The characteristics of specialty pharmacies and traditional retail pharmacies differ because each serves specific patient populations with specific needs. The differences range from a patient’s contact with pharmacy staff at the time of their prescription fill or refill; the scope of services and support provided; the degree of communication between patient, pharmacy and physician; and the continuity of care.
Discover how communication and continuity play such a prevalent role in specialty pharmacy.
Communication: Reactive Versus Proactive
A traditional pharmacy does not call patients to see how they’re doing or if they’re experiencing any side effects or adherence problems. In addition, a traditional pharmacy does not follow up with patient education about their medication or condition.
On the other hand, Avella specialty care coordinators call patients the day Avella receives the patients’ prescriptions. Patients then receive a telephone call from their specialty care coordinator to arrange their initial medication shipment. This typically occurs within two days of receipt of the prescription. This level of communication is one major difference in a specialty pharmacy from a traditional pharmacy.
Continuity: Transactional Versus Consultative
Patients who are enrolled in a traditional retail pharmacy’s automated refill program receive an automated voice message or text message notifying them their refill is ready to be picked up. If there is no refill on the prescription, a patient may have no further communication with the retail pharmacy. Avella contacts patients every month as a critical component to its mission to “optimize patient health through a relentless devotion to clinical excellence.”
Specialty care coordinators contact patients every month during treatment with their specialty medication. Patients with chronic conditions such as hepatitis C may receive monthly calls during treatment. The purpose of the patient assessment call is to learn if patients’ specialty medication therapy remains the same, to find out how they are doing on their specialty medication, and to arrange shipment of their prescription refill. Intervention with the patient occurs when a clinical question, adverse drug event or adherence issue is identified, and the patient’s prescriber is then notified.
Patient assessment/refill reminder calls prior to the patient running out of medication allow ample time for Avella to receive a new prescription, complete a prior authorization process, if needed, and ship the patient’s medication without interruption of treatment. Should a specialty care coordinator learn from a patient that they have more medication than would be expected based on the physician’s instructions, the specialty care coordinator will notify the clinical pharmacist, who will, in turn, contact the patient to perform an assessment and intervention and then contact the provider’s office. Avella is always an active partner in patients’ treatment teams.
We invite you to watch our informative video to explain how a specialty pharmacy differs from a traditional retail pharmacy. The 90-second video utilizes animation to describe the differences between specialty pharmacies and traditional retail pharmacies.
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