By Tracy McMorrow, PharmD, Owner, Consultant Pharmacist
Does your pharmacist strip for you? I’m talking about strip packaging your medications to help ensure you are taking your medications just like the doctor ordered. If not, you need to have a serious chat with your pharmacy professional to find out why!
I think most people agree that pharmacists are usually the nerdy leaders found behind the counter at the corner drugstore. They have their nose to the grind, buried in their scientific thoughts of drug-drug interactions, contraindications and duplications. But a good pharmacist is much more than the lab coat and the disposable name tag attached. They can be the backbone that pulls together all the prescriptions from various providers and makes sense of it all for the end-user — YOU.
At Specialty Pharmacy Services, simply put, We Manage Meds. We are here to truly manage your medications in a way that most pharmacies can’t. To begin with, we have a different business model from the chain drugstores. We offer a more personal environment and experience with our newly renovated boutique-style pharmacy. The one-on-one consultations with our pharmacy professionals foster relationships beyond the check-out counter. In fact, once you become our patient, you become our commitment to provide the highest quality pharmacy care available.
How do we do this? By gathering all of your prescription and over the counter medication information you are currently taking. This includes, drug and supplement names, strengths, frequency taken and the prescribers of each. Many folks have a variety of providers, aside from their primary care physician, that manage a particular disease state, such as cardiologists (for the heart), nephrologists (for the kidneys) and pulmonologists (for the lungs) just to name a few. Having all these ‘ologists’ can be overwhelming!
Next step, is the medication profile review. We thoroughly review your medication profile with consideration taken of drug-drug interactions, contraindications, duplications and allergies. We then get your refills transferred from the last pharmacy used for each prescription. Providers are then contacted for any discrepancies noted between what was prescribed and what is ‘believed’ to be prescribed, which is way more common than you think. This step pulls it all together and weeds out the confusion.
Once the profile is collected, reviewed and corrected if needed, we process all prescription items through the prescription insurance, just like all other retail pharmacies. Yes, we are a ‘real’ pharmacy and your copays should remain the same or be similar. This step synchronizes your medication profile so that all items become due at the same time. We continue synchronization with each new prescription or medication change to reduce your trips to the pharmacy.
Then the stripping begins! Organizing the proper times for each oral drug or supplement to be taken is our specialty. We can take the largest list of medications and simplify it into a single RxStrip organized by date, day and time. It’s Free…It’s Easy…It’s Smart!
So, I will ask you again…Does Your Pharmacist Strip for You?! If not, call 850-226-8162 today for an appointment or visit our website at www.WeManageMeds.com and Simply your Life by letting us Simplify your Meds!
We are conveniently located in Paradise Plaza at 533 Eglin Parkway, NE Fort Walton Beach next to Denny’s.
