Tyson Drug Company: Med Sync and Adherence Are Their Formula for Success

Tyson Drug Company in Holly Springs, Mississippi, has deep roots in the community. Bob Lomenick, RPh, owner of this remarkable independent drugstore since 1981, worked in independent pharmacies in high school and set a goal to open his own pharmacy after graduation.

“Tyson Drug Company has been open for over 150 years and is rich with Civil War history,” Lomenick shares. The pharmacy is located in a cornerstone building on the historic Holly Springs town square. “You can see bullet holes on the outside of our building and in the pillars at our entrance, left behind from the Holly Springs Raid in December of 1862. It’s not uncommon for tourists to stop in just to take a look around and admire the history that is still present in the architecture of our pharmacy.”

Although the building reflects a fascinating history, Lomenick focuses on modernizing pharmacy operations. Like many pharmacists, Lomenick utilizes medication synchronization (med sync), but he was way ahead of the game. He started using med sync before it was a common practice in pharmacies.

“About 15 years ago,” he recalls, “I started thinking about all the people that I would see weekly, or even daily, coming into the pharmacy. I would go home stressed out by the chaos of work. Selfishly, I realized that if I could see all the ‘Mr. Jones’ only once a month instead of every week, I would be more productive and less stressed at work.”

From there, he created and implemented a med sync program on his own. Since there was no road map, there was a lot of trial and error involved. However, now, about 85% of the pharmacy’s patients are enrolled in the med sync program. The pharmacists at Tyson even train staff from other independent pharmacies across the country on implementing successful med sync programs.

One problem that pharmacists might notice is that patients enrolled in med sync programs will say they don’t need to fill their prescriptions when they are due. Lomenick recognized this as an adherence issue. He started using a Parata Pass machine to make med packs for his patients. “Our med packs have been a game-changer for a lot of our patients who maybe had difficulty remembering if they took their medications that morning or maybe just had too many bottles to keep up with,” he explains.

Lomenick notes that many pharmacies operate on a reactive model: They fill prescriptions as they come in or as patients walk in the door, with phones ringing off the hook. He explains that since most of his patients are enrolled in med sync, the pharmacy operates on a proactive model. Technicians communicate with patients who use med sync in advance, which significantly reduces incoming call volume. The pharmacy works about a week ahead of expected pickup dates. This gives them more flexibility in the time required to obtain doctor approvals for refills or to special order high-cost drugs. Every day, one pharmacist focuses on med sync patients, while another focuses on walk-in patients. Lomenick credits this workflow with allowing the pharmacists to focus on each patient and direct them to different in-house services that may benefit their health.

The pharmacy staff has implemented several clinical services over the past few years and constantly works to find new ways to help patients. Lomenick is very involved with CPESN and pharmacist payment services. “In addition to providing immunizations and MTM [medication therapy management], we are also building programs for diabetes self-management education and providing annual pharmacist reviews with our Medicare patients to identify gaps in care,” he says.

Tyson Drug Company employs a clinical pharmacist who works with local clinics to provide remote patient monitoring and annual wellness visits. There is also a Physiatry and Pharmacy Collaborative program to help keep older adult patients physically and mentally active. Another recent service includes starting patients on continuous glucose monitoring, monitoring their glucose levels, and consulting with health care providers about dosage adjustments.

At Tyson Drug Company, the staff maintains a positive attitude and works together as a team to help patients feel welcome. “Any person on our team, whether it is a technician or pharmacist, will always strive to assist a patient, answer a question, or find a solution. Our patients feel comfortable coming to us without feeling as though they are a burden because we have the time to give them our attention,” Lomenick says.

The patients at Tyson Drug Company appreciate the personalized care and attention, and sometimes that appreciation comes from unexpected places. Lomenick recalls a story about a patient raving to a technician about how med packs had changed her life. This patient previously could never remember to take her medications on schedule. After using the med packs for a month, she was thrilled with the results. “Turns out,” Lomenick recalls, “that patient was my ex-mother-in-law. I said then, “If we can make her happy, then we’re definitely doing something right.’”

The staff at Tyson Drug Company is involved in community outreach. They regularly visit 4 adult day centers, ensuring the patients are up to date on vaccines and sharing their clinical services. They also visit local high schools to talk about opioids and provide naloxone training.

“We have a collective mission to make an impact in our community and to grow our business. Watching the evolution of pharmacy benefit manager issues, it’s been obvious to me for a long time that ‘dispensing only’ will not keep us alive; we have to find more ways to add value. Our proactive model for filling prescriptions enables us to focus on all of these other services. If you’re still working in a reactive model, it’s difficult to accomplish a lot of these things. Med sync is the secret sauce,” Lomenick emphasizes.

When he’s not in the pharmacy, Lomenick enjoys spending time with his family and is active in his community through church and school boards. He is especially proud of his daughter, who is graduating from pharmacy school this year. He also loves golfing and watching Ole Miss sports and St. Louis Cardinals baseball.