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Have You and Your Pharmacy Been Left Stranded?

Michelle — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:58:41 +0000

Are you on Twitter? Are you on Facebook? Do you even have a website? If I looked online to try find pharmacy services in your local area would I find your pharmacy everywhere? If you answered NO to just one of these basic questions, you and your pharmacy are in the dark ages, you have been left stranded.

The “Dark Ages” in the digital revolution is prior to 2004 and you are behind the curve if you have done nothing or have a minimal presence online yesterday. Just imagine this: From BC to 2003 there was the transfer of 1 billion gigabytes of information. In this digital revolution that we are living in now there is the transfer of 1 billion gigabytes of information every day.

If you are not maximizing Modern Marketing techniques and your pharmacy is not being found everywhere online you are stranded alone on an island and within 5 years or less your pharmacy business will be obsolete.

As Independent Pharmacists you must capitalize on this digital revolution as the entire way that health care is delivered and your patients are cared for is changing and technology and the internet will make the difference. Dr Eric Topol, MD has realized this and has clearly explained the revolution in his book “The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How The Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care”

For your pharmacy to survive and thrive and be part of the revolution you MUST step out and be everywhere online engaging with your customers. You just have to stand on the beach on your deserted island and wave to the rescue boat (your online marketing and online presence) on the horizon

The Pharmacist As Healthcare Provider

Michelle — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:10:16 +0000

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give”

- Winston Churchill

This blog post is an excerpt form my book “Saving Lives: The Role of The Pharmacist in HIV” on Amazon Kindle

The pharmacist is a healthcare provider. Back in the old days, we had the apothecary—the little old guy standing at the back mixing all his chemicals, potions, tablets and pessaries—or the “druggist” who had the soda fountain in the front end of his store, and he stayed at the back filling the orders from the prescriptions that the physician had written.

We’ve evolved to the pharmacist of today, who is actually an expert and a specialist in drug utilization and has a vast knowledge about medications, pharmacology and how the medications work. The pharmacist has become the “go to” team member for drug therapy solutions in many settings, and your pharmacy should be NO exception.

If we look at our society, everybody’s on a pill for something. Almost everyone wants a quick fix—just take a pill for whatever ails you. You can’t sleep, so you take a pill. You can’t stay awake, you take another pill. You’ve got GERD, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, ADD, ADHD, Depression and on and on. Many people are on massive amounts of medications.

To compound that, once they’ve been to their doctor, got their prescription, been to the pharmacy and got their little bag of pills filled, the next thing is they decide they need to take every nutritional supplement, vitamin and everything that’s advertised on TV or at the local store as well. There are risks for massive drug interactions and consequences that can be catastrophic, sometimes ultimately resulting in death.

Out of our whole healthcare continuum, with the massive amounts of prescription drugs that our patients use, the pharmacist is absolutely key. I refer to myself and my colleagues that I work with as healthcare providers. That’s what we are. We provide a critical piece. If our area of expertise gets messed up and the patient gets the wrong prescription, if it’s not appropriate therapy or they don’t understand how to take it, the results can be catastrophic.

Lessons From NECC- First Do No Harm

Michelle — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:27:37 +0000

The fungal meningitis outbreak that occurred at New England Compounding Center (NECC) that has sickened 720 people in 20 states and led to 48 deaths is a tragedy for all the patients and families involved, whose lives will NEVER be the same again. Patients are still sick and still dying.

The first lesson to be learned from this tragedy is that as pharmacists and healthcare providers it is our absolute responsibility to care for our patients and abide by the Hippocratic Oath we all took and first and foremost “Do No Harm” by providing our patients with SAFE and effective medications, whether the medications are ordered from a reputable wholesaler or they have been compounded by compounding specialist pharmacists.

Blatantly ignoring pharmacy laws and standards or ordering medications from shady wholesalers with the potential of purchasing adulterated counterfeit medications puts patients lives at risk and results in tragedies like NECC

The second lesson is that GREED KILLS

Back on March 10^th, 2013 60 Minutes aired Scott Pelley’s investigation into NECC and interviewed the whistleblower technician who warned his supervisors that they were going to hurt a patient, that there were problems.

