PQS Quality Corner Show
Join Pharmacy Quality Solutions Associate Director of Pharmacy Accounts Nick Dorich, PharmD, for a podcast series "Quality Corner Show" that covers everything quality in the world of pharmacy and patient care. Look for future episodes to interview guests and experts in the healthcare profession.
PQS Quality Corner Show
How Albertsons Succeeds with New Pharmacy Services
Nikki Price, Director of Managed Care at Albertsons guests on the PQS by Innovaccer Quality Corner Show to talk about partnering with PQS to expand new pharmacy services and improve patient care through performance programs.
Quality Corner Host Nick Dorich, PharmD, and Nikki Price talk about working with health plans on new programs and services that create patient impact. Discussion revolves around how to involve the pharmacies while taking in pharmacist considerations. Price also talks about the patient response to these new programs and services.
00:00:01:05 - 00:00:28:18
Nikki Price
And really we see this as almost like a quadruple win. If you want to say where, the health plans win, right? By having decreased costs, using providers, like pharmacies, and pharmacists, to do that, and to help improve their store measures, pharmacies win by increasing, reimbursement for those services, but also help that, also that personal satisfaction and helping that patient, the patient wins.
00:00:28:20 - 00:00:46:17
Nikki Price
ultimately, because they're, they're the receiver in these services, helping them keep healthy and, maintain lifestyles that they're used to. and, you know, when they were younger. And then lastly, obviously, vendors like yourself, when connecting all of us together.
00:00:46:19 - 00:00:57:06
Voiceover
Welcome to the Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show. Buckle up and put your thinking cap on. The Quality Corner Show starts now.
00:00:57:08 - 00:01:17:08
Nick Dorich
Hello Quality Corner Show listeners, welcome to the PQS podcast where we focus on medication use, quality improvement and how we can utilize pharmacists to improve patient health outcomes. I'm your host, Nick Dorich. I'm excited, today, our guest is Nikki Price, and she is Director, Managed Care at Albertsons Companies. Nicky, how are you today? And welcome to the show.
00:01:17:10 - 00:01:20:06
Nikki Price
thanks, Nick. I'm doing great. Appreciate being on.
00:01:20:08 - 00:01:38:08
Nick Dorich
Fantastic. Well, Nikki, before we start and we're going to talk about all the great things that you are doing that your pharmacy team members are doing at Albertsons as you're providing patient care services in your local communities. But before we do that, let's make sure that we know who you are. So can you give us a rundown? You know, what is your background in health care and then what is it that you do?
00:01:38:08 - 00:01:41:00
Nick Dorich
How would you describe your role in Albertsons today?
00:01:41:02 - 00:02:07:09
Nikki Price
Sure. Nick. I've had a lengthy career. I've, graduated from Purdue University. I am a pharmacist, by trade, and have had a number of opportunities from working in our stores to, being in the HR area with recruiting pharmacies and interns. it part of our education department and, now, and also operations, overseeing pharmacies.
00:02:07:11 - 00:02:30:22
Nikki Price
and so, a couple different levels. But now I'm in our managed care department, so I work directly with our PBMs. in terms of contracting for reimbursement. So we see that, very closely, but also responsible for our medication adherence and our gap closures, for our pharmacy teams, working with, vendors like yourselves and health plan payers.
00:02:30:24 - 00:02:47:12
Nick Dorich
Excellent. I think one of the things that I've always found really interesting for many of the chain pharmacies, when I ask about, hey, what's the background and what's the experience, it often is like a road map where you've hit almost every department that could be related to pharmacy. And I would note usually, you know, folks like yourself have spent time, you know, working in the pharmacy.
00:02:47:12 - 00:03:05:10
Nick Dorich
You were a front line pharmacist. even whether it's through pharmacy school or are going through for you, you spent time as a pharmacy technician. So there's very much hands on experience. And one of the things that I always remind folks is that, hey, we as pharmacists are great patient advocates. We're great at providing patient care, but it takes a broad team.
