Helping your visually impaired patients manage their medications
WELCOMING AI INTO YOUR PHARMACY
Gain better service and improve profitability
A new nasal swab that can differentiate asthma types
TRENDS | New Weight-Loss Drugs
What you need to know
RETAIL | Secondary Stress
Choosing the right secondary supplier for your business
SOLUTIONS | Sight-Loss Support
Helping your visually impaired patients manage their medications
Which
is right for your pharmacy?
PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Matthew Shamet
EDITOR Gina Klein
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Logan Whetzal
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Cecilia Vigliaturo
INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING? elements@pbahealth.com
ON THE WEB
Prescription Flavoring
A tastier alternative to yucky-tasting medication will not only make the kids happy, but the parents, too! So, if you don’t have a medication flavoring program at your pharmacy, you’re missing out on a lot of benefi ts.
Beyond Prescription Dispensing
Back in the day, your patients had to go to their primary care providers for a vaccine. Today, however, they’re relying on pharmacists like you for their vaccinations and much more.
Phishing Scams
We’ve all received emails or texts that seemed a little suspicious. Is it real or is it fake? Keep your pharmacy safe and learn how to recognize what’s legit and what’s not.
If you’re in need of a new returns provider, Return Solutions is one of the oldest and most trusted in the industry. With over 30 years of experience and a focus on independent pharmacies and regional chains, we put you first so you can focus on your business and your patients.
The Independent’s Choice for
your Rx returns process and payment.
Simplified Reimbursement
Faster Credit No Hidden Charges
Credit due through the OneCheck Select program is consolidated into a single check. Choose to receive your check within 10, 30, or 90 days after your return. The fee is an all-inclusive percentage of your returnable product value.
No additional charges
DIAGNOSING CHILDHOOD ASTHMA
A new nasal swab that can differentiate asthma types
Asthma is a common respiratory disease in children and adults alike. In fact, more than 4.6 million children in the U.S. have it.
There are two categories for the disease. The first is known as “T2-high” asthma. This type is caused by inflammation from a particular type of immune system cell called T helper 2. It used to be the most common asthma type, until the second category, “T2-low” asthma came about. It encompasses two subtypes. The first one involves less inflammation, and the second one is characterized by inflammation from a different type of T cell.
Figuring out which type of asthma a child has, especially in some of the more severe cases, can help physicians match patients with the proper treatment. Since testing options have been limited, doctors typically do a blood draw to measure levels of immune cells and antibodies. Or, they might have children breathe into a mouthpiece to measure the nitric oxide in their breath.
Unfortunately, the tests aren’t always accurate, so they only detect T2-high asthma. They’re unable to differentiate between the other subtypes, such as T17-high and low-low endotypes.
The good news is researchers at the University of Pittsburgh came up with a more precise way to diagnose the different asthma subtypes. They collect nasal
swabs, then sequence the RNA that is in them. For people who have two asthma subtypes, certain genes associated with inflammation are more highly expressed. So, the researchers looked for those authentications. They then identified the third subtype through the absence of those genetic validations.
Researchers used the test on more than 450 children and teens across three studies. One was in Puerto Rico, one was in Pittsburgh, and one in both locations. Study participants were predominantly Puerto Rican or non-Hispanic African American.
This new test is especially important for Puerto Rican and African American youths who have higher rates of asthma and asthmarelated deaths and are more likely to be exposed to asthma triggers like air pollution, dust, or mold. By providing a precise diagnosis, the nasal swab test can help tailor treatments to individual patients, thus improving overall health outcomes.
For treating severe T2-high asthma, a powerful new class of drugs called biologics target the immune cells that drive disease. But no available asthma biologics directly target T17-high and low-low endotypes.
By accurately diagnosing the specific asthma endotype, clinicians can prescribe more targeted therapies. This is especially important for the asthma types that aren’t studied as much, such as T17-high and low-low endotypes, which previously lacked specific treatments.
Having the right tools to test which biological pathways have a major role in asthma in children could very well help achieve the goal of improving asthma outcomes. Today’s research could pave the way for more personalized treatments, especially in the minority communities.
TRENDS NEW WEIGHTLOSS DRUGS
What you need to know
Over the past couple of years, there’s been a lot of excitement about the new weight-loss drugs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved that many people have been using successfully to lose weight. These drugs include: semaglutide (Wegovy and Ozempic), liraglutide (Saxenda), tirzepatide (Zepbound and Mounjaro), orlistat (Xenical and Alli), phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia), and naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave).
Some newer names have hit the market as of late, such as Novo Nordisk’s combination drug called CagriSema that was up there with Lilly’s Zepbound. However, it didn’t make it in the late-stage clinical trial findings. This is because the experimental drug puts semaglutide together with a medicine called cagrilintide to make CagriSema.
In a 68-week study, participants taking CagriSema lost about 23% of their body weight compared with 12% for those people taking only cagrilintide. Those taking only semaglutide lost 16%, and those on a placebo lost 2.3%. The study’s main goal was met, even though those watching the race wanted an average result for CagriSema of at least 25%.
As for side effects, CagriSema is similar to the other drugs in the GLP-1 class. The most common are mild-to-moderate gastrointestinal issues that go away over time. However, only a little more than half of the participants made it up to the highest dose of the drug, which may be a sign that the combination may not be tolerable at high doses. Novo Nordisk is expecting results from a second Phase 3 trial of the medicine in the first half of 2025. However, this one will be with people who have type 2 diabetes.
Several other weight-loss drugs have been introduced in 2025, and they’re all building on success of GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic and Wegovy.
• Amycretin: This obesity drug was developed by Novo Nordisk and has shown promising results in early trials. Patients lost up to 22% of their body weight after 36 weeks. Amycretin is a GLP-1 and amylin-receptor agonist. This means it mimics the action of both glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and amylin hormones. These hormones aid in regulating blood sugar and satiety, which makes Amycretin effective for weight loss.
• Tirzepatide (Zepbound): Approved originally for type 2 diabetes under the name Mounjaro, Zepbound has also been approved for obesity. It works by stimulating the release of both GLP-1 and GIP hormones.
• Viking Therapeutics’ Experimental Drug: This drug has shown potential in early studies. In fact, Viking Therapeutics is advancing a subcutaneous formulation of VK2735, which showed significant results in its Phase 2 VENTURE study, with weight reductions up to 14.7%. Their plan is to initiate Phase 3 development for the subcutaneous formulation in the first half of 2025.
