growing adherence every time we do, without fail,” He also reports hiring a sales rep for his specialty pharmacy business who will spend one day a week in local general practitioners’ offices talking about the things Blount Discount Pharmacy does at the retail level, with this compliance packaging for adherence at the top of the list. “Our rep has a presentation on compliance packaging. We’re ready to take this on the road and market it. And the real selling point is adherence,” LaFoy says. Mental health patients are a Phil LaFoy, D.Ph. group that can Blount Discount benefit greatly Pharmacy from a technology-driven Maryville, Tenn. adherence proThree retail operagram, according tions and a speto John Sykora. cialty operation. Also “We see a large serves long-term care and indepenmental health dent and assisted living, and offers population, compliance packaging to all patients.
John Sykora, R.Ph. Abrams & Clark Pharmacy Long Beach, Calif.
and adherence here is very important, since once they get Community pharto feeling better macy serving a broad they often stop range of patients, including seniors and a significant mental health taking their population. medications,” he says. “Then there’s the danger of being homeless or going to jail or going back to a mental hospital. So we do a lot of adherence work for the mental health clinics.” Education about the role pharmacy can play in adherence has to be ongoing, according to Joe Moose, because the extent of the problem isn’t always obvious to payers and physicians, despite the data out there. “Often, when I approach prescribers and paycontinued on next page
January/February 2013
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