PPN ideaShare 2024 Recap | Part Three

Transcript

Announcer 1 (00:07):

At the Waypoint Company, our sole purpose is to empower independent pharmacy owners because we know you are the heartbeat of your community. We know the challenges you face, and that’s why we deliver new ways for you to thrive outside of the PBM model. From helping you keep your most valuable employees to providing proven ways to earn new, sustainable, and profitable income, to simply saving money, we’re here to help your pharmacy thrive while protecting your financial independence. Waypoint is more than a company. Together with the pharmacy owners and communities we serve, we’re a movement. Together, we are reclaiming resources, being stripped away by profit First people Last big business, Waypoint Company, your partner in prosperity. Join the movement today by visiting our [email protected]. IPC. Digital Health is an integrated virtual healthcare company that delivers member value added services through a profitable online, easy to use, an end-to-end virtual healthcare solution. Digital health patients receive access to affordable care provided by board certified and licensed providers. Through a video conferencing software, patients are offered many benefits, such as a use of a diverse set of healthcare tools to treat acute illnesses, monitor chronic conditions, purchase and receive home health kits, and remote lab diagnostic services. To learn more about IPC’s digital health tools, visit my iCare plus.com. That’s my iCare plus.com.

Announcer 2 (02:00):

You are listening to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.

Announcer 1 (02:16):

Welcome to the McKesson Idea Share podcast series post show. The pharmacy podcast network was partnered with the Independent Pharmacy cooperative, better known as IPC, while in New Orleans at the 2024 event. Special thank you to the IPC team for hosting the PPN inside of their magnificent booth. And now recorded live in the big easy you’re all invited to, as they say in New Orleans. Pass a good time with our host and founder of the Pharmacy podcast network. Todd Yuri

Todd Eury (02:46):

With the CEO of A PHA. Michael Hoag. Michael, welcome to the show.

Announcer 1 (02:52):

Thanks, Todd. It’s great to be here.

Todd Eury (02:54):

Words are important because they put us in place to take action. The action that I see happening from the A PHA, even some of the new board members in cultivating relationships with other associations is amazing. Like I said, celebrating 20 years in pharmacy. I’ve never seen it at the accelerated rate that it’s happening today. N-A-C-D-S-A-P-H-A-N-C-P-A-A-S-H-P, all these organizations, you’re finally coming together. It seems like you’re really working well together. Tell me about A PHA as the, we always say the ring, the rules, the mall, the hierarchy of, but that’s not where you’re, you’re a servant, servant leadership really, but you have cultivated these new relationships with these other associations, and it’s not just you. It’s the rest of your board that’s reaching out to these other associations. Talk to us about that. Well, I

Michael Hogue (03:48):

Mean, A PHA does believe that our role is to convene the profession. I mean, we’re the only association whose job is to serve every pharmacist. We’re really designed not by specialty, but by the entire profession support. And so we try to bring people together around things we know we can collaborate on. And there’s so much that our profession needs us to collaborate on right now. I mean, I’m doing this podcast recording from McKesson’s Idea Share and here at McKesson’s Idea Share, I just got off of stage with Crystalline Weaver, the NASPA Executive, national Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, and Doug Hoy, the CEO of NCPA. And I’ve been a lifelong career long member of NCPA. Doug has been a career long member of A PHA. Crystalline has been a career long member of both of our associations, and all of us have been members of our state associations.

Michael Hogue (04:42):

We support each other. We work together because we know that together we’re stronger and we can get more done. And so our message to independent pharmacists, not surprisingly here at McKesson Idea Share, is that we are locked arms together Now. We need you to join us all. We need you to be a part of all of us because together, we’re stronger. One organization being stronger than the other is not how the wind happens. The wind happens when all of the profession is connected and together. And we believe APHAs role is to do that convening and to bring it together. So this is just one microcosm example here at Idea Share, but we do the same thing in other venues and other places. I have no interest whatsoever in attempting to compete with any other pharmacy association. And there’s a lot of folks out there in the profession who think that A PHA and A SHP are at war against each other.