While GLP-1 agonist use has taken off, not just anyone can take them. And once someone begins taking them, they need to stay on them forever. For example, Ozempic and Mounjaro are FDA-approved only to treat individuals who are overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Then there’s Wegovy and Zepbound that are approved to treat obesity and weight in individuals without diabetes.
A July 2024 paper published in the American Journal of Cardiology found that over 85% of subjects taking onceweekly injections of the full dosage (2.4mg) of semaglutide lost more than 5% of their body weight, with over one-third of participants losing more than 20%.
These weight-loss drugs in particular offer hope for women who have a tougher time losing weight (especially during and after menopause) than men. In fact, women do better and lose more weight on GLP-1 agonists than men. What’s important to note is that with any medication, the risks of side effects are real, and more serious side effects are possible. The FDA is monitoring reports of suicidal thoughts or actions by those taking the drugs.
Because of the high demand for weight-loss drugs, both semaglutide and tirzepatide injections have been on the FDA’s drug shortage list since 2022. Those people who succeed in finding the drug at the dosage they need soon learn their insurance provider won’t cover the heavy cost, which ranges from $900 to $1,600 per month.
Is your independent pharmacy looking to sell new weightloss drugs? If so, here are some tips to get you started out smoothly with your patients:
EDUCATE YOUR STAFF
Your staff needs to be well informed about the new weight-loss drugs. Be sure they know the benefits, the side effects, and how to properly use them. In turn, this will help them educate patients by providing accurate information and support.
BUILD STRONG CONNECTIONS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Make relationships with your local healthcare providers, nutritionists, and fitness centers. Plan together some events or workshops to teach the community about weight-loss options and healthy lifestyle choices.
OFFER PATIENT SUPPORT
Put together support programs that include regular checkins, counseling, and follow-up appointments to help patients stay on track with their goals.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA
Be active on social media platforms and engage with your followers. Share patients’ success stories, health tips, and
information about the new weight-loss drugs. And don’t forget to respond regularly to comments and messages. This will help you build rapport with your patients.
PERFECT YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE
Is your website up to date? If not, be sure to add information about the new weight-loss drugs. Put in the pricing, when they’re going to be available, and how to get started. It’s also important to encourage your satisfied patients to leave positive reviews.
OFFER YOUR OWN SPECIAL PROMOTIONS
You can offer introductory offers, bulk purchase discounts, or bundling services to attract new patients. Offer a discount for their first month of treatment or provide free consultations.
PROVIDE PATIENT EDUCATION
It’s important to create some educational materials for your patients, such as brochures and even videos. These can help patients understand how the new weight-loss drugs work and what to expect. It can also alleviate concerns or misconceptions they have.
WORK WITH INSURANCE COMPANIES
Work with insurance companies to guarantee that the new weight-loss drugs are covered under your patients’ plans. That way, the medications are more affordable and accessible to everyone.
KEEP AN EYE ON PATIENT OUTCOMES
Monitor your patients’ progress using the new weight-loss drugs. Ask for feedback so you can improve your services and support programs.
By simply implementing these tips, your independent pharmacy can sell and support the use of new weight-loss drugs. Not only will your business benefit, but your patients will, too.
SECONDARY STRESS
Choosing the right secondary supplier for your business
While most independent community pharmacies are under contract with a primary wholesaler, most also develop strong relationships with secondary suppliers.
Whether it’s to supplement existing inventory, save a bit of money, or make it through shortages or outages, a good secondary pharmaceutical supplier is a vital piece of a successful business.
Like everything else in the pharmaceutical world, the secondary marketplace has been undergoing significant shifts and changes. Some long-time suppliers are exiting the business completely while others are merging or being acquired.
With industry churn and uncertainty expected to continue, how can you find the right secondary supplier for your pharmacy? Even more important, how can you find a secondary supplier that will help you become more profitable?
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PHARMACY SUPPLIER
Before anything, determine the credibility of any secondary supplier—even if it’s for a one-time purchase. Substandard products infiltrate the U.S. drug supply chain far more often than you may realize, especially during shortages, recalls, and popular trends.
In fact, one longtime community pharmacist refuses to purchase from any supplier that isn’t certified by the
National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. The ability to track and trace every pharmaceutical product in your business is even more important than ever with the requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA).
Once you’ve established a supplier is well-credentialed, think about your needs and expectations. How much time do you and your team currently spend shopping on the secondary market? How valuable is that time? Are rock-bottom prices your goal or have you been burned by prioritizing price previously? What about other perks?
TIME IS ACTUALLY MONEY
Spending around 10 to 15 hours a week searching for products on the secondary market is about average for most pharmacies. Think about your hourly wage or the hourly wage of the employee doing the shopping. Say it’s $20 an hour. That means you’re spending $200 to $300 a week—or $800 to $1200 each month—to comparison shop among secondaries.
Now think of the opportunity cost of those 10 to 15 hours. What could you or your pharmacy tech be doing instead?
Take this opportunity to simplify and streamline your purchasing. Perhaps choose two or three of the most reliable and trustworthy options instead of comparison shopping among multiple secondaries. You’ll want to select secondary suppliers with a broad offering, preferably including brands,
generics, refrigerated items, controlled substances, and over-the-counter products. BuyLine, a part of PBA Health, is one such full-line supplier.
If you reduce time spent by even 5 hours, you’ll save $100 a week—and have time to counsel patients, develop new skills, or work on special projects.
CONVENIENCE MATTERS
You might want to take advantage of EDI, which stands for Electronic Data Interchange. If your secondary supplier has EDI capabilities, your system and their system can talk directly to each other.
This process allows seamless, accurate communication that reduces red tape and gets the needed products to you and your patients more quickly.
With EDI, you find the item you need in your system and pull up the price file. Then you make the purchase without ever
having to make a phone call or open a new program on your computer. The order is automatically sent to your supplier’s system, which gets the ball rolling on shipping the order as soon as possible. The transaction is nearly instantaneous, reducing any back-and-forth business of invoices or purchase orders.
Make sure the EDI system has options for repeat purchases, previous orders, and an instant search bar with multiple ways to look for a specific product.
WATCH THE GIVE AND TAKE
What “extras” are involved with your secondary supplier?
Do they “take” by requiring contracts or other types of long-term commitments? Do hidden fees pop up just before you’re ready to hit “send?”
