Arrive Health recently returned from Chicago, where we proudly sponsored Becker’s 2024 Chief Pharmacy Officer Forum. Discussions on and off stage made it clear that it is an exciting but challenging time to be in pharmacy.
Ambulatory pharmacies are increasingly viewed as an extension of the medical team, yet current approaches make it difficult for their workforce to keep up. What should pharmacy leaders be focused on to ensure success?
Here are three challenges pharmacy is struggling with today, which must be overcome to create more efficient workflows, support adherence, and drive patient outcomes.
Resource-intensive workflows are holding pharmacy back.
Fewer pharmacists are entering the job market; workload and expectations are up. A frequently asked question was: can technology reduce manual tasks and impact pharmacy staff burnout? Arrive Health’s answer is a resounding yes. One example of this is our prospective ePA solution, which uses integrated RTPB and automation capabilities to resolve prior authorizations before patients arrive at the pharmacy. This not only reduces the number of phone calls and faxes pharmacists and providers need to clear a PA, but it also speeds patient access to medication and improves the patient experience.
Patients are asking for help finding best-cost medications.
Our healthcare system is complex, and patients don’t fully understand their payment responsibilities…or all the resources available to help them lower medication costs. They’re turning to providers and pharmacy staff for help. Providers can help reduce sticker shock and support better pharmacy experiences by using RTPB to check eligibility, surface in-network pharmacy options, search for financial assistance, and help identify coupons before writing a prescription. Arrive Health’s EHR-integrated solution seamlessly searches all available options and shows best-cost results (in real-time) directly within the prescribing window – saving providers time, and patients money.
Pharmacy wants to personalize engagement, but that’s impossible without technology’s help.
Traditional methods to drive adherence are phone call heavy, requiring hours of pharmacist and staff time to reach all potential patients. Automated workflows and two-way dialogs offer a better way, making it possible to scale outreach and triage only those individuals with barriers to adherence for personalized follow-up. (Not only does this create hyper-personalized experiences, but it also supports point #1 above, reducing unnecessary administrative tasks.) Health systems using Arrive Health technology to automate adherence checkpoints have achieved a 200% increase in refill rates and reduced hospital readmission rates.
What should pharmacy leaders do next?
Pharmacy leaders have a golden opportunity to increase their department’s impact, but they need nimble, forward-thinking partners to help create more efficient workflows to support their growth journey.
Are you interested in learning how Arrive Health can help grow your pharmacy’s impact? Contact us to schedule time with our team today.