Michael Hogue (05:38):

This is just not true. I’ll just tell you it is not true. I respect and believe that the work that A SHP does is fantastic work on behalf of health systems pharmacists. And I believe the work A PHA does is also valuable. And that one plus one is greater than two this state in this case. And that when we do things together, we actually accomplish much better outcomes. And so our president, Alex Ky, is a hospital health system pharmacist. He’s very well connected to the just immediate past president of A SHP, Nish Kaba. And they have made it a point to be sure that our associations are working together. So you’re right, our board members are setting the right example. Our staff is setting the right example, and they’re going to be times where it seems like we’re on the opposite end of a coin.

Michael Hogue (06:33):

But I can assure you the dialogues there. We’re working together. We want to carry pharmacy forward together, but we’ve got to get pharmacists to be a part of what we’re doing. You say, well, I think it’s a waste of time. I just don’t think that it’s going to make a difference, folks. It makes a difference. It’s a huge difference. When I can walk on Capitol Hill and say that we have 200,000, 300,000 members, that is a huge difference in our ability to get things done for our profession and for our patients than when I walk on and say we represent 60,000 people. It’s a big, big difference. So we need you. We really do need you to be a part of A PHA.

Todd Eury (07:15):

This is great. This has been a very special episode of Lock Pharmacy here with the CEO of the A PHA, Dr. Michael Hoag. This has been a treat for us. We really appreciate you. We know how tight your schedule has been. Thank you for sharing this time with our listeners. Thank you for your investment into our profession and reinvigorating us all. And it’s a call out to our listener, the listener that’s listening right now. Get involved if you have a complaint. Make it an active complaint and not just a, what do they call that? A couch Monday couch quarterback or something like that, or whatever that expression is. But Michael, this has been wonderful and I thank you.

Michael Hogue (07:59):

Thank you, Todd. Appreciate it.

Todd Eury (08:07):

What a special opportunity to have my friend, somebody I’m extremely proud of. I’ve watched his career throughout the years. I’ve even sold and consulted with him on a pharmacy management system way back in the day. Senator Shane Reeves from the great state of Tennessee. It’s so good to see you,

Shane Reeves (08:22):

Todd. Good to see you too. I know we’ve seen each other many times on Zoom calls and on videos, but it’s good to see you face-to-face, and I followed you as well. I appreciate what you do for the profession.

Todd Eury (08:32):

Well, I appreciate what you’ve done, not only for the profession for long-term care specifically and our seniors, but for the state of Tennessee and you representing healthcare and issues that you went through and the education that you shared with me on our last PBM reform podcast was just eyeopening. But we’re here at an idea share, McKesson idea share. We’re celebrating independent community pharmacy. There’s a lot of positive energy here. I want you to share with the listeners what’s on your agenda, what you kind of want to get out there, and then call out to our pharmacy owners that are out there and taking what you believe should be some of the next steps in the preservation of community pharmacies that’s at threat right now.

Shane Reeves (09:10):

Sure. I think the agenda today is, I mean, obviously the first part of it’s a little bit who I am and my love for pharmacy. Talk about, I’m a pharmacist. I’m a clinician first as well as my father and his father and his father. So we’ve been doing it a long time. So my roots are deep in the profession. Love it. So spend a little time talking about that. And then from there, I really want to pivot into some things we’re specifically doing in Nashville. We passed a scope of practice bill this last time, which really kind of provided a whole lot of new tools that pharmacists can now do in their pharmacies to make money on unique things like giving TB tests or we’ve increased what they could do for smoking cessation. We’ve increased. If you get exposed to HIV pharmacists can now immediately dispense a prophylactic type of testing immediately at the counter.

Shane Reeves (09:59):

Pharmacists can. Now, if you come in and they test you for flu or for covid, they can immediately dispense to you right then those antivirals. So that’s some cool new scope of practice things we’ve done. I’m also going to talk a little bit about PBM reform today. Obviously it’s a big part of it, but what I hope to hammer home, and the reason I’m really here is to talk about the importance of advocacy. That people need to know their pharmacists first name. They need to know their state senators and their state house members, first name and last name, need to invite them into their stores, tell ’em the problems they’re facing. They need to build those relationships so that when the time comes, they’ve got ’em. And I’ll tell you what else I might do today is this. We need a call to arms for pharmacists that want to run for office.

