a part of American Associated Pharmacies' Stories of Success series, Brandon Trull, PharmD, onwer and pharmacist at Trull Family Pharmacy in Waverly, Tennessee, explains how his pharmacy mobilized to provide community support during devestating flash flooding in August 2021.

Brandon Trull, PharmD, and the Trull Family Pharmacy staff sprang into action during devastating flash flooding in Waverly, Tennessee. 

Stories of Success: Trull Family Pharmacy 

As a part of American Associated Pharmacies' Stories of Success series,Jacqueline Paye, PharmD, head pharmacist at Dokimos' Pharmacy in Nevada City, California, tells the story of how her pharmacy continued to serve its rural community during the pandemic.

Jacqueline Paye, PharmD, shares how her pharmacy continued to serve its rural community during the pandemic.

Stories of Success: Dokimos' Pharmacy

caught up with Paige Clark, RPh, Vice President, Pharmacy Programs & Policy at Prescryptive Health at the American Pharmacists Association 2022 Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Antonio, Texas.  

Clark will be presenting a session at this year's Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit on April 30, 2022, on navigating trends in point-of-care testing to meet growing patient needs. Join us this Saturday from 9 AM to 3 PM EST. Visit the 

 today to pre-register and secure your spot at the event.

Don't miss Prescrpytive Health's Paige Clark, RPh, at the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit.

Business Strategies

Learn More About Point-of-Care Testing at the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit

Sean Slovenski Expert Interview Part 3

 That’s awesome, that seems like something that will definitely become even more popular moving forward—[especially] with…social distancing and everything like that.

Can you tell me a little bit about what resources are available to ensure the success of a script center in a pharmacy?

: Yeah, we have an entire training program and a support program that we put into place, so more than just “Here are your brochures and operating procedures.” We have an entire team that works with the pharmacy staff and the store staff to understand the machines, to understand how the service works, [and] to set up the routines that are right for that particular location.

Each lead pharmacist will have a main contact within our organization to help educate them [and] to help be a support person to them. We run monthly reports to see how it's going, [and see] what's working, what's not, and to suggest new or different ways of doing things because even in one community to the next, there are subtle differences. And so you're always tweaking, it’s not cookie cutter. A lot of personal time and attention has to go into the first 6 to 9 months to make sure that things get launched successfully for many years.

 That sounds like a lot of great ongoing support for the pharmacies. Can you tell me any key takeaways or anything overall that you would like our audience to know?

: One, just to know these things exist. Telemedicine was around for 30 years before anyone really knew if it could do anything. Many of the companies in the space, like ours, have been around for 15 or 20 years; they've been serving institutional groups like prisons, the Department of Defense, and [other] people like that. But now, it's starting to come out into the mainstream and into retail. Just knowing that this option exists—an automatic teller machine but for medicines—if that's one thing they remember out of listening to this is “Hey, I gotta go check that out. I didn't even know about it”… That would be lovely. Everything else will come after that. Yeah, it helps save some money. Yes, it generates new revenue and extends your hours. But if you don't know about it, you can't figure those things out. So just knowing about it is important.

Thank you so much for joining me today and talking about this topic. It's really important and I'm excited for people to hear about this.

In part 3 of this 3-part series, Drug Topics® sat down with Asteres® chairman and BioIQ CEO, Sean Slovenski to discuss 24/7 automated pharmacy pickup and the benefits for pharmacists and patients alike.

Part 3: How Prescription Kiosks Can Revolutionize Your Pharmacy

When Drug Topics® sat down with a group of winners of the 

2021 SingleCare Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards

, humbled quickly became the word of the day.

“I’m very honored, very humbled, by this national award,” said Triet “Tony” Nguyen, RPh, pharmacy manager at Safeway in Annandale, Virginia, and winner of the 2021 Above and Beyond Award. “I guess my customers appreciate my service to them, and that’s why they nominated me.”

 held their Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards, recognizing 25 outstanding pharmacy professionals from around the United States. This year’s awards generated thousands of nominations and honored 10 pharmacists, 10 pharmacy technicians, and 5 pharmacy teams who go above and beyond on a daily basis.

“We are honored to be able to celebrate the pharmacists, techs, and teams that continue to go above and beyond to provide exceptional care and support for their customers," said Rick Bates, founder and CEO of SingleCare. "As pharmacy staff across the country have been stretched beyond their limits over the past year, these awards are especially meaningful in recognizing the critical work pharmacists do to support their communities each and every day."