The Greed by the company, Barry Cadden (who shamefully is the pharmacist owner of the company) and his entire team of directors, managers & supervisors is directly responsible for this tragedy. The company took matters into their own hands profiting on the nationwide shortage of methylprednisolone acetate. The company flagrantly ignored the laws of compounding pharmacy and became a manufacturer, producing over 17.000 doses of the injection and distributed it to hospitals across the country. The company ignored all clean room protocols and fungus was visible in the clean room as the technicians just kept pumping out dose after dose while their supervisors ignored all warnings and turned a blind eye to what was going on.

The third lesson is that there is plenty of blame to go around!

Both the FDA and the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy had adequate authority to take action against NECC and both failed miserably, the FDA to shut down the manufacturing and the Board of Pharmacy to enforce pharmacy laws and compounding standards. Both these agencies could have mitigated or prevented patient suffering.

As pharmacists we must hold our profession in the highest regard and to the highest standards and to the letter of the law to protect our patients from harm.

You can watch the entire 60 Minutes piece by clicking this link: Watch NOW

5 Steps to Creating Your Specialty Pharmacy

Michelle — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:27:29 +0000

Creating a Specialty niche in your pharmacy does not happen overnight, it takes careful thought, consideration and effort. If you are ready to make changes in your pharmacy business and introduce a specialty niche that you Care about, then a great book to download from Amazon, a step by step guide walking you through the process which will put you on the fastrak to implementation of your specialty niche is “ Care Your Way to Insane Profits and Beat The Margin Game” by Mitzie Sundberg,MBA

The following 5 steps are your road map for charting your course for your specialty pharmacy success.

1. Build your Brand

Do you know what your “Brand” is? Who are you and who is your pharmacy? What is your passion in pharmacy?

2. Know Your Target Market

Once you have chosen your specialty, you then need to know EVERYTHING about your target market. You need to know demographics, psychographics, what their pain points are, and where they hang out.

3. Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Who are you? Why is your business unique and what problems do you solve for your patients? What differentiates you from your competitors?

4. Build an online identity

In this era of technology and Modern Marketing it is essential to have a good online presence, so your patients and potential patients can find you and know who you are, what you offer and learn that you are the expert in your specialty niche…..Why would they want to go anywhere else?

5. Social Media

This is an essential component of your online identity, and helps with getting you and your pharmacy found everywhere online. This is your avenue for engaging with your patients and potential patients, and a place for you to showcase your expertise in your chosen specialty niche

How to Choose Your Specialty Niche

Michelle — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:18:19 +0000

As a pharmacist and business owner you struggle to stem the continual tide and barrage of greed and power from Insurance companies and PBM’s (prescription benefit managers) and mandatory mail order mandates being forced onto your patients, all under the guise of a massive lie- “It’s cheaper and lowers healthcare costs”. Many of your patients are not coerced by this big lie, they are wise and realize that their health depends on the great relationships and care that they receive form their local pharmacist- you-! The Insurance companies and PBM’s penalize the patient, with higher copayments, and you, with lower reimbursement, dramatically shrinking the margins in your pharmacy.

How do you overcome these obstacles? How do you continue to grow your pharmacy business and make a difference in the lives of your patients?

You need to stand out and be different from the crowd, “Think Outside the Pill Bottle”, and pick your Specialty niche by following your passion, by choosing a specialty that you Care deeply about. By creating a Specialty niche in your pharmacy you are narrowing your focus, but at the same time you can attract more patients, by becoming the expert and authority in the niche you choose.

How to Choose Your Specialty

What specialty interests you? You must be interested in the specialty or specialties that you select, such as compounding, HIV, hepatitis, oncology, multiple sclerosis etc.
Find a need in your local community. Is there a need in your local community and a gap you could fill for specialty patients
Do market research
Who are your competitors and how would you compete with them

Michelle Quoted in Orange County Register Article “Discovery Not A Cure AIDS Experts Caution”

Michelle — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:28:23 +0000

Today I was quoted in an article published in the Orange County register titled “”Discovery Not A Cure AIDS Experts Caution”. This article was related to an oral abstract that came at CROI 2013 (Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections” in Atlanta Georgia this past Sunday where US researchers reported on a “functional Cure” for an infant born with HIV.

Many HIV patients will see this information and the word “cure” will be front and center. We must alert our patients that this was one case seen in an infant. More research has to be done and will likely not affect adult patients with the HIV virus, but infants infected with HIV at birth.