Todd Eury (10:44):

That’s great. I like that

Shane Reeves (10:45):

One. Okay. I am one. There’s 33 senators. There’s 99 house members in Tennessee. The committees I’m sitting on, nobody knows what PBMs and AWPs and DIRs are, and no one has a clue. So I think it’s important that we get more pharmacists serving in public office. If we could get hundreds and hundreds of pharmacists at state and federal levels fighting the fights, it just gives us more momentum. So I’m going to really try to push that today too and make myself available. If you want to run for office, call me.

Todd Eury (11:17):

That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Alright, let’s start with the Reeves story and how you got into pharmacy in the beginning. A little bit about you and then go into when you built 12 Stone and then of course when you ran for the Senate.

Shane Reeves (11:33):

Sure. So as I said earlier, my family’s been practicing pharmacy for 124 years in Middle Tennessee. So I got into pharmacy primarily early because my dad was a pharmacist and had a traditional independent pharmacy. I went to the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in Memphis, graduated in 1994, knew a lot about pharmacy, knew about business. So I’d sit in front of the bankers and the bankers would talk about p and l statements and cashflow statements and balance sheets, and I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Or you’d meet with the attorneys. And the attorneys were talking about org structures and do you want to be an S corp or an LLC? And didn’t know it was just things you don’t get taught in pharmacy school. So early on, I graduated in 1994 and I realized if I was going to be successful in pharmacy, I just didn’t need to be a good pharmacist, a good clinician as an independent, I need to be a business owner as well.

Shane Reeves (12:23):

So we began the process of really trying to create business strategy. So my former business partner and I, over our 20 something year career, we did it all. We did retail drug stores, we did compounding. We started packaging medications for nursing homes and assisted living homes all around the state. As it continued to grow, there was a season where we got heavy into durable medical equipment, hospital beds, walkers, wheelchairs, crutches. There was a period of time I had four or 500 oxygen patients and C paps and BiPAPs and nebulizers. Home infusion therapy was a big part of what we did for a lot of years. Interval therapy, specialty pharmacy, I mean Todd, we’ve done it all really has. And then 2015 we, my former partner and I sold part of our retail drugstore businesses and I started over, really started over in 2015 and I decided I wanted to start a pharmacy that really focused on patients with chronic, complex and rare diseases, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrigs root, rheumatoid arthritis, and specifically was going to try to do the infusion side of it.

Shane Reeves (13:27):

There was a real trend of a number of new meds in the pipeline that were IV solutions for these. So as opposed to doing it in the home, I said, why don’t we try to create an infusion center? So in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 2018, we opened up an infusion center that had about eight private rooms in it. I decided to make it feel like a spa. So when you walk in the front door, the look, the feel, the smell, the sounds, it’s like a real comfortable spa. People all have their own private rooms with wifi and Netflix, and they have real comfortable massage chairs and they have snacks. If they need transportation services, we bring them back and forth. So I opened that in 2018 and it worked. That’s awesome. Patients liked it, doctors liked it, payers liked it. So in 2019, I opened another one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and it also worked.

Shane Reeves (14:17):

And I said, okay, I think this is something we need to go after. So we went into 2020 and Covid hit, but Covid actually ended up helping us because people didn’t want to be in hospitals and they didn’t want to be in doctor’s offices. So in 2020 and 2021, we opened three more in the middle of Covid. So when we were coming out of Covid in 2021, going into 2022, I could clearly see this was an opportunity. So we borrowed some money, created an aggressive plan, and we went and opened up 15 more of them as quick as we could. 2022 and 2023. So sitting here today with you, I have 21 infusion centers. I have eight in Tennessee, six in Georgia, five in Virginia, and two in Kentucky. 30 million lives contracted out. We’re taking care of 350 employees, taking care of thousands and thousands of those patients with those chronic conditions. And I know I’m a senator, but to this day, my heart is a clinician. I just love taking care of patients and love seeing those families get better. So that’s where I’m today. And like I said, somewhere along the way I lost my mind. I ran for Senate.

