As a follow-up to the UNC catalyst events, we would like to keep the conversation going by highlighting participant examples of collaborative pharmacy practice models. As such, we will be disseminating a series of case studies over the next few months with the goal of exchanging innovative ideas and best practices. We encourage you to reach out to the case study authors to learn more. Our second case study is Optimizing Medication Delivery and Adherence through our MAC Pack Program by Thomas McDowell (thomasmcdowell@my-macpack.com).
Recently, we have focused on optimizing our medication delivery model for our sync and adherence packaging programs. We were struggling with the challenges of unpredictability and disorganization within our delivery program, which mostly consists of patients utilizing our adherence packaging program, called the “MAC Pack”, which is an acronym that stands for Medication Adherence Collaboration. Our approach has been very reactive, and we were spending excess time and money coordinating deliveries in an inefficient manner. We would deliver to one location one day, which may have been 15 miles away, then we would drive back to that same area the next day. With gas prices increasing and dispensing reimbursement declining, this simply was not an option anymore. Our approach to solving this problem has been to hire a consultant that has already developed a highly efficient delivery model, purchase route management software to build our delivery strategy, and implement the plan within our pharmacy software and amongst our team. We believe that optimizing our delivery model will allow us to scale our program at a quicker pace and take care of more patients in our surrounding communities while minimizing the costs of medication delivery. Bringing our adherence packaging and delivery program to more patients means we can continually move the needle in terms of improving medication adherence, specifically in the Medicare and Medicaid population. On average, our MAC Pack patients have >95% adherence to their chronic medications. Primary Care Providers and Accountable Care Organizations are on the hook for medication adherence from payers, and we strongly believe that community pharmacy is the missing link on the healthcare team that can address those adherence gaps as we have the skillset and the tools to effectively resolve non-adherence. The challenges in implementing this program have been understanding the route management software, integrating with our current pharmacy software, and training our technicians on how to implement this service model. We are excited to continue optimizing this program, which will allow us to bring our services and care to new areas and patients since our per delivery cost is controlled and calculated. We plan to continually streamline our workflow through efficient dispensing, delivery, and care coordination, which allows us to focus on new clinical services and revenue opportunities outside of traditional dispensing.