00:03:05:10 - 00:03:27:16
Nick Dorich
And I think for folks like yourself in the organization, you get to see that experience. Now as well. And we're really excited to have this chat with you here and, you know, providing some input, providing some of the experience from the Albertsons team at Albertsons and the Albertsons company, the family of pharmacies and groups that have made up that that group have always been a a leader when it comes to, pharmacist and providing clinical services.
00:03:27:18 - 00:03:45:17
Nick Dorich
I think back many years ago to being at APhA and, then taking really pride in being the first pharmacy chain that was providing immunization. So excited to have you here today and be talking about how the organization is continuing that mission and pushing forward. So, Nikki, we're going to talk about that work. Are you ready to go for today's conversation?
00:03:45:19 - 00:03:46:18
Nikki Price
Absolutely.
00:03:46:20 - 00:04:06:10
Nick Dorich
All right. Well, first off, let's let's talk about this. You already shared, you know, that your team, you're working with the PBM, you're working with the health plans on contracting and also with vendors that are supporting the approach that your team is taking. So let's address, you know, the first things first, your team works with us at PQS by interviewing, you know, what do you see?
00:04:06:10 - 00:04:11:10
Nick Dorich
What do you see as the value? Why is that a partnership, that your team engages with?
00:04:11:12 - 00:04:39:06
Nikki Price
Yeah. So we partner with PQS for a number of different reasons. first, we feel that your mission, it aligns with our mission, which is connecting payers and providers together to expand pharmacy services, and expand really pharmacy, practice, into areas of growth, through expanding scope of practice for pharmacists, allowing them to practice at the top of their license, payment, their reimbursement, for the services.
00:04:39:08 - 00:05:04:09
Nikki Price
And really, aligning with our mission to overall improve patient lives, to make sure that they stay healthy, stay out of the hospital, prevent tragic events, which in turn always, reduces health care costs. And so through this partnership, our pharmacy teams, really help improve medication adherence and provide that point of care testing for health plans, all of which at the end improves patient outcomes.
00:05:04:11 - 00:05:30:13
Nikki Price
And really we see this as almost like a quadruple win. If you want to say where, the health plans win, right, by having decreased costs, using providers, like pharmacies, and pharmacists, to do that, and help improve their star measures. Pharmacies win by increasing, reimbursement for those services but also help that also that personal satisfaction and helping that patient.
00:05:30:15 - 00:05:55:21
Nikki Price
The patient wins. ultimately, because they're the receiver of these services, helping them keep healthy and, maintain lifestyles that they're used to, you know, when they were younger. And then lastly, obviously, vendors like yourself when connecting all of us together. So, one of the other reasons we, we really partner with you is because of as you're building relationships and connections across the healthcare industry.
00:05:55:23 - 00:06:19:09
Nikki Price
And then also, your team is very responsive to our needs and providing that critical data to help us make decisions and react accordingly. So by getting the data from EQUIPP the analytics dashboard, in that we can really start tailoring approaches and strategy, towards different plans, for different pharmacies, even down to the patient level. ,
00:06:19:11 - 00:06:35:19
Nick Dorich
Thanks for that input, Nikki, and if I was creating a word cloud on the reasons that are, you know, why pharmacies should partner with, EQUIPP, or partner with PQS, I, I think you covered everything that I think about internally here as part of the organization. And but two parts I'll call out is particularly important. It's good for the patient.
00:06:35:21 - 00:06:52:17
Nick Dorich
Yes. And it's good for their health outcomes. but two, it's good for the pharmacies, not just in terms of the reimbursement, which is important, but also for the pharmacy staff and being able to engage and provide clinical services, something that we went to pharmacy school for or something, whether it's the pharmacist or the technicians, it's something that makes us feel good.
00:06:52:17 - 00:07:14:15
Nick Dorich
And that's difficult to quantify. But it is important. It is important. It is a quality of life. It's a quality of work aspect, especially given, you know, today's retail market, today's job market and really keeping pharmacists happy and healthy just like we are for the patients. So, Nikki, I'll I'll transition us to our next question here. And you know, we're thinking about considerations.
00:07:14:15 - 00:07:37:00
Nick Dorich
There's different performance programs. There are different opportunities that are facilitated right through EQUIPP, or by, you know, by PQS that your team has to take take a look at your team is running a business and it's and there's parts of it where, you know, some programs are not all programs are going to be, you know, created equally. What does your team consider when new opportunities are programs are being offered by health plans?
00:07:37:02 - 00:07:52:18
Nick Dorich
is there something where you're looking at, you know, financial design, patient impact, how how it would be operating through workflow? What are the parts that and I'm sure you could list a long and you could provide a long list of items, but maybe what are the top items that are most important to you for these sorts of new programs?
00:07:52:20 - 00:08:10:03
Nikki Price
Yeah, really, all of the above. like you said, it's a laundry list, right? But really, when we're presented with new opportunities or programs, we think about how it's going to impact the patient, how it's going to improve their life. But really, how's it going to impact our store teams? and how can we make it easier for them?
00:08:10:05 - 00:08:42:01
Nikki Price
And of course, in the financial impact as far as you know, looking at the ROI that's associated with it. And so we look to, we provide different tools to our pharmacy teams. through EQUIPP, but also through the financial incentives to help them understand the why our pharmacy teams truly get the why when it comes to the patient piece of it, but putting it within workflow, if we can streamline it as much as possible for them to make it easy, we know that the success rate is going to be that much higher.
00:08:42:03 - 00:09:10:18
Nikki Price
we've also provided some additional tools, for our pharmacy teams through through centralized services to help free them up to provide these services as well to and so, doing that, looking at the patient impact and looking at the financial impact, really are the three major pieces. And then, that last piece of the puzzle is we think through, can we continue to connect with that payer and expand services that much more if we can improve our success?
00:09:10:20 - 00:09:17:03
Nikki Price
with the initial program, does that mean that, we can expand even further with them?
00:09:17:05 - 00:09:35:10
Nick Dorich
I think of this Nikki, It's somewhat like a spider web where, you know, when you're considering a program, if we're pulling on one string, it, it's going to have an impact across. It's going to have a ripple effect across everything. Right. So I think this is one aspect where when we work with health plans, it becomes very important to consider everything that's impacting on a pharmacy.
00:09:35:10 - 00:09:56:06
Nick Dorich
And it's we're we're certainly trying to push the message that, hey, these programs can't just be a launch right here, right now. And today. There needs to be a lead time, right? There needs to be a runway for the airplane to take off. Because if you're operating many systems and you need to be able to ensure that you're getting that lift to get the result, which here we're not just trying to get an airplane take off or land, but we are trying to provide and expand patient care services.
00:09:56:06 - 00:10:19:24
Nick Dorich
And your pharmacy teams want to do this. Your team at the offices wants to do this as well, but there's an important consideration for making sure it's planned out in advance. So everything could be taken into consideration. Okay. Next question here as we're, you know, looking at this, and you talked about this a little bit where there's very much an impact for workflow and the pharmacy team members that are engaged with these services.
00:10:20:05 - 00:10:38:02
Nick Dorich
So when it comes to new services that your pharmacies are providing, and I'm saying pharmacies as the business, as the physical location, but there are different team members that are involved with these programs or with these solutions or with the patient outreach. Right. Any of us who have worked in a pharmacy knows it's not just the pharmacist talking with the patient.
00:10:38:04 - 00:10:44:14
Nick Dorich
So can you share a little bit of information about, you know, what pharmacy team members are involved with your quality improvement process?
00:10:44:16 - 00:11:07:21
Nikki Price
Yeah, it's certainly, takes a village, when it comes to this. And so when we look at our corporate offices, our corporate backstage teams, it's managed care team members like myself, who understand the contracting, who understand where the opportunities lie. it's our clinical services team that really help provide some of the guidance, down to our pharmacy teams, our systems teams.
00:11:07:21 - 00:11:43:05
Nikki Price
That really helps from the IT approach to help streamline that. And of course, our operations teams that are, you know, setting the expectations, following up, educating at store level. the most important team members, though, are really our pharmacists and our technicians. both of them have incredible relationships with our patients. And through these programs, it actually helps, in my opinion, strengthen those relationships as well too, because once you know, someone takes care view from a health care perspective and helps you understand like, hey, like if you don't take your blood pressure medication every day, this was what could happen.
00:11:43:05 - 00:12:03:14
Nikki Price
Or they identify, you know, a number of different issues that could happen, whether it's a drug interaction or drug disease data interaction, whatever it might be. But as continue to, you know, be that front line health care that's so available to them, that pharmacist and that technician is really the ultimate piece in the ultimate, the most important piece of that puzzle.
00:12:03:16 - 00:12:18:01
Nikki Price
They really know the best. And in fact, they see them more often than their primary care providers see their patients. And so this is where I feel pharmacists have a real value to health plan, but really where we feel our pharmacies are the most important piece.
00:12:18:03 - 00:12:36:22
Nick Dorich
Yeah. That's fantastic. I, I always think about it and it's often said a reference that, you know, health care is local. And when we think about it specifically from the pharmacy aspect, it's it's that local pharmacist that that local pharmacy technician where, you know, whether it's us at PQS, yourself and the corporate team at Albertsons or health plan programs, these are all things that are going to be well intentioned.
00:12:36:24 - 00:12:56:00
Nick Dorich
But the person that's truly getting the patient to make that behavior change it is that pharmacist, right? So giving them the tools information and empowering them, providing them the work space to have those conversations and be the change agent for patient, that that is the crux that makes all of this work. That really makes the wheel turn. All right.
00:12:56:02 - 00:13:15:02
Nick Dorich
Nikki, let's talk a little bit actually, now about the patient aspect of it. And, you know, the Albertsons company, have I referenced already that Albertsons has been a leader in providing offering patient care services and really letting pharmacies practice at the top of their license? But some of these programs are new, or maybe they're new to patients in certain geographies, right?
00:13:15:02 - 00:13:36:00
Nick Dorich
They haven't expected a pharmacist or a pharmacy team member to to provide them that service. But your team has been increasingly providing, services like blood pressure readings, hemoglobin A1c screenings, obviously we know all about immunizations and test and treat and, you know, new immunizations like Covid boosters or RSV. What's the patient experience like? What is the patient response?
00:13:36:02 - 00:13:49:09
Nick Dorich
I have to imagine that there's some aspect of, oh, hey, I didn't know I could get this at my pharmacy. But this further drive, you know, loyalty, does it further drive trust? And are people now expecting more from your pharmacies as they receive these additional services?
00:13:49:11 - 00:14:17:05
Nikki Price
Yeah, it's a really great question. And we look at that and measure that on a regular basis through residency programs and so on. But overall, patients have responded positively, to services, you know, offered by their trusted pharmacist or trusted technician. Obviously, you know, Covid helped, improve that perception even more because, you know, many, patients realize they could get their flu shots from us, but then they realize, oh, I can get my Covid test here.
00:14:17:05 - 00:14:42:24
Nikki Price
I can also get this. And pretty soon, you know, the services. Just what else can I get from the pharmacy? And so by providing that convenience, obviously we're right there. you know, patrons are shopping in their grocery store on a weekly basis. They can stop by and ask a quick question if they need to. But we also, and then also with expanded hours, versus their primary care provider, you know, weekends, nights and so on.
00:14:43:01 - 00:15:05:15
Nikki Price
but also providing that care and that empathy, has really been key, for patients to understand that, hey, no, you really do care about me. You're not just going to fill my prescription for this and do that, but you also are here to help manage mental health. And, especially for patients who have challenging disease states have really, you know, gravitated towards that.
00:15:05:17 - 00:15:25:24
Nick Dorich
All right, Nikki, before we wrap up, I've I've got two kind of questions. And this is going to be a little bit different in in nature here. As we wrap up today's conversation, the first one is going to be kind of what's the the ask what's the recommendation to other pharmacies. And then I want to finish with a, you know, what's your recommendation or an ask that you would have to health plans when it comes to engaging with pharmacy.
00:15:25:24 - 00:15:45:12
Nick Dorich
So let's start off with that question. And you know, your team, the Albertsons company, has been one that has embraced providing primary care services that have changed how you've operated, you know, workflow to allow your pharmacist to step out from just doing that medication dispensing process. Don't worry, folks there. The pharmacists are still involved with that. Don't worry about it.
00:15:45:18 - 00:16:03:23
Nick Dorich
But providing them, the capability to, to provide those patient care services and to communicate with patients around those expectations, not all pharmacies are there yet. So, you know, do you have a message, you know, to other pharmacies about, you know, what it means to embrace primary care services and value based care opportunities?
00:16:04:00 - 00:16:34:09
Nikki Price
Yeah, I would say dive in. The water is warm. So and really, now is the opportune time to partner with payers and, and patients, as pharmacy has demonstrated that we can provide these services easily. you have to make it easy. You know, logistics are very key. you have to streamline it. But really as we, we really need to get to steady state, as more pharmacies get involved, the better it is for the pharmacy industry.
00:16:34:11 - 00:17:04:09
Nikki Price
And to show what really pharmacies can do within the total health care team and for the health care plan. And so by doing this, it improves our perception, so that health health plans will come to us more often and more frequently, giving us more opportunity to do that. And by doing that, we know that then we can continue increasing reimbursement, increasing, payment for services and really making pharmacy a sustainable, career path, as well as an industry.
00:17:04:11 - 00:17:26:01
Nick Dorich
All right, Nikki, and fantastic response. And that's the message to pharmacies. Let's flip it around now. What's your message to health plans about engaging and why they should engage? Either you know, those that are already on board with it, why should they continue to expand those opportunities or capabilities? Or for those who are not yet jumping in, what's your message to them about why they should partner with pharmacies?
00:17:26:03 - 00:17:58:17
Nikki Price
Yeah. So really, again, kind of going back like your pharmacist sees your patient, you know, more often than their primary care provider does. And again, we're frontline. We're convenient. We're easy to use. But really we are a healthcare professional that has, you know, six years of experience or more depending either residency, a fellowship and so on that really can practice to the top of their license and provide these provide these services so that health plans can improve their star measures.
00:17:58:19 - 00:18:23:01
Nikki Price
And with the ongoing evolution of Star Measures right now, they're going to need pharmacy that much more. And for social determinants of health screenings for blood pressure screenings A1c but managing the patient from a total disease state as well, like diabetes, for example. Many pharmacies do that, but they're not utilized by a health plan to do that from end to end.
00:18:23:04 - 00:18:48:07
Nikki Price
And especially when you look at pharmacies within grocery stores that have that nutritional component. On top of that, you really get the all in one package. partnering with their provider as well too, of course. But really, health plans can look at us from a lower cost provider, an easy provider, use more convenient, but also one that can provide the utmost greatest service, to their patients.
00:18:48:09 - 00:19:06:24
Nick Dorich
It's really a fantastic message. And it's it's Nikki, we're in this industry. It's always a surprise that more people aren't more groups that aren't on board with that already. But it's really the part here especially, and I'll add for health plans and other considerations when it's more important or increasingly becoming more important when it comes to the member, the patient satisfaction.
00:19:06:24 - 00:19:26:05
Nick Dorich
Right. And that's the part where a pharmacist, a pharmacy can really help, to make sure a patient understands their medical benefits. Prescription medicine is providing these services at a site that's even more accessible. And then their primary care or the other office visits. So there's a lot of opportunity here. And as I look at the future of pharmacy, I get this question a lot.
00:19:26:06 - 00:19:49:07
Nick Dorich
Hey, does what does the future of pharmacy look like? I'm hopeful there there are all of the opportunities for pharmacists, for pharmacy and pharmacy technicians, to provide these patient care services and to truly elevate the practice in a way that's meaningful. And as you said, Nikki, sustainable for our profession, but also in a way that is meaningful, accessible and affordable for the patients that we're serving.
00:19:49:09 - 00:20:06:18
Nick Dorich
So we're in a great position moving forward. I'm really excited. I'm really glad that we got to have you here. We we really enjoy working with the Albertsons team and your team really showing that, hey, yes, this is the value of pharmacy, that pharmacies can provide these services. And we don't get to see necessarily the pharmacist to patient aspect.
00:20:06:24 - 00:20:29:07
Nick Dorich
But we do see the results on the improved health outcomes, which is what we're here for. So Nikki, as we close for for today's, today's podcast and for today's recording, I've got two questions. The first being if folks want to get more information from you or about the programs that Albertsons are doing, or if they're student pharmacist, or even maybe some more experienced pharmacist that you mentioned, residency programs, you know, are there things there?
00:20:29:08 - 00:20:44:08
Nick Dorich
What's what's a good way to get in touch with you? How can people reach out to you? And then the second part is, do you have a message? You have some words of wisdom or, you know, maybe some words of excitement that you would like to share, you know, with pharmacists, but in, in particular the Albertsons pharmacies that may be listening.
00:20:44:10 - 00:21:03:18
Nikki Price
Sure. So first of all, yeah. Feel free to get a hold of me. LinkedIn is a great way to to reach out to me. You can find me there, under Nikki Price. you're more than welcome to email me. Nikki.price@albertsons.com. That is not a problem whatsoever. Happy to connect with anyone, through either of those channels.
00:21:03:20 - 00:21:27:15
Nikki Price
And then lastly, really wanted to thank our pharmacy teams. They do so much every day, that they don't get credit for. And so whether it is helping a patient, you know, you know, save their life, you know, should an event that's happening right then and there or whether it's something long term, and through medication adherence programs.
00:21:27:17 - 00:21:39:13
Nikki Price
But they're recognized in the industry as doing a fantastic job and really want to appreciate them. as far as what they do every day for their patients and for our company.
00:21:39:15 - 00:21:58:00
Nick Dorich
Fantastic message and a great way to end. So, Nikki, again, on behalf of myself and the team here at PQS, we thank you for all the work that your team does. We thank you for joining today to help share this message of positivity and a great path forward for pharmacy as well. but for our audience, that does mean now that we have wrapped up this episode of the Quality Corner Show.
00:21:58:02 - 00:22:06:06
Nick Dorich
So we do thank you for joining us today. We hope you listen to our next episode. And before we go, we have one final message from the PQS team.
00:22:06:08 - 00:22:27:22
Voiceover
The Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show has a request for you. Our goal is to spread the word about how quality measurement can help improve health outcomes, and we need your help in sharing this podcast to friends and colleagues in the health care industry. We also want you to provide feedback, ask us questions, and suggest health topics you'd like to see covered.
00:22:27:24 - 00:22:47:13
Voiceover
If you are a health expert and you want to contribute to the show or even talk on the show, please contact us. You can email info@pharmacyquality.com. Let us know what is on your mind, what we can address so that you are fully informed. We want you to be able to provide the best care for your patients and members.
00:22:47:15 - 00:22:50:02
Voiceover
And we wish all of you listeners out there well.