Todd Eury (15:26):

Well, I think that’s special because the intensity of losing pharmacies across the nation is going to impact. And by the way, the wave is now the wave of what this is going to do to our nation’s health. The wave is now at the shores and we haven’t seen really the worst of what’s to come in some ways. So we are knowing that we need pharmacies that are in business to stay in business, need to thrive. So from a senator’s perspective and what you’ve learned about working for your state, and I think that’s so much, I think so much of you, your heart always has always been servant leader led. I remember when I interviewed you when you were running for Senate, you used that term a lot. You said servant leadership. And that’s true. That comes through you, your call out to pharmacists and even doctors or physicians for that most to get involved in your state representative positions or your Senate positions. That’s so important right now, almost more than ever before because of this wave that’s coming. So talk to us about leadership and talk to us about call out to pharmacists that are listening to this right now to get involved in their own state.

Shane Reeves (16:40):

So my fellow pharmacists that are listening to this, if not now, then when, I mean really, if not now, then when we’re always going to have uncertainty in the profession we have in 30 years. I mean, we always have had tailwinds that are positive and we’ve always had headwinds. But the headwinds are strong right now. They’re strong. So I would suggest anybody listening out there, we’re always going to have uncertainty. What we cannot afford to do is to be unclear about what’s going on around us. And we certainly cannot afford to not be unified. We’ve got to stand together and we’ve got to focus on advocacy. We need to pull together at a state level. You need to know your state senators, you need to know your State House members. You need to bring them into your stores. You need to show ’em what’s going on. You need to focus on advocacy and we need to be bold. And it’s difficult to do it, and I get it, but quit filling prescriptions for $50 below your cost. I know you’re taking care of the patient, but get that prescription. Get your senator in your store and say, I can’t. We have got to be bold and continue to be creative, but now’s the time. This could be our finest hour and let’s do it together.

Todd Eury (17:57):

That’s incredible. Alright, so what’s next? You mentioned a bill that had either just been passed or you’re working on. We kind of want to call that out to let the state of Tennessee know what’s going on, but also this is good for the nation to listen in to what you’re working on. Right.

Shane Reeves (18:12):

Well, I’ve been in there since 2018. So the one I mentioned earlier was a scope of practice bill I recently passed. We’ve done quite a bit of PBM reforms along the way, including, here’s a shout out that has been a good thing in Tennessee that I would encourage other states to look at. In the state of Tennessee, all of our insurance is managed by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. It all rolls up under that one big group. So we decided to pass a piece of legislation so that that department would hire what I call a PBM czar that now works for that department. He has his own team of people, and his job is nothing more than ensuring that PBMs in the state of Tennessee are playing by the rules. And if there are pharmacists being paid below their cost, which is illegal, they stop them and they find them.

Shane Reeves (18:57):

You find these PBMs a few times. You get their attention. You ensure that pharmacists that are in the networks are being honored. You ensure that these PBMs are not poaching our patients. It just kills me that you’ve got an order you’re filling for a patient and a PBM jumps in front of it and poaches it and takes it to their own pharmacy. That’s against the law in Tennessee now. Now, do PBMs follow the rules? No. Do PBMs constantly point to erisa? Yes, but I would just suggest that has been a one really good thing we’ve done. We’ve created a whole PBM department to say, let’s get this under control. And I think we’ve got to build on that moving forward in Tennessee. That’s

Todd Eury (19:33):

Excellent. That’s excellent. We’re so excited that you’re here that you got to share with us for the post show McKesson Idea Share 2024. I have to have you back. I’ve been tracking you for years now, so definitely have you back. But in closing, is there a call out to our pharmacy owners and anything that you’d like to wrap up with?

Shane Reeves (19:53):

No, I appreciate what they do for the patients across the country. Mean pharmacists that I know deep down love patients and they love patients so much, they’re willing to get everything away to the point that their entire practice can go under. And I would just say enough’s enough. There is a balance between caring for patients and being an advocate for pharmacy. True. And saying, we want to continue to be here for my children’s children’s children. So because of that, we’re going to be unified and we’re going to push back. Yep.