For Jennifer Bourgeois, PharmD, of Market Street Pharmacy in McKinney, Texas, and winner of the 2021 Best Pharmacist Award, the recognition is proof positive that she is serving where she is best fit. “I think being in health care sometimes seems thankless,” she said. “We’ve put in so many hours, and we’re happy to do that, but just to be recognized by the people that we’re actually showing up for means the most. That’s really what we’re all there to do: to take care of our people, our patients.”

Eric Geyer, PharmD, winner of the 2021 Most Influential Pharmacist Award, was also humbled by the recognition. “For the past 2 years, I’ve really leaned in to trying to be a voice for professional pharmacy,” he said. Geyer recently transitioned from a retail pharmacist role to working as pharmacy director for The Centers for Families and Children in Cleveland, Ohio, overseeing operations for 5 outpatient or community-based pharmacies, in addition to managing the operations of pharmacy residents and a clinical team—all while navigating the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had to think about all of the issues of the pandemic, [how to do] things virtually, and how do I keep us at a safe distance,” Geyer explained. “It’s been a pretty interesting challenge.

“It’s exciting for us in community pharmacy to be able to have such an instrumental role in the availability of the vaccine for our communities,” said Bourgeois, who transitioned into a clinical role just as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began. “But also, the demands on community pharmacy right now are at an all-time high. Our roles and our responsibilities…the list is just getting longer.”

For Sidrah Alam, a pharmacy intern at Wegmans Pharmacy in Leesburg, Virginia, and 2021’s Best Up-and-Coming Pharmacist, these challenges demonstrate the impact that the pharmacy profession has on the wider health care industry.

“It’s amazing to see how we have [an] impact no matter what setting we’re in,” Alam said.“I think a lot of people don’t realize that all of health care is important and that we’re all part of this team to make sure that all of our patients are comfortable and getting the best care.”

Alam is a pharmacy student at Shenandoah University Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy in Fairfax, Virginia, and will be graduating in May 2022 with her doctor of pharmacy degree and a master of science degree in pharmacogenomics

“Pharmacists have been on the front lines, and I hope that we stay that way,” she said. “I hope that everyone realizes the impact that we can have.”

Her advice for student pharmacists who will be joining the profession is simple: keep an open mind. “You never really know where your pharmacy journey will end up,” Alam said.“Follow your heart; you will find what you are passionate about [and] if you’re passionate about it you’ll find away. Stay involved, be active, and continue to advocate for the profession.”

Check out our roundtable conversation below, and don’t miss our one-on-one conversations with 

, where we dive deeper into their pharmacy journeys. 

Hi, everyone. I'm Lauren Biscaldi, and I'm the Managing Editor of 

. I'm here today with 3 of the winners of the third annual SingleCare Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards. This year's awards generated thousands of nominations from SingleCare customers around the country, and resulted in a total of 25 winners, representing the best of the best.

I'd like to kick things off today with some introductions. Can each of you tell us a little bit about yourselves, what award that you won and what it is that you do for work? Jennifer, would you like to get us started?

Yes, thank you. My name is Jennifer Bourgeois. I am in McKinney, Texas, where I practice community pharmacy, and have been in this industry for 12 years. I received my bachelor’s of science in Nutrition and Dietetics and went on to get my doctorate of pharmacy. I’m wife to my college sweetheart, mama to 2 girls, and that keeps me very busy outside of pharmacy. Currently, I practice as a clinical pharmacist for my company; I received that promotion earlier this year, and so that has been a fun change for me, where I now get to oversee some of the clinical programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Awesome, Thank you. Tony, I'd like to jump over to you.

 I'm a pharmacy manager at Safeway, a supermarket pharmacy. I graduated from The Ohio State University in 1992 with a chemistry degree, and then went back to pharmacy [school] and graduated in 1996. I worked as national pharmacists [in a hospital] for 4 years before I switched to retail, after I got married and I’ve been in retail since then. I love doing retail, as I found out. I enjoy helping customers and interacting with them. I do immunizations and MTM [medication therapy management] so that my customers continue to be healthy. I love what I do, even though big, crazy time of the pandemic.

Great, thank you. And Eric, would you like to wrap it up?

 My name is Eric Geyer. I am the pharmacy director for the Center for Parents and Children up here in Cleveland, Ohio. I oversee 5 pharmacies, our operations, as well as 4 clinical pharmacists and 6 pharmacy residents. I also do my 

 podcast, which I think is how some people started to hear about me a little bit with winning the Most Influential Pharmacist award. It's just something I always kind of follow, the political side of pharmacy

I'm also a parent, I have 1 daughter currently. It's been a wild journey, having a kid in the middle of COVID-19 and the pandemic. It's been a fun ride so far..

