Pharmacy Innovators Podcast

The 340B landscape is constantly evolving, presenting both challenges and opportunities for healthcare providers. Visante is committed to helping organizations navigate the complexities that come with a 340B program.

To stay informed, listen to our latest podcast on all things 340B. Our guests, Ted Slafsky, Publisher and CEO of 340B Report, and Kristin Fox-Smith, Senior Vice President at Visante, discuss critical topics such as:

• The evolving landscape of 340B advocacy
• The importance of data sharing and transparency
• The impact of telehealth on patient care
• The role of audits in program integrity
• The importance of an effective dispute resolution process

340B Report website: https://340breport.com/

Subscribe now using coupon code VISANTE25

In this episode of Pharmacy Innovators, we delve into the critical roles of leadership and advocacy within hospital pharmacy settings. Hospital pharmacists are not only frontline healthcare providers but also leaders driving impactful change in patient care.

Join us as we sit down with St. Luke's Vice President & Chief Pharmacy Officer, Kelley Curtis, who shares her insights on navigating the complexities of healthcare systems. Discover firsthand how effective leadership strategies can empower pharmacy teams to innovate, collaborate, and ultimately improve healthcare outcomes.

Whether you're a pharmacy professional, healthcare leader, or simply interested in the intersection of pharmacy practice and advocacy, this episode offers valuable perspectives and actionable advice.

In this special edition of our Innovators podcast, we address your questions about infusion services and site-of-care strategies. Join our guests, Erick Siegenthaler, PharmD, MHA, and Dale Drizd, Pharm D, RPh, as they chat with Jim Jorgenson about setting up a home infusion program, optimizing pharmacy revenue, preventing costly leakage, and much more. Gain valuable insights to enhance patient access and improve provider satisfaction.

Delivering quality pharmacy care to communities across remote, often wintry Northern Canada presents unique challenges. Kevin McDonald and Sammu Dhaliwall from North West Telepharmacy Solutions join Jim Jorgenson to discuss overcoming geographical, weather, language, technology, and financial barriers to provide essential medications and clinical care.

Kevin McDonald, Director of North West Telepharmacy Solutions

Sammu Dhaliwall, Senior Manager of Business Development

https://www.northwesttelepharmacy.ca/

Health systems have been plagued by shortages of pharmacy technicians and many fear it will continue to get worse. Rico Powell, Senior Consultant at Visante and Managing Partner at Professional Pharmacy Technician Academy, joins our host, Jim Jorgenson, to discuss the pharmacy technician crisis. In this episode, Rico highlights technicians’ role in medication safety and what pharmacy leaders can do to help mitigate the high turnover.

Professional Pharmacy Technician Academy: www.pptaacademy.com

Contact Rico Powell: [email protected]

White Paper: The Pharmacy Technician Workforce Crisis

Transcript:

Jim Jorgenson, Visante CEO 00:04

Hello, and welcome to today's edition of the Visante pharmacy innovators podcast. I'm your host Visante CEO Jim Jorgensen. You know, one of the critical areas of importance for the US healthcare system is the labor pool. And this was significantly challenged and shortages exacerbated by the pandemic and in pharmacy I think this has been felt most acutely in the pharmacy technician market. And having a high-performing pharmacy technical staff is really critical to the effective and efficient operation of pharmacy. And it's also a key element of medication safety. And today, I'm really excited to have with us as our guest, Rico Powell, certified pharmacy technician and Senior Consultant here at Visante to discuss the technician shortage crisis. So welcome Rico. To start, can you please give our audience some additional background on yourself?

Rico Powell 00:56

Yeah, I'm from Memphis, Tennessee. I've been a certified pharmacy tech through PTC for 20 years now. I'm a husband and father of two amazing young men who both started college and also a bouncing three-year-old boy. I'm currently working as a senior consultant on automation projects here with Visante supporting health systems on various implementation projects.

Jim Jorgenson, Visante CEO 01:22

Great, before we jump into the tech shortage issue, I'm interested to hear what led you to your current focus on automation and informatics.

Rico Powell 01:32

Actually, automation and informatics was introduced to me from great leaders during the time practice model changes to get pharmacists closest to the bedside was high priority. Leaders developed a tech manager role. Current DOP (Director of Pharmacy), Dr. Allison Apple was taking the lead on these practice model changes and developed the tech manager role. In this tech manager role, I developed really key leadership skills that really took me a long way. In the same health system, you had forward-thinking pharmacy leaders develop this pharmacy automation analyst role. Dr. Brennan Erickson, and I'm thankful for him, he had a vision of me being in this role and leading IT initiatives for the system and at LeBonheur Children's Hospital.

Jim Jorgenson, Visante CEO 02:39

Great! Well, we're very thankful you're in that role as well. As a pharmacy tech, and someone that works in a variety of hospitals now for Visante , you get the chance to talk with your peers, what are you seeing firsthand in the field in terms of tech shortages.

Rico Powell 02:55

Yeah, you know, one thing I'm seeing in regarding tech shortages is all that hard work that pharmacies did across the United States to change practice model changes to put the pharmacists more to to the bedside are now being reversed back. I'm seeing these pharmacists are now taking on these technician roles due to the tech shortage. The high turnover is now massive. There's a lot of stress that's been placed on the pharmacists to do dual roles when, before the tech crisis, you had technicians filling these roles. Also, I'm seeing a lot of pharmacy tech agency work being done which brings a new variable when it comes to a patient safety risks when you have untrained technicians filling in just to stop the bleeding with this tech shortage that's going on.

Jim Jorgenson, Visante CEO 04:01

What do you think the most impactful area is right now in terms of the tech shortage and pharmacy operations?

Rico Powell 04:09

You know, I think the most impactful thing is overall the med safety piece of it. My biggest fear is that the shortage is not only impacting pharmacy operations, but it's also introducing patient safety risks. This is the untold story of how critical the tech role is to the patient safety's overall ecosystem. You often hear about in a retail setting of the pharmacy, the store manager or the pharmacist in a retail setting, and in acute care setting you hear about the physician, the nurse, the pharmacy, or the respiratory therapist, but the te...