What about shipping options? Do they use major delivery carriers such as UPS or FedEx or a fly-by-night service you’ve
never heard of? Do they offer next-day delivery or is there a minimum order you must fulfill before qualifying for nextday delivery?
Be sure to check all the fine print before purchasing from a new secondary supplier.
On the other hand, what do they “give” you?
Do they allow you to pay with a credit card? You might want to gain points or spread out a payment. The system should be set up with your convenience and benefi t in mind, not theirs. You’re the customer, after all.
Speaking of customer, what’s their service like? Do they have knowledgeable customer service representatives? BuyLine, a popular secondary supplier, has dedicated business improvement specialists. They work specifically on your account, even letting you know when there’s a good deal on a popular medication or when a hard-to-find item is in stock.
How easy is the entire process? Is the verification onerous and lengthy, requiring time that you don’t have? Is the website fast and easy to use? Are the prices listed right up front or are they buried under a lot of other information?
Finally, does your secondary supplier offer a cash rebate? With BuyLine, tiered rebate levels are 5%, 7%, and 10%, and cash rebates are issued each month. In fact, if you carefully balance your purchasing between your primary wholesaler and BuyLine, you might find yourself getting two rebates— one from your wholesaler and one from your secondary.
You can actually save more time and make more money by carefully reviewing your needs and selecting the right secondary supplier.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
• Is the business NABP-certified?
• Does the supplier offer a full line of products, including brand, generic, controls, refrigerated products, and over-the-counter items?
• Are you eligible for any rebates? If so, are those rebates cash based or is it a point system for future discounts? If cash based, do those rebates come to you reliably and promptly?
• Are there unexpected fees, commitments, or contracts?
• Do they take payment by credit card?
• Is customer service readily available?
• Do the customer service representatives have in-depth industry knowledge and experience?
• How long has the business been in business?
Northern California
Strong retail pharmacy with 340b in Northern California, over $5Million in annual revenue with positive cash flow. Gross profit of 23% and a strong net profit. PA Opportunities
We have several profitable stores available that have varying revenue streams in addition to retail, including; LTC, 340b, Sterile and non-sterile compounding. Very strong cash flow with room to expand!
North Carolina
Retail with non-sterile compounding including a large and profitable gift section. Over $6 Million in annual revenue. Owners are looking to retire but willing to stay and work the store if needed.
Retail pharmacy for sale in North Carolina, owner is looking to retire. In addition to retail, the pharmacy services LTC and has a USP800 compliant compounding lab. This pharmacy is located right next to a busy supermarket. Eastern Ohio
Closed Door Pharmacy for sale in Eastern Ohio, services over 500 patients. Gross profits over 30%, owners are willing to stay after the sale making this a great remote ownership opportunity.
that has
340b contracts with local FQHCs. Strong cash flow, can be managed remotely.
SIGHT-LOSS SUPPORT
Helping your visually impaired patients manage their medications
In the United States, there are approximately 12 million people 40 years and over with vision impairment. This includes 1 million with blindness. And with a rapidly aging population, more people live with diabetes and other chronic conditions that can lead to vision loss.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology defines low vision as “vision loss that cannot be corrected by medical or surgical treatments or conventional eyeglasses.” It can encompass the loss of central vision, peripheral vision, contrast sensitivity, depth perception, and visual processing.
People with low vision may not see well enough to perform everyday tasks, even if they wear glasses or contact lenses. They may have difficulty reading, writing, using a computer or cell phone, recognizing faces, watching TV, shopping, driving a car, and more.
Sight loss can affect anyone, no matter their age, ethnicity, gender, or clinical condition. Low vision is not a normal symptom of aging. Therefore, it’s important that your patients who have trouble with their sight can use and take their medications safely. For this to happen, you need to think about the environment of your pharmacy and how you can make it easier for them. Here are some important ways you can help:
ACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT
Is your pharmacy’s physical space well-lit, well-organized, and free of obstacles that patients might trip over? If not, work on making it easier for your visually impaired patients to navigate. Use color-contrasted guide rails and large-print signage and position the signs at eye level so patients can move about the pharmacy more easily. Be sure to have clear signage for “IN” and “OUT.”
REGULAR EYE EXAMS
Teach your patients with low vision the importance of regular eye exams. Give them information on low vision.
PRESCRIPTION LABELING
Help your visually impaired patients read and understand their medication instructions by providing prescription labels that are in large print and/or braille. You can also offer audible prescription label technology that will read the label out loud. Simply place a tag on your patient’s prescription medication and they can use a free mobile app or specialized device to hear all the information.
SIMPLIFIED DOSING
You can work together with your visually impaired patients to simplify difficult medication regimens. For instance, you can use blister packaging or pill organizers that break down doses by day or time. Another way is to combine multiple
medications into a single dosage form, also known as a “polypill.” This makes it much easier for your patients to take their medications on time and as frequently as prescribed. Studies have shown that adherence to polypill regimens is much higher (84%) when compared to multiple pill regimens.
HOME DELIVERY
If you don’t already, offer home delivery for your visually impaired patients to guarantee they get their medications. This can eliminate their need to travel to the pharmacy.
MEDICATION COUNSELING SUPPORT
By offering phone consultations and counseling, you’ll be able to answer patients’ questions about their medication, dosage, and side effects, as well as special strategies for safe storage, differentiation, and administration of their medications. Be sure to thoroughly address anything they may be concerned about.
MOBILE APPS AND DEVICES
Encourage patients with sight loss to use assistive technologies like medication reminder apps, screen readers, or digital pill dispensers. These can help them effectively manage their medications, identify pills through image recognition, or read labels aloud.
VOICE-ACTIVATED SYSTEMS
You can use a voice-activated system such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Set up a dedicated “skill” or “routine” that allows you to verbally input patient details, such as medication names, dosages, and schedules. The system will then deliver timely voice reminders to take their medications. With its HIPAA compliant status, Alexa can retrieve sensitive health data and deliver it to the patient through a private connection. For example, a diabetic patient can get information on their blood sugar levels and make necessary corrections to avoid serious health consequences.
TRAINING PATIENTS AND CAREGIVERS
Take time out to train your patients, and those who help take care of them, how to use various low-vision aids available. Show them proper techniques for medication administration and be sure they feel confident in managing their own health care.
Most importantly, ensure that your pharmacy is accessible to people with low vision. Organize products so they’re easier to locate, provide clear signage, and offer help when patients need assistance.