Todd Eury (20:23):

It’s put your oxygen mask on first before you put it on your loved one or your friend, because you have to make sure you can stay alive. That’s it. I love it. Thank you so much, Senator Reeves for being here. Thanks for participating. We can’t wait to talk to you again,

Shane Reeves (20:36):

Todd.

Todd Eury (20:36):

Thank you, ma’am. Thank you. Bye-Bye. If you come to the IPC booth at the McKesson idea year 2024, and you don’t run in to Shada C Childry, then you’re missing out. And she’s standing here with me right now. And you have been miked up at this event, a record time, what? Four times?

Shahida Choudhry (21:06):

Yes. It’ll be four. Five times, right?

Todd Eury (21:09):

Five times. Are you counting this one? Yes,

Shahida Choudhry (21:11):

I am.

Todd Eury (21:12):

Hello,

Shahida Choudhry (21:12):

Here we are. This is very important.

Todd Eury (21:14):

Welcome to the post show.

Shahida Choudhry (21:15):

Well, thank you for having me.

Todd Eury (21:17):

Talk to us about your relationship and growth. I’m going to get into some things about social media too, but talk to me about the growth as a pharmacy owner and how IPC has really helped you to grow.

Shahida Choudhry (21:30):

Well, IPC has been a fantastic buying group and they’ve been very innovative and really staying a step ahead of other buying groups that I’ve seen, and they’ve helped us grow with their warehouse and their pricing. And everybody should be looking into IPC’s Warehouse because they have very competitive pricing because everybody shops around for their generics and certain points. Not saying that we don’t buy from McKesson, but when we have to buy outside, we would rather support our buying group, which is IPC.

Todd Eury (22:09):

What about the tech? Talk to me about iCare Plus. Have you gotten into iCare Plus yet or anything

Shahida Choudhry (22:14):

Like that? I think I’m part of their second round of pharmacies. We’re very excited about signing up with their digital iCare plus platform with their R-P-M-C-C-M and their telehealth section portion of it. We’re excited to sign up and get that started.

Todd Eury (22:43):

So I think of different community pharmacies throughout the country that are better positioned for a telehealth environment versus others, depending on the demographics of your city. You’re from Tampa, so there are a ton of seniors down there. Talk to me about the difference between serving the younger crowd and the senior crowd and how you’re getting their attention. What’s the different things that you’re doing to,

Shahida Choudhry (23:10):

We’re targeting both age range, age brackets differently on different social media platforms. Facebook, we’re targeting our older, more senior crowd and Instagram, our mid-level, our thirties, thirties to fifties, and TikTok for our younger crowd. So we’re really targeting those folks. And with telehealth, each one of them, we have our own platform. POS pharmacy has our own platform for telehealth. We introduced that last year. Last year. And so it’s been doing well. And adding in the digital health portion would be nice. The digital iCare plus portion.

Todd Eury (23:50):

Exactly. You got it right. I know, right? I care. Plus,

Shahida Choudhry (23:53):

I know. I had to think about it.

Todd Eury (23:56):

Alright, so you have really, and your team, I love your pharmacy crew. Give them a shout out. But I love the comedy that you bring in the social media post. I look forward to seeing Palms Pharmacy on Instagram. Is Instagram your favorite platform or do you like TikTok better or Oh

Shahida Choudhry (24:12):

No, Instagram. Instagram is where I think we do well and we just love Instagram more. But Facebook, it’s funny, we post on Facebook and a lot of our older patients love it. They look forward to it. And TikTok is a different type of platform. They reject certain posts that we post. I think it’s very interesting. We did a post that had no nothing, no sound, no nothing, and they just said, oh no, you violated some sort of something. Like

Todd Eury (24:49):

What? Just pick it out. I’m like, okay. That is strange.

Shahida Choudhry (24:52):

TikTok, you’re weird. But yeah, we utilize each platform differently.

Todd Eury (24:56):

So who’s initiating when I see how busy you are, I know how busy you are because you’re a pharmacy owner, but who’s helping to initiate the consistency of your social media and your team?

Shahida Choudhry (25:08):

So we have my director of operations myself, and we do have a social media manager. We finally, we had one last year which had helped launch us, and then from there she had left and moved on to other things and now we just hired somebody else. But we sit down every week and we come up with a schedule and content, make sure it’s informational, educational, and one funny post. So we stay on that trend. We post Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays.

Todd Eury (25:37):

Excellent. So shouting out to other pharmacy owners that are listening to this, they may be IPC members, they may not be. What’s the best way from a time management perspective to get involved? More so in social media development.

Shahida Choudhry (25:53):

I don’t understand why nobody, I mean, people have not, it is free. It is no charge. You’re not paying for ads. I mean, you do pay for ads, but it’s something that everybody’s on their phone every day. Why not just be in front of your patients every day? I don’t understand why folks don’t do it. And it does not take up that much time. You really think in your head it’s going to take hours. But no, it doesn’t. For us, it takes maximum an hour and just knock out the content once a week, knock it out really in 30 minutes. Editing is what as you know, it takes forever. But that’s not my job.

Todd Eury (26:29):

Good.

Shahida Choudhry (26:30):

Not my job. Mine

Todd Eury (26:32):

Either.

Shahida Choudhry (26:32):

Not mine job. So we hand that off and then we schedule a post and then there you go. That’s incredible. Yeah, we try.

Todd Eury (26:39):

Alright, so before you go, I want you to talk to listeners about the expansion of your supplement business because it’s going extremely well. And give some advice to the pharmacy owners out there about that.

Shahida Choudhry (26:55):

I would say to other owners, don’t discount your patients. Don’t think that, oh my God, this bottle is $60, they’re not going to buy it. A lot of patients love to invest in themselves. Hello. A lot of patients go and get their nails done every week. That’s a hundred plus dollars. They’re investing in themselves. And with supplements, they are willing to do that as long as they’re educated, as long as you tell them what this is for and how they’re going to benefit, they will buy in. As long as you are bought in, you’re in there a hundred percent. They will buy in.

Todd Eury (27:24):

Now are you counseling them about specific vitamins and things that are happening in their lives? Or what do you do? I

Shahida Choudhry (27:29):

Mean, we choose, every week we try to choose a disease stage, a supplement or something that’s we think patients, well, lemme go back. We’ll get questions that week on a supplement, and then from there we’ll build a post off of that. Magnesium was one weight loss. I mean, there’s one a day Men’s Health. And then we’ll build off of that and then we educate off of that. And then it’s funny, it’s just funny. We’ll have people walk into the pharmacy playing my reel. They’re like, oh, I want this supplement. And this lady drove in from Jacksonville.

Todd Eury (28:04):

Geez.

Shahida Choudhry (28:05):

Wow. I’m like, you should have just called. Yeah,

Todd Eury (28:07):

I could. She can melt it to you.

Shahida Choudhry (28:08):

I could have just sent it to you, but thank you for coming in. That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. It’s wild.

Todd Eury (28:14):

This is the reason that you’re so influential and this is also the reason that you’ve been selected to speak about being this next generation pharmacy owner. And you’re so humble and you don’t let it go to your head. And maybe your staff thinks that. Oh, please. But regardless, it’s so fun, always spending time with you and talking with you and appreciate you being on the show.

Shahida Choudhry (28:37):

Thank you for having me. And shout out to Palms Pharmacy. Palms

Todd Eury (28:40):

Pharmacy, go. What’s the Instagram tag?

Shahida Choudhry (28:44):

Palms Pharmacy. Just Palms Pharmacy. Palms Pharmacy. The Palms pharmacy.com. Excellent. Go shop there, please shop there. Thanks for having me.

Todd Eury (28:58):

We’re at the IPC booth 9 0 3 at the McKesson Idea Share 2024. And I’m here talking about logistics and transportation not only of patients, but a product with Madison McFarland with Uber Health. Welcome to the show.

Shahida Choudhry (29:16):

Thank s

Madison McFarlane (29:16):

You so much for having me.

Todd Eury (29:18):

Alright. Right. So you’ve been here, this is your second year in a row, assisting and partnering with IPC and with our partnership with IPC, we want to learn more about what Uber Health is and what it does and how it ties into IPC’s vision of community pharmacy.