It sounds like you all keep very, very busy, in addition to working as a pharmacist. We appreciate everything it is that you guys do.

What does it mean to each of you to be recognized by your communities as winners of the SingleCare Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards this year?

 I feel very honored, very humbled by this national award, and also thankful that my customers nominated me. I guess my customers appreciate my service to them, and that's why they nominated me. I'm very grateful for that.

I wish I could make this a team award, because my partner of 12 years does the same thing to keep this pharmacy growing and running smoothing. We both do a very good job in helping our customers.

 Yeah, I think it's a real honor, and like Tony said, personally humbling. For the past 2 years, I've kind of really leaned into trying to help be a voice for professional pharmacy, and even when my patients come in—when I was working on the retail side last year—fully educating them on issues, when they were saying, “Why is my copay, so high?” I kind of explained to them some of the issues that are going on with drug pricing and some of the other issues and middlemen, and stuff like that.

It's kind of nice just to be recognized, because you spend all this time doing stuff behind the scenes, and you put in, like Tony said, so many hours—and he's been a pharmacist longer than I have—and to finally be recognized for something like that just feels good and kind of lets you know you're doing the right thing, that people are recognizing it.

And like Tony said, this really was a team award, too. I started a really large COVID-19 Facebook group, I couldn’t do that without some of the admins on that group, or my team at the center who really help me push our profession forward and take care of our patients. It’s a little bit of a different setting than what Tony’s in and what Jennifer’s in, but just in a way that really helps take of the patients and do what’s best for them. No one ever wins this award alone when doing something like this.

Yeah, I agree with Tony and Eric, that is such an honor to be recognized. I think being in health care sometimes seems thankless; we put in so many hours—that we're happy to do—but just to be recognized by the people that we're actually showing up for means the most, because that's really why we're all there: to take care of our people, our patients. So that feels good.

And I think it also is just confirmation that we are serving where we're best fit. You know, I think [for] so many of us here that have been recognized for going above and beyond to provide great service in different areas, I think it's just really an affirmation that we're in alignment with our gifts and just serving where we can make the biggest impact.

Absolutely, it definitely sounds like that. And I guess this next question kind of dovetails off of that. I think the impacts that community pharmacies—just pharmacists in general have had—during the COVID-19 pandemic has been incredible. I know I've relied on my own my own pharmacist for vaccinations and all that kind of stuff. But I know that the industry and the profession as a whole has faced a lot of challenges. Does anyone want to share the biggest professional challenge that you faced in the past year?

 Yeah, you know, for me, there was a big transition. I went from working retail at a big chain, similar to what Tony is, to now being a director at a federally qualified health center. They're very different roles, right?

It's really easy to manage somebody when you're there seeing them every day for 40 hours a week. But when you have to step away and kind of make some more executive, higher-level decisions—then figure out how to implement it and things like that—and then think about all the issues of the pandemic… Things like, I want to do this virtually [and] how do I keep us safe distance, has really been a pretty interesting challenge. And I have to give to my team a shout-out because now that I’m a step removed, a lot of times I’ll dream up an idea, I’ll throw it at them, and they’ll be like, “That’s not gonna work.” And I’ll be like, “Well why not?” and we have to go back and forth. It’s a little bit of a different way [of working] that I’m not always used to coming from more of a retail community setting.

It's also very rewarding, because you can actually go and dream up an idea and then see it as finished product at the same time, with a lot of help from your team as well.

The biggest challenge for me is trying to keep up with the demand of COVID-19 immunizations. So many people want to get shots, and I’m just so glad that they are getting immunized. But right now, we’re just short technician help, and we’re really busy trying to get people immunized. It feels great that they're coming in, [it’s] just the paperwork and billing process that’s tedious. That's the biggest challenge.

I’ll jump in. So, for what I've seen in my practice setting—also in community—I transitioned into the clinical role right as the COVID-19 vaccine became available. And so, I was really able to see it both sides, from more of the managerial perspective and then also from the staffing side.

I think it's been exciting for us in community pharmacy to be able to have such an instrumental role in the availability of the vaccine for our communities. I think we would all agree that that has been a really great part for us and how we can serve our community. But also, just like Tony said, the demands on community pharmacy right now are at an all-time high. Our roles and our responsibilities are just really… the list is getting longer. And unfortunately, our staffing—we're short of staff. And so that has really caused some challenges for us in the community setting.