THE PATTERNS OF VISION AND VISION LOSS Central vision
When you look directly at something, this is the detailed vision you use. When conditions damage the center of the retina (the macula), like macular degeneration (AMD), it can affect your central vision.
Peripheral vision
This is the less-detailed vision you use to see at the edges of your vision, outside the area you’re looking directly at. Glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa often affect peripheral vision first.
Diabetic retinopathy strokes and cerebral/cortical visual impairment can affect the peripheral and central vision in either eye.
Contrast sensitivity
This is the ability to distinguish between objects of similar tones, like milk in a white cup or to distinguish facial features.
Depth perception
This is the ability to judge the position of objects in the space around you. Vision loss in one eye or damage to the brain can affect depth perception, such as gauging the height of a step or reaching for a cup.
Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS)
About 20-30% have this syndrome and see life-like images that they know are not real. This is just part of vision loss for some people. It’s similar to how people who have lost a limb may feel phantom pain and is not a sign of a mental health problem.
(Source: aao.org)
PBM s AND HOW THEY AFFECT YOUR PHARMACY
A chat with Benjamin Jolley
We spoke with Benjamin Jolley, a third-generation pharmacist from Jolley‘s Compounding Pharmacy, Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, and pharmacy podcast influencer, about the ups and downs of owning an independent pharmacy and the frustrations brought on by PBMs.
Q: How did you get involved in the pharmacy industry?
A: “I got involved in pharmacy because of my grandfather. My grandpa started a pharmacy and was a business partner in 1954. He then bought him out eventually and ran that pharmacy until 1994 when my dad and his brothers took over the business. Then, 10 years later, my dad bought one of the pharmacies and sold his stake and sold the other pharmacy to his brothers. My dad has a pharmacy in Salt Lake City, and I started working there that same year in 2004. I was clerking; I was stocking shelves; I was checking people out at the register. Then, I started driving and doing deliveries. I got my technician license when I was 18.
In 2014, I went to pharmacy school and graduated in 2018. I then went back and worked for my dad again. My dad went on vacation for two weeks the day I got back, and that morning he said, ‘This is Benjamin. He‘s in charge. Good luck, everyone! I‘m going on vacation!‘
I was a brand-new graduate pharmacist and had not actually received my license yet because I hadn‘t passed the boards. But my dad put me in this position of being in charge of a
pharmacy. At the time, I found several Facebook groups and started talking to people. I then found myself kind of obsessively answering every single question and giving my position on how things should be done on everything. Then, about a year after that, several people started offering to pay me money to tell them how to run their pharmacy.
Direct and indirect remuneration fees were a very big chunk of pharmacy‘s expenses, and no one understood what was going on. I had figured out how to use my software and a couple other software packages to tell the computer this is what the DIR is for, for this plan; this is what it is for that plan. I then started doing a lot of work for other pharmacies where I would just put in the numbers for them, so that when they built prescription claims, they would know how much they were going to get charged in DIR.“
Q: What‘s a typical day for you?
A: “My typical day looks like most remote workers. I wake up, open my email and see what‘s going on with various things that people are asking me, and try to answer some emails. I usually work on a scheduled basis for my consulting work. Pharmacies will book my time around 15-minute to hour-long segments, and I call them at the scheduled time. I typically do three to four calls a day, calling a pharmacy saying, ‘Hey, let‘s
talk about Medicare plans, let‘s talk about generic effective rates, let‘s talk about inventory control, and so on.‘
Depending on what they want to talk about, it will usually occupy two to fi ve hours in my day. In between calls, I check more emails. I get a lot of emails, text messages, and review various public policy stuff with my American Economic Liberties Project, such as white papers and various proposed legislation. There‘s always a lot going on. One day a week, I go into the pharmacy and work a shift on a bench. I check prescriptions, I order drugs, I take phone calls. I practice in a community pharmacy. It keeps me very grounded.“
Q: How did PBMs come into existence, and why do we need them?
A: “PBMs exist for the same reason that clearinghouses in banking exist. There are just too many notes to be able to administer payment. Anytime you have a many-to-many marketplace, generally someone will eventually step in as a middleman to just do all the connections to everyone so that you don‘t have to figure out billing 100,000 different employers. Public policy over the last 50 years has said, ‘Yes, we want third-party payment for drugs.‘ So, convenience emerged out of the necessity for someone to coordinate these things.
PBMs haven‘t always owned pharmacies. They haven‘t always been associated directly with insurance companies. The PBMs today exist because without the existence of something like a PBM, every single company, no matter how big or small, would have to stand up to their own claimsbuilding architecture. Or every patient just has to pay 100% of their drug costs and then submit receipts to their insurance to get paid. That‘s how things used to work until the ‘90s. It was mostly paper claims billing, and patients oftentimes just submitted claims. But the volume of claims just became incredibly large. It‘s far more expensive than doing some kind of electronic claim billing process. And the PBMs emerged out of that. That, to me, is why PBMs exist and how they came into existence.“
Q: PBMs front for their own mail-order distribution. How does that impact independent pharmacies?
A: “This, to me, is the biggest problem in pharmacy public policy today. I don‘t think that PBMs should be allowed to own pharmacies in any way, whether it‘s mail order, retail, or long-term care. I think that if you are a pharmacy benefit manager, your job is to be a fiduciary of making sure that a health plan, a union‘s plan, an employer‘s plan, spend as little as possible on drugs, while making sure that people are able to get the drugs that they need. If you are also a pharmacy, a pharmacy‘s shareholder value perspective is to sell as many drugs as possible at the highest price possible. The opportunities for a PBM to manipulate pricing and where drugs go to—for their own benefit—is just far too tempting
for anybody. So, we should just remove that opportunity from the marketplace. There‘s good evidence of the manipulations that happen and the consequences of those.
The Federal Trade Commission has been doing a so-called 6(b) study of PBMs for the last two years, and they released their second interim report by the staff recently, and it quoted internal PBM documents to describe so-called optimization strategies. These would be used by PBMs to channel highprofit drugs to their mail-order pharmacies and channel lowprofit drugs away from their mail-order pharmacies towards retail pharmacies, and competitor network pharmacies, like independents. This is a big problem.
The reason for that is because PBMs have mail-order pharmacies, and that small fraction of drugs where you make money are the products that they try to send to their own pharmacies. So, when a PBM sends all of the highest profit drugs to their own pharmacies and all of the lowest profit drugs to your pharmacy, that means they‘ve just sucked all of the profit out and now there‘s no money to be made. The PBMs also use multiple different price lists, and they favor their own pharmacies dramatically more than their competitors.
