Becker's asked chief pharmacy officers from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. to share their most beneficial partnerships in 2024.
The 8 executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker's Healthcare Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit, from Nov. 13-14, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.
To learn more about this event, click here.
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As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who will speak at our conference. The following are answers from our speakers at the event.
Question: Which partnerships have been most beneficial this year, and what more are you looking for in the next year?
Madeline Camejo, PharmD. Vice President of Pharmacy Services and Chief Pharmacy Officer at Baptist Health South Florida (Coral Gables): In the past year, our dual-accredited health system specialty pharmacy has reached incredible new milestones! We moved into a state-of-the-art facility in a central location in South Florida, positioning us perfectly to serve our growing health system. On top of that, we rolled out a new pharmacy management system that has accelerated our specialty pharmacy operations, fueling significant growth and enabling us to expand our services to positively impact even more patients across our entire system. Plus, we've taken innovation to the next level by partnering with several local professional sports franchises, delivering top-tier pharmacy and wellness support to our premier partner organizations.
Elizabeth Oyekan, PharmD. Vice President of Pharmacy and Imaging Services at Stanford (Calif.) Health Care; Chief Pharmacy Officer of Stanford Health Care and Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley: This year at Stanford Health Care, some key beneficial partnerships with providers and health system stakeholders have been those focused on specialty clinical care, particularly in oncology, cell and gene therapies, precision medicine, and diabetes. These collaborations have resulted in access to innovative therapies, supported clinical trials, and integrated pharmacists into multidisciplinary teams, enhancing patient outcomes. Additionally, partnerships with manufacturers in education on social drivers of health and health equity as well as research collaborations have added significant value.
Looking ahead, the SHC Pharmacy Enterprise seeks partnerships that:
- Expand access to limited distribution drugs.
- Enhance the clinical role of pharmacists and technicians, with a focus on reimbursement tied to patient outcomes.
- Leverage AI and data for precision medicine and improved medication management.
- Sustain drug innovation through ongoing research collaborations and clinical trials.
These partnerships will support SHC and other health systems in our quest for the quintuple aim: better care, improved outcomes, lower costs, enhanced provider and team satisfaction, and greater health equity. For SHC and other AMCs, these collaborations will support our leadership efforts in research and care while addressing access and cost challenges.
Robert Fink, PharmD. System Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Executive of UofL Health (Louisville, Ky.): We converted from a national pharmacy benefits manager to an in-house managed program. We have captured 80% of the plan prescription cost, improved 340B benefit, and enrolled over 1,200 employees into our Medication Therapy Management clinics. Pharmacists working in these clinics practice under a collaborative practice agreement with our physicians. Pharmacists are able to optimize patients' drug therapy, while qualifying the prescriptions for 340B pricing. Employees seen in this clinic have copays waived and receive insulin, insulin pumps, and monitoring devices at no charge while improving their medication adherence and their outcomes. Additionally, we are now accessing manufacturer supported programs to reduce copays and drug expenses for our employees who qualify for these programs. These three initiatives have allowed us to better manage the drug costs for our organization.
Nilesh Desai. Chief Pharmacy Officer of Baptist Health System (LaGrange, Ky.): There is no successful business without great partnerships. This year especially with the launch of our new central pharmacy services center, we had great partnerships from our construction teams, information technology, human resources, finance, vendor partners, and internally all our pharmacy teams. Change is inevitable and the key is to continue to partner with everyone in the same momentum for the next year as we are never done in pharmacy with initiatives. The focus is always to do things that can remove barriers for caregivers and to better our patient outcomes.
Adetoro Oriaifo, PharmD. Chief Pharmacy Officer of Total Health Care, Inc. (Baltimore): Total Health Care Pharmacy’s Partnership Success: This year, Total Health Care Pharmacy celebrates the success of its partnership with Total Health Care providers and payers. This collaboration has proven to be one of the most impactful, helping to bridge care gaps, improve patient outcomes, and enhance operational efficiency. Through a shared vision for patient-centered care, these partnerships have delivered significant progress across clinical and administrative fronts.
Total Health Care Pharmacy has taken a proactive approach by partnering closely with providers, payers, and the population health team to close care gaps and improve quality metrics. Pharmacists have become key players in patient care management, identifying medication adherence issues, conducting medication therapy reviews, and supporting chronic disease management. These activities align with value-based care goals and have resulted in measurable improvements in patient outcomes and satisfaction.
One of the standout achievements this year has been a successful pilot program involving a pharmacist handling prior authorizations for a provider. This initiative was launched to reduce the administrative burden on providers and ensure that patients receive timely access to essential medications. By having a pharmacist manage PAs according to clinical guidelines and third-party payer requirements, we were able to expedite the approval process, enhancing both patient care and operational efficiency. Encouraged by the success of this pilot, we are planning to expand the PA process across all providers in the coming year. Our goal is to create a centralized and streamlined PA workflow, managed by pharmacists, to further reduce delays and administrative work for providers.
Building on this momentum, Total Health Care Pharmacy aims to expand clinical services next year. A key focus will be a pharmacist-led medication reconciliation protocol for patients transitioning from the hospital to the health center. Under this new initiative:
- Pharmacists will manage medication reconciliation through structured visits, ensuring that patients are on the correct medication regimens post-discharge.
- This will be followed by a warm hand-off to the provider, ensuring seamless continuity of care.
- The process will free up providers to focus on more patient appointments, improving patient access to care while reducing readmission risks.
The collaboration between Total Health Care Pharmacy, providers, and payers has laid a solid foundation for achieving better health outcomes, improved patient experiences, and operational excellence. Expanding the pharmacist’s role in both administrative and clinical processes reflects a shared commitment to value-based care. As we look to the future, we remain committed to deepening these partnerships through innovative workflows, expanded pharmacy services, and seamless care coordination, ensuring that every patient receives timely, effective, and accessible care. This year’s achievements underscore the importance of partnership-driven care models. Total Health Care Pharmacy is excited to continue building on these successes and looks forward to a future where collaboration leads to even greater improvements in population health and healthcare delivery.
Jenna Swindler, PharmD. Vice President of Pharmacy Services at McLeod Health (Florence, S.C.): Integrating pharmacy operations into your health system takes a tremendous amount of navigation and teamwork. Over the last year we have worked to partner with our outpatient clinics to identify and meet the needs of patients on complex therapies through new medication access services. These services are extending into a variety of other areas due to the successful initial partnerships in our targeted clinics. In addition to the clinics, successful medication access programs depend on a strong partnership with revenue cycle and patient access. Working together and gathering different expertise continues to make the journey to medication obtainment more seamless for our patients!
Nicole Shoquist. Chief Pharmacy Officer of JPS Health Network (Fort Worth, Texas): At JPS, we have a long-standing relationship with a pharmacy solutions partner that works across all of our pharmacy services from inpatient pharmacy, meds-to-beds program, retail pharmacy, 340B program management and optimization, and is the integrated pharmacy benefits manager for our employees. Over our nearly 14 year relationship, we’ve continuously optimized our pharmacy operations, expanded services to offer home delivery to patients, significantly grew our capture rate, reduced time to fill and increased our patient satisfaction scores.
We’ve recently expanded our partnership with Maxor, and in the year ahead are building a new on-campus specialty pharmacy to serve patients with complex, chronic or rare conditions.
Expansion of pharmacy services has given more opportunities for JPS to meet our mission and deliver care to the communities we serve.
Darren Evans, PharmD. System Vice President of Pharmacy Services at Phoebe Putney Health System (Albany, Ga.): This year, pharmacy’s partnership with the supply chain team has been incredibly beneficial. Together, we’ve been able to streamline procurement processes, improve supply forecasting, and address any supply disruptions promptly, ultimately enhancing patient care. Looking ahead to next year, we are eager to expand this collaborative approach by partnering more closely with the revenue cycle team. This partnership will be critical in aligning our operations with financial strategies to enhance billing accuracy, streamline reimbursement processes, and ensuring the financial sustainability of our services, further strengthening our commitment to delivering high-quality, accessible care.