COVER STORY strategically important for us is the fact that it makes Publix part of the consideration process for a patient who may have never even thought of Publix pharmacy before.” The partnerships are very beneficial for Publix and the hospitals, as well as patients. “By ensuring patients are leaving the hospital with their medications in hand prevents any delays in patients getting their prescriptions filled upon discharge and decreases the likelihood of future hospital readmissions due to better medication adherence,” Kirkus said. “In providing our hospital partners with this important service, there is a positive financial impact for them, as well as better customer service and clinical outcomes for the patients.” Publix also conducts follow-up calls from its central facility to ensure it has seen its primary care physician and checks that it has refills. “We’re making sure there are no gaps in care whenever possible,” Kirkus said.
The track record of success is something that plays into both Publix’s and its partners’ strategies, namely patient care. Filling gaps in care also is the motivation behind another element of Publix’s health system partnerships — telehealth clinics. More than 36 Publix locations house health system-branded telehealth consultation clinics, which virtually connect patients with physicians for acute medical needs. Consultation rooms are adjacent to the pharmacy and a pharmacy technician walks patients through the consultation process as needed. Patients have access to medical devices for selfexam, while guided by the physician. It’s a service that’s convenient and affordable for patients, while allowing the physicians to be located remotely and oversee multiple clinic locations. The track record of success is something that plays into both Publix’s and its partners’ strategies, namely patient care. “It puts us in a position to work on things that are beneficial to both Publix and our health system partners,” Kirkus said. “Ultimately, our goal is to improve access to lower cost, high-quality healthcare services for the broader patient population that we are both serving.” Dedication to patient care also has informed the development of the company’s specialty pharmacy offering, which enables patients who are prescribed a specialty medication to receive it in a setting they are familiar with. Petti, who worked to build out the company’s closed door specialty pharmacy in Orlando, Fla. that houses support staff and inventory, said that it has helped bolster its pharmacists’ clinical role, providing counseling on how to administer the drugs and answer any questions they may have. “We want to empower our pharmacists to know that we’re going to be able to take care of those patients with specialty needs,”
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Petti said. “So, of course, growing our access to payers and limited distribution drugs is what we’re going to continue to work on so that we are able to address all of our patients’ pharmacy needs.” Beyond pharmacist care, Publix has worked to make the patient experience seamless when preparing to visit the store. “Obviously, in today’s world, technology plays a key role,” Do said. “We focus on offering tools and services that our customers can utilize that allow them to better manage their health-and-wellness needs, beyond being able to fill a prescription, to be able to monitor their profiles, interact with us digitally, and remind them take their medications as prescribed.” Rusk also said that the company has been moving toward allowing online payment for prescription pickup and creating express lanes for patients who have paid online. All the elements of Publix’s pharmacy ecosystem have been built with one thing in mind — supporting the relationship between pharmacist and patient. “We have invested in technology and in these health-system partnerships ultimately to make the pharmacist’s job less production and process oriented, and more where they can be customer facing,” Rusk said. Foremost in achieving this for the company has been its ability to decide on a strategy and stay the course, while being agile enough to achieve its goals. “We’re not approaching our strategy like a yo-yo,” Rusk said. “We’ve looked out and said, ‘This is what our three-year strategy looks like. I think we’re very committed to where we believe we need to go. We don’t have a different strategy every year. We have clear direction where tactics may deviate a little each year, but the pillars we’re driving toward aren’t going to change, and that’s very important.” And Publix is just getting started. “The company has invested heavily in pharmacy, which has allowed us to do some creative and unique things,” Kirkus said. “And I think we’re really at the beginning of how we plan to continue to innovate — not anywhere close to the goal line.” dsn
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