The Mississippi Board of Pharmacy released an audit that they had performed of Optum Rx. They found in this audit that Optum Rx unlawfully paid their own mail-order pharmacy 22 times as much as independent pharmacies in their network for common drugs, such as Z-packs. For example, they might have paid two dollars for a Z-pack at an independent pharmacy and then they paid their own pharmacy something like $50 for the same Z-pack. That really harms pharmacies because employers are going to want to keep getting their drug costs down, and so the PBM is then in a situation where they say, ‘Well, we can get your drug costs down by doing all these things that benefit us. You can send more stuff to mail order; you can change your pharmacy network to exclude all these pharmacies. As long as you aren‘t too greedy on the mail-order side, they can reduce overall drug costs for an employer while creating more and more of the profit dollars for themselves.“
Q: PBMs are going to have their own generics. What are your thoughts on that?
A: “This is just another way for PBMs to manipulate the value chain of pharmacy. If you have your own generic, if you are the labeler, then the ability to manipulate pricing is even more than you already have under just the standard PBM system. Labelers, generic manufacturers like Cordova, set the average wholesale price and set the wholesale acquisition cost for
the products that they produced. There‘s an old saying of, ‘I‘ll give you whatever discount you want so long as I can set the starting price.‘ It‘s just an opportunity to manipulate.“
Q: What is it like dealing with PBMs from your perspective?
A: “Working with PBMs from my perspective is both seamless and incredibly frustrating depending on the specific situation. When things work, they work really well and it‘s great. I sort of think of this as if you want to know how the AI revolution is going to go over the next couple years, just walk into a pharmacy and ask a pharmacist about PBMs and how they usually interact with them. That will give you a good sense of how that‘ll work because PBMs are basically a very slow, artificial intelligence. They‘re an automated computer system that you say, ‘Hi. I want to give Mrs. Jones some Atorvastatin,‘ and the computer system sends back, ‘No, she got it last week at Walgreens,‘ and you say, ‘OK. Fine, I‘ll give it to her in a month.‘
Or the computer system will sit back and say, ‘Yep! Great. Go ahead. Collect a $10 copay from her and we‘ll pay you $5.‘ When it works, it‘s a pleasant and easy system. You build a claim, and you get your money two weeks to a month later. I don‘t think a lot of pharmacists talk about it because we‘re much more focused on the frustrations there are. A lot of the time it works well, we get paid, and that works great. But when things don‘t work for whatever reason, it‘s just incredibly frustrating.
The biggest thing is that the PBMs are not a friendly, slow artificial intelligence. They‘re hostile and want to pay the pharmacy as little money as they can and move as much business as they can to their own pharmacies that they own. This results in all sorts of situations where pharmacies get paid. Instead of collecting 10 dollars and ‘I‘ll pay you five and everything‘s fine,‘ it will pay you a grand total of 37 cents and a 20-cent fee for filing this claim. So, you end up getting 17 cents in a check. It‘s incredibly insulting and frustrating. So, when it works well, it works well. When it doesn‘t, it‘s just constant anger and frustration.“
Q: How does that impact your business?
A: “For prescriptions that are billed to insurance, it‘s a very dominant relationship. The PBMs are the bosses of basically every pharmacy in the country. It‘s a very analogous relationship to an Uber driver. The PBM is very similar to Uber in that they decide how much you get paid. They take the money from the client and give you some of it. They
make that system work relatively well, but again, they‘re not a kind actor and so they‘re trying to extract as much money out of the middle as they can.
I gathered information in the first 8 months of 2024 and found that 2,275 pharmacies closed just between January 1 and August 31 of 2024. That‘s like 10 pharmacies a day closing. About half of those were independent pharmacies and about half were traditional chain pharmacies. It‘s largely
REASONS WHY PBMS ARE SEEN AS A PROBLEM:
• Opaque pricing and hidden fees
Oftentimes PBMs negotiate complex deals with drug manufacturers. This makes it really hard for patients and even insurers to understand the true cost of medications and how much negotiated rebates are actually given to them.
• Spread pricing
Essentially, PBMs charge health plans or insurers more for a prescription drug than what they reimburse pharmacies. The difference, or “spread,” is kept by the PBM as profit.
• Formulary manipulation
PBMs control the drugs that are included in a health plan’s formulary. These likely limit patient access to certain medications based on cost or manufacturer relationships. Sometimes they force patients to switch to less preferred or more expensive medications.
• Conflicts of interest
There are some PBMS that own or are affiliated with pharmacies. This is concerning because they may steer patients towards their own pharmacies to maximize profits.
• Market merger
A small number of large PBMs dominate the market, reducing competition and potentially enabling them to exert more influence on drug pricing.
due to PBMs pricing drugs at those insultingly low prices. You can‘t pay a professional pharmacist 60 or 70 dollars an hour when the pharmacy is getting paid 30 cents a prescription. Just to be able to pay a pharmacist‘s salary at that price point, you would have to fill 400 prescriptions an hour or something like that. So, that just doesn‘t work.
There are two factors to that pricing: First, a number of PBMs have just decided that for brand-name drugs they will just pay pharmacies less than the drugs cost, and in some cases less than any pharmacy can buy drugs for. I call this counterfeit drug pricing because the PBMs are setting a price that doesn‘t exist in the legitimate drug market. The only way you can fulfill that prescription for a profi t is to buy drugs from a counterfeiter.
The other half of that is so-called maximum allowable cost pricing in the generic market where PBMs can set whatever price they want. Pharmacies, in a sense, don‘t really have a contract with PBMs. There are words written on paper, but it just says basically, ‘I‘m the PBM. I can pay you whatever I want, and you‘ll do what I say.‘
So, while drug costs have dropped for generics to some degree, they haven‘t dropped as fast as PBM reimbursement. And brand-name drug prices have gone up, not down. When a contract is structurally upside down like this, where they say, ‘We‘re going to pay you less than the drugs cost you,‘ then every time a drug price goes up, you lose more and more money.“
Q: What do you think the government should do to help community pharmacies?
A: “I think that the Patients Before Monopolies Act (the PBM Act) that was introduced in the last Congress will go a long way. It would say you cannot be a PBM and a pharmacy. I think that would make the system a lot more fair, because there would not be an incentive for a PBM to set this very concentrated profi t type of system where we‘re going to pay you nothing for very common drugs and we‘re going to pay you a ton of money for uncommon drugs.
