{"id":53683,"date":"2024-11-01T15:36:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/?p=53683"},"modified":"2024-12-02T12:36:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T17:36:46","slug":"community-pharmacies-health-care-service-as-its-supposed-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/2024\/11\/01\/community-pharmacies-health-care-service-as-its-supposed-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Community pharmacies: Health care \u2018service as it\u2019s supposed to be\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite financial challenges in drug reimbursement, URI alum seeks to expand services of Matt\u2019s Local Pharmacy<\/h3>\n

Pharmacists are known as the most accessible of health care providers, willing to meet with patients without an appointment to discuss health conditions, medications and their side effects, or possible alternative treatments to help keep fellow members of their community happy and healthy.<\/p>\n

But ever-increasing costs\u2014especially as third-party middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, maintain a stranglehold over pricing structures and insurance reimbursement\u2014has made it difficult for small pharmacies to run a business, leading to a corporatization of the industry and domination by big chain retailers.<\/p>\n

Despite the financial challenges, a handful of independent pharmacies in Rhode Island are determined to keep the \u201ccommunity\u201d in community pharmacies. Matt Olivier, a 2006 graduate of the URI College of Pharmacy who began his career with the big chains, loved working with patients, but hated the limits corporate red tape placed on the services he and his fellow pharmacists could provide. So he put together a business plan, sold his house, worked to secure additional financing, and in 2018, opened Matt\u2019s Local Pharmacy on East Main Road in Middletown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the main things when you come in my pharmacy, you feel the difference. It\u2019s got a community vibe, a welcoming staff you can come in and talk to,\u201d Olivier said. \u201cCommunity pharmacy has always been an amazing part of the community, and the big chains used to be that way as well. We are providing what I envision pharmacy should be. We are providing a service as it\u2019s supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olivier and his staff\u2014which often includes URI interns he precepts\u2014make it a point to be available to consult patients, address their concerns, and generally create the conditions they need to lead healthy lives. \u201cWe can provide such a premium service compared to our competitors. People come to us because they want to talk about their medications; they want to be healthy. That\u2019s amazing and that\u2019s why I\u2019m doing it,\u201d Olivier said.<\/p>\n

\"Matt's
Matt’s Local Phamacy in Middletown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matt\u2019s Local Pharmacy is planning to further expand those premium services. Olivier envisions a more service-based pharmacy, a one-stop shop where patients can receive more medical-based services like counseling on chronic disease states, health screenings and testing, in addition to vaccination and medication services pharmacies already provide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could see you, find out what the problem is, and you could leave here with a medication without having to go see your doctor or a walk-in,\u201d Olivier said, noting the severe shortage of primary care practitioners in the state. \u201cWe could fill in a lot of gaps, but those services won\u2019t grow if we can\u2019t be paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That requires legislative support in Rhode Island, which is one of 18 states that does not officially recognize pharmacists as health care providers, prohibiting them from billing for those services, Olivier said. The biggest problem, however, remains the level of reimbursement pharmacies get from insurance companies, which is managed by PBMs. Olivier said they frequently fail to pay what it costs pharmacies to acquire a drug, forcing them all to take a loss to fill prescriptions they can\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re seeing a lot of independents closing out, because we can\u2019t dispense medication without losing money. We can\u2019t get medications for what they\u2019re willing to reimburse,\u201d Olivier said. \u201cWe actually have more business than we can handle, and we group up with other independents so we have huge buying power, and we\u2019re all stuck in this position. They\u2019re really pretty much forcing you out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Olivier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Industry groups have been lobbying the state General Assembly to allow pharmacists to serve as health care providers and to rein in the PBMs that drive up costs. In the meantime, Olivier continues to seek alternate sources of revenue, renting space to a chiropractor in an adjacent building where he hopes to one day also offer pharmacist-based health services; planning to build a compounding lab; and offering therapies like hormone and veterinary compounds that don\u2019t involve insurance companies. His efforts have resulted in a business that is growing every year, despite the challenges in profit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run a lean machine; I\u2019m doing everything I can to make this thing run as well as possible for the least expense,\u201d Olivier said. \u201cI can really see things growing in the right direction. There\u2019s a huge opportunity here for outreach to our community. That\u2019s what gets me excited, to start offering things that no one else is. It\u2019s been amazing the amount of impact we can have on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite financial challenges in drug reimbursement, URI alum seeks to expand services of Matt\u2019s Local Pharmacy Pharmacists are known as the most accessible of health care providers, willing to meet with patients without an appointment to discuss health conditions, medications and their side effects, or possible alternative treatments to help keep fellow members of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1710,"featured_media":53684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1279,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-landingpagepharmd","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53689,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53683\/revisions\/53689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}