5 Questions With a Pharmacist: Amina Abubakar From Avant Pharmacy

Following her introduction to the pharmacy industry as a big-box, retail pharmacist with CVS, Amina Abubakar, PharmD, AAHIVP, became an independent pharmacy owner less than 4 years into her career. Since then, she’s significantly expanded her pharmacy’s services while also introducing additional initiatives intended to improve her business’s bottom line and advancing and advocating for the profession.

In a conversation with Drug Topics, Abubakar reminisced on the genesis of her business, Avant Pharmacy and Wellness Center. She also discussed how her business grew to include Avant Institute of Clinical Pharmacy and looked ahead to what she would like to see in the future of the pharmacy profession.

READ MORE: The Independent Pharmacist Championing Innovative, Patient-Centric Care

Drug Topics: Can you give us a little background on yourself and how your career path has taken you to becoming an independent pharmacy owner?

Amina Abubakar, PharmD, AAHIVP: I graduated in 2005, and I worked at a big-box retail chain for about 2 to 3 years. I did home infusion for about 2 years, and then I stumbled upon an independent pharmacy [where] I was doing relief work. I felt like that was more where I felt at home the most, because of the relationship building and the ability to actually impact patients. A window of innovation was available. There was not a lot of corporate structure, so creativity went a long way in the independent space.

Fast forward [to] 2009; I founded our independent pharmacy. At that time, it was called RX Clinic Pharmacy, and now we’ve transitioned to Avant Pharmacy. When I got into the independent space, and knowing our initial name was RX Clinic, I wanted to think beyond the prescription for every patient. Even if we were not in an ambulatory care setting or a hospital setting that are mostly linked to clinical pharmacists, I knew a lot of opportunities existed in the community setting. That’s why our name at that time was RX Clinic. Every prescription that a patient brought in…wasn’t looked at like, “Oh, this patient just brought in metformin.” Why are they taking it? What are the social aspects of this patient that we can counsel?

I believe around 2021, we renamed ourselves to Avant. Avant is really like avant-garde—forward-thinking, innovative.

Drug Topics: What inspired you to found the Avant Institute of Clinical Pharmacy in 2017, and what key outcomes or impact are you most proud of?

Abubakar: Because of all the innovation we were doing in our pharmacy, I would be invited to speak at different conferences. That led to many people reaching out to say, “Hey, do you have a little time to talk to me? How can I start this service? How can I do what you guys are doing?” While I’m very generous with my time and willing to help everyone, it became a lot more challenging to tell people what’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you ask me, “How do I start this collaborative practice that you guys are doing with chronic care management?” Yes, I can tell you what’s available on Google—this is the code, this is what we do. But how do you build a sustainable business? What’s underneath that iceberg? All those systems in place, the marketing, the strategy, the billing, the code—it goes a long way.

That’s when I thought—and our team thought—if we had a place that people could land, then we could have dedicated time for them, whether through our consulting services or building content for people who aren’t ready yet and are just curious. We’re now more intentional [about] creating that content, putting out those resources, and [giving] people a place they [can] go and get started.

Drug Topics: You’ve fostered collaborations with medical providers and expanded pharmacist-led clinical services. What advice would you give to other community pharmacists looking to build similar integrated care models in their communities?

Abubakar: Don’t forget the knowledge you have as a pharmacist. It’s very powerful. Your accessibility is unmatched. You know the “why” you should do it. You need the “how” and the “what.” I would say the advice is [to] pay attention to where the profession is going. We’re moving away from product-centric to patient-centric. Look back at all the activities that you do, whether you are counseling patients, immunizing patients, or are an independent pharmacy offering delivery to patients. That’s like meeting some metrics on the medical side. Understand more of the patient’s language and how to match your skill set to what they’re looking for.

We’re in a value-based care system now, and these providers are looking to buy value. Your activities of medication adherence techniques or cost reduction [are] very valuable. They don’t have anyone on their team [who] can give them that unique aspect or perspective. Start honing [in on] what you do. Definitely join communities that are already doing this. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are many awesome pharmacists [who] I’ve met around the country [who] have different niche opportunities [for] clinical collaborations that they offer. Be a part of it. Of course, we have resources on Avant Institute. Reach out, learn, and we can all grow together.

Drug Topics: You serve as a preceptor to many students and residents. What is the most important lesson you aim to impart to the next generation of pharmacists?

Abubakar: They need to be problem solvers. Titles mean nothing if you can’t solve problems. We’re in a society where titles may be valued more, but I would love to have students really understand their communities, the barriers, and how to solve problems. People who solve problems build successful businesses.

Drug Topics: What are your overall hopes for either Avant Pharmacy itself or the pharmacy profession as a whole?

Abubakar: For our pharmacy, it’s our pharmacists becoming more patient-centric. Right now, we are very grateful for [the] opportunity to have a direct contract with Medicare to now start a dementia care program in a community setting. We have some of our pharmacists [who] will be specializing [in helping] patients with Alzheimer [disease], dementia, and helping their caregivers. It’s a problem, it’s a growing need, and now pharmacists can step in and solve that.

I see a lot of pharmacists having collaborations with things like sports medicine. It’s thinking outside the box, getting out there, and finding a collaborator that can utilize your unique skill set to do good for patients in the community. That’s kind of where our pharmacy’s evolving toward. Avant Institute is growing these collaborations. We have our annual conference, [which] is a symposium where we showcase what we are doing. That way, it’s nonpolitical [and] non–association affiliated. It’s really grassroots providers saying, “How do we come together and build [a] collaborative business that keeps primary care specialists and pharmacists in business?” We hope that the institute grows with those clinicians so…we have new revenue opportunities and sustainability in our professions.

To read these stories and more, download the PDF of the Total Pharmacy October issue here.

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