I think that the pricing methodology only makes sense in the context of a PBM owning their own mail-order pharmacy and being able to channel those uncommon drugs to themselves. I think that would make a big difference. I think that the government can also just say, ‘Look, the way you‘re pricing drugs is inherently unfair.‘ It‘s written into statute. The Federal Trade Commission has authority to define and ban unfair trade practices, and I think that the entire current reimbursement system for prescription drugs in the United States is an unfair trade practice.“
Q: What do you think of Mark Cuban‘s cost model?
A: “It‘s very reasonable. Mark Cuban sells drugs at the cost of the drug and adds a 15% markup as it‘s supposed to be. That‘s really how things should be. Anyone who tries to give you some kind of discount off AWP is selling you a bill of goods. It‘s something akin to the way that he prices drugs. The system that we are currently in is incredibly stupid, and a Cost-Plus model like this just makes a lot more sense. So, I think it‘s a good idea.“
Benjamin Jolley off ers one-on-one consulting with pharmacies to understand eff ective rate contracts (GER, BER, DFER and DIR).
Pharmacy owners and pharmacy staff that would like to reach Jolley can email him at: benjamin@apexpharmacyconsulting.com
He also takes appointments at apexpharmacyconsulting.com.
For more information about the American Economic Liberties Project, visit https:// www.economicliberties.us/about/#.
WHITE LABEL VS. PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS
Which one is right for your pharmacy?
Have you been itching to augment your pharmacy’s brand while making extra revenue? If so, look no further. Both white label and private label supplements are great opportunities. Not only do they reinforce your pharmacy’s identity, but they create stronger relationships with your patients and can rapidly increase your profitability. Here are the differences between the two.
WHITE LABEL PRODUCTS
White label products are generic products manufactured by one company. However, they’re eventually branded and sold by multiple retailers under their own brand names. This means that your business can offer new products, but you don’t have to invest in the production process.
“White label offers you a controlled selection of generic products. But when it comes to formulation, you are unfortunately limited to what a manufacturer is offering,” said Kim Leach, National Account Manager for Quality Choice. “It gives you the opportunity to have a printing company put your logo on the product. A great way to utilize white label would be to customize products for additional marketing; for example, retailers could put their logo on giveaway products and pharmacy bags.”
Costs of white label products vary. It all depends on the product type, customization level, and order quantities you need. You’ll find that the initial costs typically include
product development fees, sample costs, and packaging design. You’ll also have production costs. These might include manufacturing, packaging, and labeling expenses.
Having your own white label products allows you to make a good first impression and strengthens your patient relationships. They simply get your name out there in ways that work.
THE BENEFITS OF WHITE LABEL PRODUCTS
• Faster product launches: You have a product that’s ready to be sold, therefore you rely on your branding and marketing efforts to sell it.
• Risks are minimized: By purchasing a white label product, you’re buying a product that’s already been tried and tested in the market. Your products are from companies known for making a particular product. Therefore, your job is to only sell.
• Introducing a new product: It’s tough to feel pressured to introduce a new product, but you don't know what exactly to sell. While not the greatest strategy, white labeling can help. You can choose from a wide variety of products to sell.
THE DISADVANTAGE OF WHITE LABEL PRODUCTS
• No defense: If you rebrand and sell white label products, be aware that there is a possibility that competitors may be offering the same product. If there isn’t anything unique
about your product compared to the competitor’s, their product will most likely sell more than yours.
• Quality isn’t consistent: If your supplier of the white label products has poor quality control measures in place, your customers may have different experiences each time they purchase your product. If they don’t get excellent quality every time they purchase your products, they’ll most likely find another option somewhere else.
• No control of the production process: When you have white label products, you have no control or say in how your product is manufactured. What you can control is your product’s marketing, distribution, and sales.
PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS
Private labels are customized products that are created by a private label manufacturer exclusively for one retailer. They’re manufactured by a third party but are marketed and labeled with the pharmacy’s branding. This allows them to offer a lower-priced alternative to national brands.
“When pharmacies partner with a private label, they get to handpick products from a variety of well-developed categories that truly meet their customers’ needs,” Leach said. “Shoppers get a high-quality alternative at a more affordable price, often backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.”
Private labels also have more customization options and control over the branding. Because of this, they’re typically more expensive due to increased customization and
exclusivity. They’re also cash sales that go into your bank, so you don’t need to worry about people asking you for money at the end of the quarter. They provide greater margins and instantly contribute to your cash flow, giving OTCs a dual benefit that prescription sales can’t provide.
BENEFITS OF PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS
• Stands out from the competition: A private label product in a community pharmacy refers to over-the-counter (OTC) medications or other health and wellness items sold under the pharmacy’s own brand name. A private label product is unique because you can tell them what goes in it, how it’s packaged, what the label looks like, and so on. And only your brand can sell it. Therefore, you stand out from your competitors. You have greater control over production and can be sure your customers have a consistent experience every time they purchase your product.
• Easily customizable: Once you launch a product, making improvements is a piece of cake. You can specify everything about the product.
• Control over pricing: Private label products are different from others and can help your pharmacy stand out from the competition. Therefore, you can charge higher prices for your product and gain higher margins.
• Greater margins: Private labeling can produce improved profit margins compared to traditional manufacturing. Retailers often see gross margins on private labels that are 25-30% higher than those on manufacturer brands.
THE DISADVANTAGES OF PRIVATE LABELING
• Finding high-quality products and manufacturers: It’s often challenging for product developers and entrepreneurs to create their own private label products. Therefore, finding reliable manufacturers who produce high-quality products can be expensive and time-consuming.
• Researching and understanding your target market: The other challenge with private labeling is understanding what your target market is looking for. So, look at what they like, need, and how they like to buy things. You don’t want to skip this step. If you do, you might sink a large amount of money into private label products that your customers aren’t interested in.
Developing a private label without expert help can be intimidating. For instance, if you don’t have experience in market research, it’ll be difficult to figure out your target audience or the best people who can get a product design ready for you. As for a white label product, it can get expensive fast if you aren’t working with the right manufacturers.
“Building a strong brand means collaborating with your private label to train employees, using eye-catching in-store signage, running social media ads, and taking advantage of any other marketing resources private label provides that are backed by their manufacturers,” Leach said.