But I do think, just for me, I try to focus on those stories of the patients who are receiving the vaccine, and just seeing how happy and excited that makes them that they can get back to their life. We have so many elderly patients in our community that we serve, and I can't tell you the countless number of stories that these people come in [with]; they get their vaccine and they're just joyful. I've seen people tear up and cry, because they feel like they can actually see their grandkids again, they can go back to church, whatever their community involvement looks like. That has helped me have those moments, [and] get through those challenging moments. So that's a great part [of how] that we can serve our communities right now.

Sure, absolutely. I feel a little emotional hearing you talk about that, you know, having gone through the vaccination process in my own personal life. But you guys see it all day, every day—it's 1 person, multiplied.

I would like to talk a little bit more about your customers and your community and your patients, because so much of pharmacy is customer service. If anyone has a customer story that had a really profound impact on them, we would love to hear it.

Yes, I have a few. But I think the one that stands out the most to me is [from] when I was probably 2 years into practice. I was very new to community pharmacy at the time.

I had a gentleman who approached me at the counter asking a lot of questions about medications. Through the conversation, I learned that he was terminally ill with cancer and was really just looking for a place where he could trust his pharmacist and really build a relationship so that we could have conversations about his medication. I think he was really just looking for someone with compassion and empathy, who really could see his story and learn a little bit about him and then provide that education back.

It was obvious that he had had some bad experiences. And so, he and I really built a relationship over several months. And, unfortunately, he passed away. And at the end of his life, I got to know his parents, because with terminal cancer, obviously, he couldn't come in, so I built a relationship with them. And they also became customers at the pharmacy.

The next year, they came in and we talked about the holiday; it was November and they asked what I was doing. Unfortunately, I live 5 hours away from my family and my husband worked nights then and I was in the retail space, so that meant I was going to be working a lot during the holidays. I didn't have plans for Thanksgiving, and so they invited me to their home for Thanksgiving. It was just a really sweet relationship that started at the pharmacy counter but just transitioned to be something so much more.

I went and had Thanksgiving with this couple at their home. We continue to be friends, they've been great mentors to my husband and I through our marriage, and they love on my girls still. It’s just a really fun story that I think started… I guess I could have not been that person for him, and I would have missed out on so much. And just to be able to hear the impact from his parents—[to hear] the story from his parents about the impact that it had on him and on them, that just means so much.

That's incredible; I thought it was emotional before, but oh man, you really got me right in the heart there. That's incredible, and I'm sure that it means a lot to his family that you're still in touch.

I have one customer I’ve known since I [started at] Safeway. She's a senior, and she has no transportation; she’s living on a budget so sometimes I would deliver medications to her, or pay for her medications. When she shops at the store, she waits for me to close and I’ll drive her home. I also sometimes give her shots at her home to help her out, with the transportation limitation I can help her out by going to her house. And even now, once a month, I will take her to Walmart so she can do all of shopping at one time; she appreciates that a lot.

She gave me a nickname, Tony the Iron Man—that’s a little funny.

One year, she lost her cat, her only companion. And I was able to find her a new kitten who she loves very much. And she appreciates that a lot as well. So, it makes me happy that I can be someone that she can depend on in your life.

Yeah, so I have a lot of random stories in pharmacy that I could share, but one that really [stands out to me] is I was sitting down to do a medication therapy management with a patient. I was going over his meds and reconciling them, and I said, “Hey, is there you don’t take that’s on here?”

[The patient] actually had hearing loss, so I was trying to be mindful of that. But me having [had] hearing loss as a kid and having a fixed through numerous surgeries, I was always really sensitive to that, and it was a little bit of a connection—I understood when you get frustrated because you couldn’t hear people, I know what that’s like. We had built that little bit of trust from just the random hearing issues we have.

He then told me, “Yeah, you know, occasionally I do go by Norco off the street, because I'm actually addicted to opioids and I can't get in to the treatment. I kind of self-medicate a little bit.” And a lot of pharmacists would be like, well, I gotta report this. But I kind of took this moment of, he’s really just trusting me with his health care. And he's like, “Look, I really want treatment, but I can't get connected.”

So, the next 2 days, I think I spent like 3 hours calling every place on God’s green earth up here trying to get him care for MAT [medication assisted therapy], or in some sort of addiction treatment program. I ended up just calling his insurance like, “Look, this guy wants it, he's afraid to speak out, how can we connect him with it?” Eventually, they got him connected to care. It was a tough situation, because he didn't have a lot of money, he didn't have any transportation, and all the places up here in Ohio are generally pretty full and they’re not really taking new patients. Some are, but it’s just tough trying to work it in to get scheduled, and then with transportation issues… I finally worked with his insurance and was able to kind of get that sorted out and it kind of set him on the right path. He started taking…suboxone for treatment.

