CPESN

Flip Creates Practice the Phar macy

Meaningful Change

Lindsey Ludwig, RPh | Executive Director, CPESN-IA

As I write this article, I am preparing to submit the Team Iowa application to the Community Pharmacy Foundation for a Flip the Pharmacy Cohort 2 transformation of practice grant. CPESN IOWA would not be the network it is today without our many partners, including Tabula Rasa Health Care and PrescribeWellness, our two Colleges of Pharmacy, the Iowa Pharmacy Association, every participating network pharmacy, each engaged pharmacist and even each pharmacy staff member helping to transform toward a new pharmacy practice.

The 30 pharmacies participating in Team Iowa Flip the Pharmacy Cohort 1 have achieved some incredible milestones in just the first nine months of the program. Prior to October 2019, only about 2,000 care plans had been submitted by our entire network of over 100 pharmacies. Pharmacist eCare plans were still in their infancy and needed a better pharmacy process to efficiently complete them. Since launching Iowa’s Flip the Pharmacy Practice Transformation Team, our 30 participating pharmacies submitted over 20,000 eCare plans in just 9 months from October 2019 – July 2020! We are currently assessing the data submitted to date in an effort to identify some best practices to share with the rest of the network.

While this is an incredible number of care plans submitted on patients, even more incredible is what practice change and care plan documentation has meant to some of our participating pharmacies. I received a testimonial from Jennifer Clayton, President/Owner of Clayton Pharmacy Services, recently about her experience as a participating pharmacist and owner. Jennifer openly admitted she was hesitant to apply for Flip the Pharmacy. She owns three small independent practices in north eastern Iowa. Her operation is small and fluctuations in cash flow make taking risks difficult. Her greatest concern related to limited pharmacist availability. They have a lean staff and have one pharmacist per 8.5-hour shift. She knew she would need additional staffing in order to complete the Flip the Pharmacy monthly goals, as well as appropriately cover dispensing duties. She said in the first couple of months she was nervous about her decision. She was receiving some push back from her team, as it seemed like extra work being added to their already busy day. However, they stayed committed, and Jennifer is grateful they didn’t quit.

Flip the Pharmacy monthly goals have pushed her team to work at the top of their licenses. Both pharmacists and technicians alike are completing tasks they originally thought impossible to achieve. As a result of the MedSync goals, their percentage of aligned patients in all three locations has over doubled. Only three months into the program, customers ask for MedSync, ask to have oneon-one interventions with their pharmacist, and show an active interest in their outcomes. Jennifer felt she was no longer just “throwing pills in a bottle,” admitting it takes hard work, diligence and perseverance. She said that what she feared to be road blocks have not turned out to be an issue, and trusting the process showed them the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now that they have created a system which incorporates clinical services into their daily dispensing work flow process, their patients

understand their monthly visit to the pharmacy involves much more than just picking up pills, and all pharmacy staff feel they are an integral part of the patient’s care team. Jennifer said she has added some payroll costs, however her DIR fees from Jan-June YTD have decreased by almost 50% as a result of their improved pharmacy performance. Better yet, their revenue has increased due to increased prescription capture, an increase in vaccination efforts, and completion of other services.

Jennifer has pushed her pharmacy team to become more. She said she is grateful for the opportunity and knows that their team will take the skills learned throughout this process in their future efforts. The best part is there are more stories just like Jennifer’s across our state and across the country. Practice transformation is occurring, it is achievable, and revenue will follow. As we plan to launch another cohort of pharmacies this fall to “Flip” their practice, I could not be prouder to be an Iowa pharmacist working with and for high-performing pharmacies to create that change.

Read Jennifer Clayton’s full testimonial at www.flipthepharmacy.com/post/a-flip-thepharmacy-testimonial. ■

Burnout & Resiliency

IPA Board of Trustees have adopted the issue of clinician well-being and burnout as a primary goal of IPA’s strategic plan. As IPA continues its mission to empower the pharmacy profession to improve health outcomes, we recognize this important issue and hope our members will find these resources helpful in addressing this important issue within our profession.

www.iarx.org/burnout ResilienceRx Podcast

iarx.org/podcasts

“Fail Forward” interviews & personal growth/ wellbeing tips

Aveea Partners aveeapartners.com

Wellness webinars, 1:1 coaching to uncover blind spots and build skills

IMP3 imp3.iowa.gov

Support for physical & mental healthy recovery

IPA Resources iarx.org/burnout

Information, tools to assess burnout, & resources to build resiliency