Whether your pharmacy decides on white label or private label products, here are some items you may want to add to your labels:
• Vitamins and supplements
• Pain relievers
• Allergy products
• Personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves, footwear, eye protection, and protective hearing devices (i.e. earplugs)
• Beauty products (skincare products, lotion, shampoo, and baby products)
• Personal care products (toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shaving creams)
• OTC items, such as antihistamines, cold and flu medicine, antacids, and anti-inflammatories
• First aid products (bandages, antiseptic creams, and pain relief sprays
WELCOMING AI INTO YOUR PHARMACY
Gain better service and improve profitability
If you haven’t yet tinkered around with Artificial Intelligence (AI), it’s time to give it a go. AI has an important role in helping community pharmacies like yours build their businesses in numerous ways.
It’s tough to try something new and embrace it without knowing the outcome. Because of that, it’s best to start by assessing your pharmacy needs and your goals. Are you wanting to improve patient interactions, enhance medication dispensing, or create better marketing? Once you understand your objectives, you will be more confident choosing the right AI tools.
By using AI applications, your independent pharmacy can boost its efficiency and provide better patient care. Here’s what else AI can do for you:
Help with Inventory Management: AI can predict demand for medications with high accuracy by analyzing historical data and current trends, enhance stock levels, and automate reordering processes. This guarantees that popular medications are always available, and it reduces the risk of overstocking or stockouts.
Assist with Processing Prescriptions: AI can automate tasks such as data entry, verification of medications, and labeling. This reduces the likelihood of errors and speeds up service.
Support Patient Care: AI can analyze patient data to provide personalized medication recommendations, adherence monitoring, and reminders.
Answer Customer Questions: AI chatbots and virtual assistants can answer common customer inquiries, provide medication information, and schedule appointments. By doing so, patients can receive information that’s timely and accurate.
Detect Fraud and Errors: Prescription fraud is a significant concern. AI algorithms can recognize suspicious activities, such as fraudulent prescriptions and insurance claims. It can also flag potential errors in billing or medication dispensing.
Assist with Telehealth: AI can help facilitate telehealth integration by enabling pharmacies to offer virtual consultations along with medication management. Doing so expands the pharmacy’s reach and provides convenience for patients who may be unable to be seen in person.
UNLOCK YOUR PHARMACY’S FULL POTENTIAL WITH INMAR
Rx Returns
Streamline your operations and recover revenue from unsaleable inventory.
•
• • 01
Expert support to maximize and speed credit recovery.
Compliance-driven, flexible on-site or off-site service models.
Data delivery portal with robust reporting and enhanced visibility.
RxTransparent
Simplify DSCSA compliance and focus on patient care for secure, efficient track-and-trace compliance.
•
• • 02
Easy product verification to meet FDA requirements. Improved inventory visibility to optimize workflows. Reduced risk of supply chain disruptions.
• • • 03
Revenue Cycle Management
Unlock your pharmacy’s full earning potential.
Ensure accurate reimbursement with advanced claims reconciliation. Reduce revenue leakage by addressing underpaid or denied claims. Gain actionable insights through tailored financial reporting.
Quality, Reliability, and Value in Every Package, for Every Dose
When it comes to your patients, every dose matters. Making sure you have the right product is critical to your success, and making sure you have the right package is equally critical to ours. When packaging matters, choose Berry.
Contact us to learn more, request samples, and order your Friendly & Safe® and PERFECTPak™ vials, liquid medication bottles, jars, and other packaging products. Also, ask us about our complimentary custom imprinting on vial closures.
Help with Clinical Decisions: AI assists pharmacists in making clinical decisions. They do this by providing evidence-based recommendations, drug interaction alerts, and dosage calculations.
Analyze and Predicts: AI can analyze trends and predict future sales. This helps pharmacies make informed decisions about what to stock and how to price them.
Reduce Costs: With automated routine tasks and improved operational efficiency, AI can help reduce labor costs and other expenses. This increases your pharmacy’s profit margins.
Optimize Online Presence: AI can help in optimizing your online presence, such as your website and social media profiles. AI-powered tools can analyze website traffic, user behavior, and search engine data to enhance search engine optimization (SEO).
Implement Medication Adherence Program: AI can help you implement medication adherence programs. It does this by sending automated reminders to patients, tracking their medication usage, and offering support.
Drug Interaction Detection: AI is transforming how pharmacies screen for dangerous drug interactions. By using natural language processing techniques, AI systems can analyze prescription information such as medication names, dosages, and durations to rapidly identify potential interaction risks. Many various studies show AI methods can outperform pharmacists in detecting multiple concurrent drug interactions, with accuracy rates upwards of 65-70%. When an interaction is flagged, AI provides contextual details to the pharmacist.
Allergy and Contraindication Checks: By performing thorough allergy and contraindication checks, AI enhances safety. AI tools can instantly cross-reference patient allergies and medical conditions with prescribed medications, flagging any potential issues.
Research from BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making indicates that AI systems can reduce the incidence of allergic reactions and contraindications by up to 40%.
Dosage Increase Based on Patient Data: The ability for AI to increase drug dosages based on individual patient data represents another significant advancement. By analyzing factors such as age, weight, kidney function, genetic markers, comorbidities, and concurrent medications, AI can recommend personalized dosages that maximize efficacy while lessening side effects.
Tailored Patient Education and Counseling : AI systems can provide customized educational materials and counseling sessions that are based on individual patient needs and preferences. AI tools can deliver information in various formats, such as video tutorials, interactive modules, and personalized health tips, being sure that patients get the knowledge they need to manage their conditions effectively.
If carried out strategically and with a lot of thought, AI has potential to drastically reduce the time and cost of drug development, improve patient outcomes, and make operations simpler. The most successful AI strategies will integrate pharmacists’ expertise and insights with the most advanced and innovative technology available.
HOW TO SET YOUR AI BUDGET EFFECTIVELY
• Be sure you understand pricing metrics and structures: You will find that different AI vendors offer varied pricing models, such as token-based or character-based pricing. To budget effectively, you need to understand these models and their scalability.
• Thoroughly evaluate AI proposals: Account for all costs when going through AI solutions. This includes finetuning, retraining, and any other necessary changes.
• Negotiate for scalability: Make sure that AI solutions can scale as your pharmacy grows. Check for transparency in pricing and potential hidden costs.
• Track metrics and ROI: Identify key metrics early in the AI adoption process. This will help measure impact and ensure you’re getting the expected return on investment.
• Focus on Cost Savings: AI isn’t just an added expense. It can replace technologies that are outdated and reduce operational costs. AI can handle administrative work, such as reporting and inventory management. This frees up time for pharmacy staff so they can focus on higher-value tasks, such as patient care.
(Source: pharmacytimes.com)
AI-POWERED PATIENT COUNSELING
How it can assist in your pharmacy
When demand for mental health services outpace the systems that are developed to offer care, where do people go for help? One in 5 adults in the U.S. experience mental illness each year, and 1 in 6 children between the ages of 6-17 face mental health challenges. Yet finding effective care is quite a challenge.
The World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the shortage of mental health workers currently stands at 4.3 million globally. It’s projected to reach 10 million by 2030 in low- and middle-income countries.
However, in the face of these challenges, artificial intelligence (AI) is proving its power to revolutionize mental health care. With all of its tools and technologies, it can help support your independent pharmacy by providing effective and personalized care for patients.
Today’s youth are especially excited about AI. In fact, they’re already using mental health apps; and statistics show that many patients are more sincere with chatbots than with human therapists. This is because AI-powered apps are designed with real therapists in mind. They can offer therapy sessions that are very similar to those with professional psychologists and can offer 24/7 support.
Virtual therapists, on the other hand, use advanced conversational AI to engage users in therapeutic dialogue based on evidence-based practices like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). They can answer common medication-related questions, offer reminders, and talk with patients about their health conditions and their medications.
AI can also monitor patient health metrics, such as blood pressure or glucose levels and provide real-time feedback and advice based on the collected data. It can also deliver personalized educational materials and resources to patients. This can help them better understand their health conditions and treatments needed. Most importantly, AI can analyze large datasets and identify trends while predicting potential health issues. This allows pharmacists to intervene early and provide preventive care.
If you’re still unsure whether to use AI-powered patient counseling in your independent pharmacy, here are a few more reasons why you should consider it:
• It’s efficient. AI can free up your time so you can focus on more complex and personalized patient care. It can handle many routine tasks, such as data entry, inventory management, and answering basic customer questions, so you can focus on direct patient care.
• It offers personalized care. By analyzing patient data, AI can provide personalized advice based on a patient’s unique health profile. Patient data can identify trends, potential health risks, and areas for improvement. This allows pharmacists to make better decisions and provide proactive care.
• It keeps patients safe. AI can help identify potential drug interactions and side effects, which guarantees safer medication management.
• It’s convenient. With chatbots, patients are provided with information and support outside of the traditional pharmacy hours. This enhances patients’ engagement.
• It teaches patients. With AI, patients will be educated on their medications. Reminders can be sent, and patients’ medication adherence can be tracked. This can help ensure that patients are taking their medications as prescribed. This will help them better understand why adherence is important.
• It can save you money. AI can help reduce operational costs by automating routine tasks and improving
efficiency. This allows your pharmacy to allocate resources more effectively.
Furthermore, chatbots and AI therapists have an advantage over human psychologists when it comes to lower cost, availability at any moment, and having absolutely no prejudices and/or stigmas. For instance, did you know that AI-based counseling can be lower than the price of humanbased counseling? The cost of a single human-led session online is around $65 to $95. But with a chatbot, you could buy a one-year subscription to some with unlimited usage. There are also apps out there that offer free versions, which is a great way to introduce the benefits of therapy to those who’ve never experienced it.
The American Psychological Association acknowledges that therapists may struggle understanding patients from diverse backgrounds. This can prevent a significant portion of the population from receiving treatment for mental health. AI therapists, however, can help bridge the gap. With chatbots
AI-POWERED PATIENT COUNSELING TOOLS
• Woebot: An AI-powered chatbot that provides evidence-based techniques for managing mental health issues.
• Wysa: An AI-powered chatbot that provides virtual psychotherapeutic services.
• Tess: An AI-powered chatbot that provides virtual psychotherapeutic services.
• Serena: An AI-powered therapist that uses evidence-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques.
• Clinical Notes AI: An AI-powered clinical documentation solution that creates formatted notes from a therapy session.
seen as nonjudgmental and unbiased, it’s much easier for them to provide quality care to a wide range of people.
The stigma around mental health care is one of the main reasons people don’t get help. Not everyone is comfortable discussing their private issues with others. But with AI-based therapy, it’s more anonymous and private. With most services, you don’t need to reveal your identity. Instead, it’s in the form of a chat, and it helps a lot of people feel more comfortable with AI mental health care than a human therapist. Do note that AI therapists or chatbots may not be HIPAA-compliant.
Another reason people may avoid therapy is because of long waiting lists and business hours that are inconvenient. AI therapists, however, are available without appointments so people can get immediate help.
When mental health therapy expanded from in-person to telehealth platforms, it changed for the better by helping make psychotherapy more affordable. In fact, the price for online sessions is half the price than the in-person sessions. Plus, online therapy is accessible to those from most parts of the U.S.
So, can AI therapists replace real therapists? For now, artificially intelligent therapists are unlikely to replace human therapists anytime soon, if at all. However, the AI therapist tools and software can definitely be valuable for providing support and care to clients. AI’s role in therapy is to complement the relationship with human professionals by providing additional support and resources.
HOW AI IS USED IN MENTAL HEALTH CARE
Digital technology and AI are transforming the field of mental health in multiple areas, including:
Prediction and detection
Machine learning (a subset of AI focused on learning and decision-making systems), is increasingly used for prediction, detection, and treatment in mental health care.
Digital intervention
Web and smartphone-based digital interventions (apps) enhance and personalize mental healthcare user experiences.
Digital phenotyping
Using sensor data from smartphones and other digital devices offers behavioral and mental health insights and supports the prediction of mental health conditions.
Natural language processing
Analyzing clinical texts and social-media content provides a means to spot mental health states and supports the development of conversational agents for therapeutic intervention.
Chatbots and virtual agents
These offer accessible therapy options for various mental health conditions, with approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and other therapeutic techniques.
Ecological momentary interventions
Mobile devices can support real-time psychological interventions and behavioral prompts. They frequently use user feedback and behavior to inform their highly personalized therapy recommendations.
Precision medicine in mental health
Treatment issues like delayed, inaccurate, and inefficient care delivery can be alleviated with precise diagnoses, prognoses, and therapeutic choices.