Please read the article in the Orange County Register

Heat Against Anthem Blue Cross Mandatory Mail Order Heats Up

Michelle — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:46:17 +0000

The heat against Anthem Blue Cross requiring that HIV infected members obtain their prescriptions through their mail order pharmacy, Curascript have ramped up with a Lawsuit being filed for discrimination and massive press coverage and petitions against Blue Cross

Here is the piece from ABC in San Diego:

KPBS has also reported on Blue Cross’s activities, on January 14th and January 15th

Fox 5 San Diego has also reported on this issue

Other news outlets covering Blue Cross’s discriminatory actions against people with HIV are NBC in San Diego, and Reuters as well as PR News, KXAN in Austin TX, Consumerist

You can download the entire lawsuit filed by Consumer Watchdog and Whatley Kallas, LLC here http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/anthem_complaint.final_.1.11.13.pdf

Keep up the fight and NEVER stop fighting for our patients

Anthem Blue Cross Extends Mandatory Mail Order Date

Michelle — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:09:40 +0000

Anthem Blue Cross is forcing HIV patients to use their mail order pharmacy, Curascript that is owned by the giant PBM (Prescription Benefit Manager) Express Scripts, which will severely compromise the care of these patients. Community HIV specialty pharmacies have been providing excellent care to HIV patients for thirty years and manage the patients drug therapies avoiding potentially fatal drug-drug interactions, help patients with adherence ensuring that patients take their medication every day so the patient does not develop resistance to HIV medications, and also provide education on an array of other issues critical for an HIV patients quality of life and well being, such as linkage to other services within their community. Patients have forged relationships with their HIV pharmacist, whom they know, like and trust and who have become crucial healthcare providers on the HIV patients care team.

Pharmacists and activists have been in action fighting Anthem Blue Cross’s mandate for mandatory mail order for HIV Medications. The petition against Anthem Blue Cross is gaining momentum and pharmacists in California together with the California Pharmacists Association are working aggressively against this issue. We are making headway as Blue Cross changed the start date of the mandatory mail order from January 1, 2013 to March 1, 2013. HIV patients and advocates have also been fighting the issue.

The San Diego Union Tribune ran an article about the issue on January 1, 2013

Never give up and Stand up for what’s right for you and your patients

Victory in Pennsylvania to Quash Mandatory Mail Order

Michelle — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 20:59:37 +0000

Value Drug Company was instrumental in assisting with the passage of SB 201- Access to Community Pharmacy Services in Pennsylvania.

The bill was passed unanimously by the Senate and House of representatives in October and was signed by governor Corbett on November 1^st, 2012. The law will go into effect March 1, 2013.

The Pennsylvania law will allow patients to have a choice as to which pharmacy they use, and not be forced into mandatory mail order and victimized by their health insurance companies.

Pharmacists are one of the most trusted healthcare providers, easily accessible to patients. Community pharmacists play a critical role in keeping their patients healthy and avoiding catastrophic drug-drug interactions and inappropriate medication use. Mail order pharmacy is a fill and bill mill providing no direct patient care. What the mail order pharmacies excel at is customer-disservice and promoting the non-adherence of patients because invariably their medications never arrive on time. They do not lower healthcare costs.

These practices are dire in patients, especially specialty patients with diseases such as Hepatitis C, multiple sclerosis and cancer to name a few. Now Anthem Blue Cross wants to mandate that their HIV members use Curascript, Express Scripts mail order pharmacy. This will have dire consequences in managing drug therapy for HIV patients, where HIV Specialist Pharmacists in the Community are critical in drug therapy management keeping HIV patients alive and healthy.

You can let Anthem Blue Cross know how you feel by signing the petition to stop Compromising the Care of HIV Patients

Jump Start Your HIV Pharmacy Business

Michelle — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:55:22 +0000

We know what it’s like to start a business and want someone there to help with the little things along the way, someone to consult with, get advice or bounce ideas off. The encouragement and support create a confidence that gives us the mindset to succeed.

The role of the pharmacist in HIV is absolutely critical and Michelle J. Sherman and the team at MichRx Consulting is committed to expanding our Care Marketing™ vision across the United States where pharmacists are key in helping our patients that struggle and live with HIV every day of their lives. We can help you make it happen!

Click the image for more info: