MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Brian Smith Pharm.D. Pharmacist in Charge/Owner Prescription Pad Pharmacy
Pharmacy School & Graduation Year: UAMS, 2001 Years in business: 13 years working for the chain drug stores (6 at Brookshires, 7 at Freds) 6 years in business for myself.
Favorite part of the job and why: Patients and a great staff.
Helping our patients manage their medication needs is our job. Getting to know each of them as a person establishes relationships and trust in us that last for years. We absolutely could not serve our patients without a great staff. They work hard and work together to serve on a daily basis in a pretty stressful environment.
Least favorite part of the job and why: Insurance reimbursements and PBMs.
What do you think will be the biggest challenges for pharmacists in the next 5 years? More than ever,
insurances are entering into an outcomes-based payment system. It will be imperative that pharmacists be recognized as providers to make sure those outcomes are met and be able to be reimbursed fairly for the services we provide.
Oddest request from a patient/customer: "Have your
delivery driver go by Burger King, pick up two number 1 combos, and I'll pay her when she gets here."
Recent reads: The Book of Revelations, Bottle of Lies Favorite activities/hobbies: Spending time with my family, watching my girls swim, hunting and fishing, training for triathlons WWW.ARRX.ORG
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Ideal dinner guests: My grandfather that passed away in 2009
If not a pharmacist: Plumber or electrician - I like to fix things
Why should a pharmacist in Arkansas be an active member of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association? The The APA works very hard to ensure that issues facing pharmacists are addressed with legislators on a daily basis. They keep us up to date on these issues as well as other areas of pharmacy and give us relevant information to help us make decisions in an ever-changing pharmacy environment.
How has your business and practice changed in the months since the COVID19 pandemic began?
One of the hardest decisions we had to make was closing our lobby and moving to drive through, curbside, and delivery. We don't have a huge lobby and over the counter area that accommodates a large group of people. When we added our employees into the mix, we were over the 10 person limit. As I type this, we have moved into phase 2 and decided to reopen the lobby on June 15. There will be some differences, but we will make it through them as a team. We are looking forward interacting and spending more time with our patients again. One advantage of this Covid-19 crisis is we have been able to focus on synchronization more. It has changed our workflow dramatically for the better in just 3 months. I would encourage any business not using sync to implement a program. ยง
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