Madison McFarlane (29:36):

Absolutely. So Uber Health as a product, we actually started back in 2017, so we’ve been around for a little bit. We just haven’t had a ton of marketing power. So not a lot of folks have heard of us. But Uber Health, we’re a small but mighty business unit and overall big corporate Uber. And our product at its most basic state is an online hit, the secure portal for providers to be able to coordinate rides on behalf of their patient population. So I think we all know there’s a variety of different types of individuals who for whatever reason would not be able to navigate the personal Uber consumer app themselves. And so we have stood up this dashboard in order to empower the provider. But what I think is really, really fascinating and interesting with our relationship with IPC is we have actually integrated with the new digital health iCare plus platform for independent pharmacists so that the members of IPCs, whoever opts in for the new platform, they are actually able to tap into a variety of additional billable services that typically isn’t available for the independent pharmacists. So I mentioned earlier, I predominantly work with provider groups, but with our relationship with IPC, VE integrated into this new platform so that pharmacists are able to directly coordinate patient transportation right out of the application. So it’s really lofting them into the position of the provider and really being that primary kind of point of contact for patient care.

Todd Eury (31:09):

So pharmacists see their patients nine times more a year than the physician. So what you’re doing is making absolute sense. And when I think of the Eyecare plus system where we have different remote patient monitorings coming, we have telehealth to make sense of knowing what your patient’s going through, knowing that your patient is home bound and sometimes can’t get out or don’t have transportation of their own. This makes a lot of sense. So some patients may be wheelchair bound, for example. So talk to me about the differences of transportation. You may have more of a simplistic setup where you have a car, four door car versus maybe a van that has a wheelchair lift or something like that. Talk to us about the options.

Madison McFarlane (31:51):

Absolutely. So there’s a variety of different ride options on the Uber Health platform starting from your most basic, yeah, just your basic passenger sedan, four doors, moving all the way up to wheelchair accessible vehicles. And then in some capacity we are able to do higher levels of service as well. So really the journey of Uber Health overall, from our inception in 2017 has really been trying to take a look at what are all of the different populations who have a barrier, who have transportation as a barrier to care, and really how can we address that. So it starts with the folks who maybe we just don’t have a car. Maybe you live in a super bustling city and having a car isn’t necessarily part of life there. Maybe you’re a single parent and your vehicle’s in the shop this week so you don’t have a ride to the doctor’s office all the way up to folks who are home bound population. We also do a lot of work with IDD groups, so intellectually disabled populations as well. But I just think there’s a variety of individuals who, for whatever reason, cannot operate a personal consumer app. And so having their pharmacist really be able to take on that portion of their care, it’s a godsend, truthfully.

Todd Eury (33:02):

Excellent, excellent. If you’re listening to the post show for McKesson Idea Share 2024, and you’re interested in this program, reach out to IPC and your representative there, or reach out to the Uber Health team. Madison, what’s a good way to reach out to you and connect if you’re a pharmacy owner?

Madison McFarlane (33:22):

Yeah, absolutely. Best way to connect with me is actually going to be through LinkedIn. So Madison, Nordstrom McFarland, please shoot me a LinkedIn connection. I would love to chat more about your business and see how Uber Health and how the iCare Plus platform can really revolutionize things for your growth.

Todd Eury (33:43):

This has been an amazing experience here at the IPC Booth Independent Pharmacy Cooperative as we’re closing up the 2024 McKesson idea share. And I’m here with the CEO of IPC Mark. It’s so good to see you.

Marc Essensa (33:58):

So good to see you too. And thank you for having me, Todd. It’s always a pleasure to sit down and talk pharmacy with you.

Todd Eury (34:03):

You are absolutely welcome. Alright, so give us a rundown. How’d the show go for you? What’s the next steps? What’s the call out to our listeners right now?

Marc Essensa (34:14):

So we actually had a very successful show here. We were a little skeptical being the venue in New Orleans versus Las Vegas, which tends to be a more popular destination that our membership level would be down just because the travel and where we are here in New Orleans versus a little more central than the Las Vegas. But we actually found that our attendance was exactly the same as it was last year. We had just over 600 members that attended the idea share here from IPC. And I surely want to thank everybody who did attend that really went and put the investment into their business, into coming in and learning what’s contemporary, both from our own buying group, but also from other vendors that are here, as well as the messages that McKesson is bringing out to the marketplace in order to help keep independent pharmacy viable in our nation.

