Pharmacists at ThoughtSpot2014 committed to transform patient care

Independent pharmacists will be better prepared for their new role to enhance patient care and help health plans improve their ratings under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Star Rating system after attending this year’s ThoughtSpot 2014 meeting, Good Neighbor Pharmacy and AmerisourceBergen’s annual meeting in Las Vegas.

“CMS Star Ratings is the driving factor behind transforming patient care,” explained Good Neighbor Pharmacy Vice President Scott Robinson. “As we continue to see outcomes-based pharmacy come into play and when we see what CMS does, we need to prepare our customers in all community pharmacy for that change.”

This year’s participants had an opportunity to attend the CMS Star Measures education initiative, which included instructions, tools, and advice on how to view CMS Star measures as a business opportunity and enhance patient outcomes. They also were introduced to MedHere Today, a comprehensive medication adherence consulting program, started by pharmacy owner Tripp Logan, PharmD.

His monitoring program has not only been beneficial for patients, but has helped the pharmacy improve its workflow by consolidating patients’ prescriptions. Patients with multiple medications no longer have to visit the pharmacy haphazardly. Instead, they can pick up prescriptions once or twice a month. Pharmacies don’t have to keep as much inventory on hand and pharmacists have more time to spend with patients, Tripp recently told Drug Topics.

“Every pharmacy is at a different level in the process of engaging their patients from a compliance and adherence standpoint,” Robinson noted. “For the pharmacy that is just getting started, they have to get comfortable with the process. There are a number of solutions throughout the industry, and we are providing our customers the options that they can utilize.”

The educational courses during the meeting covered topics including adherence management, pharmacy solutions to CMS Star Ratings, pharmacy transitions, and investment strategies.

Pharmacists also learned about Good Neighbor Pharmacy’s TranPHARMation offering to help independent pharmacies maintain their place as a source of quality care in their communities. It started as a demonstration project to transform three stores over a 48-hour period.

“We worked with owners and their staff, providing training about business and customer service. At the same time we reviewed the entire business from the front end to the back end of the store,” Robinson said. Everything from layout and design of the store, merchandising, signage, paint, and how they do business was analyzed and discussed.

The results were impressive with an increase of front-end sales of 27% as well as increased prescription sales of 5%.

“As we start to tell the story [in a press release] about the reinvestment within the business and the pharmacy has always been there to serve the community over the last 20 to 30 years, people want to shop locally and give back the money into their community,” Robinson said. “I think this is demonstrated with this project.”

Shaping independent pharmacy for the future

The ThoughtSpot 2014 offered a number of other opportunities to help independent pharmacies succeed in the future.

MyGNP mobile app: A tool for pharmacy patients to refill prescriptions using mobile technology, to locate stores in their community, and to keep up to date on health information.

Good Neighbor Pharmacy University: An online resource of education, announcements, and news for owners and their staff and a place to connect with industry experts and other pharmacists online.

The Creative Pharmacist: A training program to help improve outcomes for a number of chronic diseases.

A new National Distribution Center located in Columbus, Ohio.