St. Mary's Medical Center started a program called "meds-to-beds" several years ago to give patients better access to prescriptions, according to The Intelligencer.
The Langhorne, Pa.-based hospital noticed its patients had trouble getting their prescriptions post-discharge mainly due to affordability, lack of access and transportation.
The hospital decided to open a staff-only pharmacy to the public and call it St. Clare Retail Pharmacy. It began providing prescriptions directly to patients and giving them bedside consultations to give them information on their treatments, according to The Intelligencer.
During consultations, pharmacists check patients' insurance for coverage and copays and give them options and information on drug interactions and side effects. The pharmacists research rebates and prices to make sure patients have access to the lowest-cost prescriptions.
There is no charge for the service.
"It was never about trying to capture dollars or prescriptions, it was really about ... the convenience," the hospital's clinical pharmacy manager Henry Trumbo told the publication. "It’s one less thing that a patient has to do on the way out the door."
Read the full article here.
More articles on pharmacy:
World Pharmacist Day promotes use of safe and effective medicines
USP delays release of updated compounding standards
Americans pay up to 67 times more for drugs than other countries.