Marc Essensa (35:03):

So certainly appreciate everybody that has made that investment. Made the trip here and came by our booth. We also had 45 IPC employees that were here on the floor on a daily basis coordinating our wardrobes. And so special thanks to all the hard work for the staff both here and back in Madison, Wisconsin that put all this together for our members. And it’s not just our members, we’re also educating other members of other GPOs or non-affiliated independents because that’s really our mission to help educate ’em as to what’s going on, whether it’s in government affairs or new products or new services that need to be out there and just to think about pharmacy difference. So we will help educate any independent regardless of an IPC affiliation or not. And then lastly, McKesson did a great job hosting us thanks to them and them bringing their customers through and their sales reps and their management to come here and visit with us as well. And really equally invest in the future of independent pharmacy working together hand in hand to make sure that we’re able to be successful here into the future. And then lastly, we’re all sitting here in our brand new IPC booth. Yeah,

Todd Eury (36:09):

It’s

Marc Essensa (36:09):

Gorgeous. So we’ve kind of moved out of being a volume consolidator, which is an important, that’s table stakes for a group purchasing organization like ourselves. We’ve moved into pharmacy services, which is our digital health, as well as other services that we have that are going to be important to future Ready our pharmacy partners that are out there. So a special shout out to our marketing department that have done yeoman’s work over the last year. As you remember, as we sat here, we were just launching the concept and the idea of iCare Plus. And throughout the last year we went through our alpha testing and our beta testing. So thank you to all the stores that participated in that. And we are now fully commercialized. So we’ve spent a lot of time in the last several days doing all the signups and paperwork to get people future ready and onto our platform.

Todd Eury (36:56):

Well, Ashton’s already thinking of creative ways of what to add into the Eyecare Plus system. You’re starting out with a telehealth environment in connection with people that might not be able to get out of their home that need to talk with their pharmacist. What are some of the other ideas that maybe you can share with listeners that could be coming out of the iCare Plus

Marc Essensa (37:15):

System? So what it’s going to really do is it’s our base platform to be able to do these bolt-ons As we get into the 2.0 and the 3.0. Some of the ideas that we’re kicking around is certainly we want to be able to integrate something on a GLP one Glide 5 0 3 B initiative that we’ll be working on in order to be able to put together programs for weight loss for our cash pay customers that are out there. And we’re also working hard to get some of that 5 0 3 B covered by some of our insurance that is out there. So we are working that and that will go into the platform. The other thing too is that where we see digital health really going forward is to be able to go to small employers school districts.

Todd Eury (38:02):

Okay.

Marc Essensa (38:03):

Part of the idea of digital health is to be able to have our customers through our help as well, go to your smaller employers and towns, go to your school districts, your self-insured employers, and to be able to offer comprehensive services from soup to nuts that pharmacy can handle. So we’re going to continue to bolt that on. We’re also going to be fully integrating our Pharma genomics platform in order to be able to have that into the future as that becomes more important with specialized medicines.

Todd Eury (38:30):

It’s incredible. Can’t wait to talk more about it. We’re so excited that IPC is part of the Pharmacy podcast network. We’re going to be bringing program from IPC members, IPC Technologies, division Pharmacy, select. We’re going to be talking about a lot of different things. So you listeners out there, who are IPC members, reach out to the IPC team if you’d like to become part in these part of these conversations. If you’re not an IPC member and you’re looking for a partner to really help you be a thriving independent community pharmacy, please reach out to. And the website I always say is IPC rx.com. You got

Marc Essensa (39:06):

It.

Todd Eury (39:06):

Okay. It’s IPC rx.com. Mark, we’re so proud of being part of the IPC communications team and a shout out to Matt and the marketing team. You guys did an amazing job. Thank you so much.

Marc Essensa (39:18):

And thank you very much. And thank you for all you do for independent community pharmacy in being able to educate and to really bring us to the forefront of a communication platform where we can all share ideas, share perspectives, and educate us all to make us a healthier industry. So thank you very much for your

Todd Eury (39:36):

Work. Thanks Marc.