And he was really appreciative of that. It helped kind of put him on a “morally correct life” as he called it, because, you know, he didn't have to go out there and buy pills off of the streets, which he knew it was wrong, but he also knew he needed it. So it put him in a really bad spot.

That's incredible. I don't want this to trite or anything, just because I’m on a call with you, but those are truly inspiring stories. It's just nice to hear, I think, with everything that's going on in the world and how difficult things have been, that there are still people who care and who want to help and that it matters to you guys. So, thank you for everything that you've been doing.

I think that kind of leads into our next question. I think that pharmacists are considered by many the most accessible health care professional. And for some, pharmacists are the only health care professional that they can see regularly. So how do you work to make a difference in patients’ lives?

I’ll go first on this one. We are, by far away, the most accessible health care provider. I think with COVID-19 it’s really highlighted that; we're doing tests now, and immunizations, and they're looking at like, can pharmacies dispense the pills based off test now with the CMS regulations and things like that.

But we're really at the forefront of everything, because they realize that something like 85%, 90% people live within 5 miles of a pharmacy—not always true of hospitals. I think it's just one of those things that people have overlooked for so long, what the importance of being close to health care is. And now, people are realizing we can do this, right? There are pharmacies that, people need them—especially in the case of a pandemic. When the pandemic hit, a lot of providers were closing their offices and were only doing Zoom and things like that; people didn’t always have access to Zoom because of their means or what have you. But pharmacists were always open, we were carved out of every exception to be open and be accessible, right?

And that is part of what’s causing the burnout now, like Jennifer was saying. It’s the staffing issues at major chains. Which is why…when people come in, when I was previously in retail and community, and they're mad, I would say, “Hey, you know, our staffing is short, and we’re actually staffed to budget. And this is what it looks like.” This is why we need payment reform. And most of those folks have never heard of…what a PBM is. I was trying to make sure they understood what some of that is, by explaining like hey, maybe there's a way to get this cheaper. I tried to just show them how the sausage is made.

Once they started seeing that, they started taking an active role in their own health care, because now they understand the complexity of it, which is not easy to explain—especially with the limited time we have in spaces like community pharmacy. But then, it lets you speak to bigger topics like too, of like, “Hey, we recognize this provider in Ohio, but not with Medicare, so I can't do this certain service for you," or I can't do this certain thing for you.” I have the knowledge and I have the skills, I just need them to lift the restrictions.

That's one of those things that I thought with the pandemic hitting was a huge call out for pharmacists and for our profession, and CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] as well, to really kind of engage us and all we know, since we know that there are going to be provider shortages for the next decade, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There's actually a net negative growth in pharmacist jobs…But you know, I think people are seeing it now: Pharmacists can do this, why the heck can’t we let them.

To make a difference in the customers lives, I…listen to them first, and then give them options to that they feel in control. I want them to feel not hopeless, you know? I also give them recommendations or advice in in to help them in their decisions. That’s what I would do.

Seventy percent of Americans take at least 1 prescription medication. I think that just shows the availability for us to have those relationships with millions of Americans. And just like Eric said, we are very accessible in our positioning because pharmacies are… Usually people are live within about 5 miles of a pharmacy. So [we have], I think, just those 2 things in common—that we are accessible, and that so many people are visiting us, that we can build those relationships with people and build that trust, and that we can have an impact on their life, whatever that looks like. Whether that be immunizations, testing, medications, over the counter supplements…but just that we can build those relationships with our patients.

You guys are making this very easy for me, because this leads right into my next question. I really want to leave our audience with some actionable advice. I think you all kind of touched on that a little bit in your responses, but given everything we've discussed and the staffing shortages in the pandemic… I didn't realize, Eric, that there was a projected 10-year shortage of health care professionals. That's not great; it’s definitely something that we need to work through.

But given all of that, what is the best piece of wisdom that you can leave with our audience, that you have for practicing pharmacists today?

I think the biggest thing pharmacists can do is speak up. We've seen numerous times, especially in my state of Ohio, where a pharmacist speaking up helped when the state was overpaying for medications through the Medicaid system. We've seen where led to access to care for people in rural and urban areas who lack transportation.

I think the biggest thing is speaking up. I know sometimes people are afraid to push the limits. It's just not the personality a pharmacist; we like guidelines, we like things that fit in the little box, all nice and neat and very black and white. But we need to start dabbing more, not just in the gray, but in that middle ground and being advocates. We've even seen some pharmacists in Congress recently, and I’m just a little hopeful for some of the fixes we want to see. Just taking a more active approach… I found that a lot of times when I speak up, I’ll be in a room, and it will be all medical doctors, nurses, and then there’s no pharmacists—I'm the only one there. And that's happened with vaccine record programs, even before COVID-19; no one realized that pharmacies weren’t accessing them. So, I was like, “Hey, we probably give as many, if not more, than you guys do, even with flu and everything every year.”…It's just one of those things, that every time I found when I spoke up on something that I knew a little bit about, it opened the floodgates on a lot of stuff. That’s kind of how I've just been able to get into so many different avenues with this.

Sometimes you're sitting there talking, and you don't realize the person next to you could be your state representative, or your congressman, or things like that. Going to those events… people don't realize that you can talk to someone like that. And you probably know more than they do in some of those cases; you might not, but you are you're the subject matter expert. Speak up, be heard. They’ll usually listen to you, especially if you’re speaking on something you’re a professional in.

Being a retail pharmacist, I believe that customers like to have a personal connection with their pharmacist. I do this by creating conversation with them that can relate to, like their children, or their work, or school, or sports, or passion. And I do this when giving them immunizations [and] when I counsel them on their medications. I think they're happy after they leave, feeling that I took an interest in our lives.

I'll piggyback on what Tony said: I just want to challenge the community pharmacists out there to find ways to go above and beyond in the service that you provide every day. Maybe that looks like a conversation with your patient, getting to know them. Maybe that means stepping out from behind the counter to assist with an over-the-counter selection, Whatever that looks like, I think that that is such an opportunity, because people want great service. And unfortunately, in today's world, it's really hard to find great service. I think that is one way that you, as a community pharmacist, can really set yourself apart and grow your business. People are going to return if you give great service, and if you are interested in them—genuinely interested in them—and build those relationships, they're going to be loyal and they're going to come back. It's a way for you to grow your business, but also make an impact in the community.

Thank you so much. I want to thank each of you—Jennifer, Eric, and Tony—for taking the time out of your day to do this. Like I said, it sounds like you're all very busy really taking care of your patients and your communities. And I wanted to also thank SingleCare for recognizing these and the many other outstanding professionals in the pharmacy field this year.

Click here to learn more about the SingleCare 2021 Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards.

Did you miss the rest of our SingleCare 2021 Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards coverage? Check out our interviews with Best Pharmacist winner 

Articles

Four winners of the SingleCare Best of the Best Pharmacy Awards joined Drug Topics® to share their knowledge with fellow pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. 

Community Practice

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The Best of the Best: 2021 Pharmacy Award Winners  

In part 2 of this 3-part series, Drug Topics® sat down with Asteres® chairman and BioIQ CEO, Sean Slovenski to discuss 24/7 automated pharmacy pickup.

Sean Slovenski Expert Interview Part 2

ScriptCenter allows your pharmacy staff to maintain control of filling and checking prescriptions, while ScriptCenter takes care of the secure storage, tracking, pickup, and payment of your pharmacist-filled prescriptions.

Asteres® develops ScriptCenter kiosks and lockers for secure and safe pickup of prescriptions and healthcare products.

 That's very cool. You mentioned about the ATM sort of concept of it. Can you explain how the kiosks and lockers ensure the safety of the medications?

 Yeah, these are one of the things with our company we have spent a lot of time serving the Department of Defense in the US military. And so, these machines get deployed all over the world at military bases.

So, they've got to be pretty tough and rugged, and very secure. And that carries over into the way we use them in more of the domestic market. So, you know, they're all made of steel, they're locked, you can't get into them, they're video surveilled so that we know what's going on in and around them.

They're not 100% foolproof, just like an ATM can be wrapped with a chain and ripped off by a pickup truck, which is a trend in the US. You could try to do that with these, although they weigh about 500 pounds more than an ATM. So, it's going to be a little tougher, but they're kind of just a steel bulletproof box.

That unless you're the service technician, or the pharmacist with the special key in the code, nobody can break into it, at least not without a blowtorch, and a truck, and a tank and some dynamites are there. They're pretty tough.

Drug Topics® sat down with Asteres® chairman and BioIQ CEO, Sean Slovenski to discuss 24/7 automated pharmacy pickup in part 2 of this 3-part interview. 



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