Rising Star Living Well Pharmacy Achieves "Most Improved" Status in EQUIPP

Vic Johnson, RPh, BCNP, owner and Pharmacist in Charge, at Living Well Pharmacy in Augusta, GA, talks with the Quality Corner Show about how their pharmacy achieved the "Most Improved" APCI pharmacy from 2023 to 2024 in EQUIPP and receiving an inaugural Star Award.

Host Brittany Boyd, Associate Director of Pharmacy Training and Support at PQS by Innovaccer asks Johnson about logging into EQUIPP and incorporating it into daily workflow processes. Johnson explains the ease-of-use of the platform and thanks his staff for their support in winning this first-time award.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

00:00:01:00 - 00:00:11:04

Vic Johnson

We keep EQUIPP running in the background daily to allow us, a look up on patient outliers and see if that patient is on the list.

00:00:11:06 - 00:00:36:02

Vic Johnson

If they are, we ask if they have time for us to talk more about their compliance and how they're taking their medications correctly, how that if they take their medications correctly should improve on their overall health. Maybe they're having side effects, maybe they don't have a good daily routine. Maybe they've been in the hospital. Maybe they're lacking a needed medication.

00:00:36:04 - 00:00:41:24

Vic Johnson

We just want to increase communication between us and the patient.

00:00:42:10 - 00:00:46:08

Voice Over

Welcome to the Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show,

00:00:46:24 - 00:00:52:03

Voice Over

Buckle up and put your thinking cap on. The Quality Corner Show starts now.

00:00:52:16 - 00:01:12:13

Brittany Boyd

Hello, and welcome to a special edition of the Quality Corner Podcast Show. Today, I will be your host, Brittany Boyd, Associate Director of Pharmacy Training and Support. On today's special edition of the Quality Corner Show, I have the privilege of interviewing Vic Johnson. Vic is the Pharmacist in Charge and owner of Living Well Pharmacy located in Augusta, Georgia.

00:01:12:15 - 00:01:24:14

Brittany Boyd

The performance of Living Well Pharmacy in the 2024 calendar year has identified them as the most improved pharmacy within APCI under our new Pharmacy Stars program. Vic, welcome to the show.

00:01:25:06 - 00:01:34:19

Vic Johnson

Well, Brittany, thank you so much for having me. And on behalf of myself and my staff, I'm glad to participate in the Quality Corner Podcast Show.

00:01:34:24 - 00:01:46:07

Brittany Boyd

Thank you Vic. We're very excited to have you here as well. In for our Quality Corner show listeners wondering, what's a pharmacy star? Well, I'm happy to announce that the Pharmacy Stars program is a recognition program.

00:01:46:07 - 00:01:52:11

Brittany Boyd

we are introducing this to recognize the outstanding achievements of our community pharmacy partners.

00:01:52:13 - 00:02:01:24

Brittany Boyd

PQS by Innovaccer would like to celebrate the efforts of our end users as they leverage the EQUIPP platform to best influence their actions in the pharmacy. We will spend today's episode

00:02:01:24 - 00:02:07:21

Brittany Boyd

getting familiar with Vic and Living World Pharmacy ahead of the APCI convention, where the award will be physically presented.

00:02:07:21 - 00:02:09:15

Brittany Boyd

So you're more than likely listening to this

00:02:09:15 - 00:02:26:24

Brittany Boyd

after this, the award ceremony has already occurred. So please join me in again congratulating the Living Well Pharmacy for their magnificent performance improvements from 2023 to 2024 on the medication related quality measures within EQUIPP. Vic, how does it feel to receive this award from EQUIPP?

00:02:27:04 - 00:02:45:23

Vic Johnson

Well, it's an honor to be receiving this award from EQUIPP. My staff and I were truly surprised by the announcement. We at Living Well Pharmacy strive to take care of our patients to achieve the healthiest outcomes possible. EQUIPP has helped us in this goal.

00:02:46:13 - 00:03:05:03

Brittany Boyd

We love to hear that, Vic. And that is really important to know that EQUIPP has had a handle on that. But again, congratulations. So as I mentioned to my listeners here, we're going to take some more time to learn about living well pharmacy. So Vic, I want to jump right in. On average, how many patients do you think you and your staff engage with every week?

00:03:05:20 - 00:03:20:01

Vic Johnson

Well, I don't know that we've kept an exact number, but we look for patients with certain disease states and who we notice are on multiple medications. Sometimes that might be quite a few in a week. Other times not as much.

00:03:20:01 - 00:03:30:05

Vic Johnson

We keep EQUIPP running in the background daily to allow us, a look up on patient outliers and see if that patient is on the list.

00:03:30:07 - 00:03:55:03

Vic Johnson

If they are, we ask if they have time for us to talk more about their compliance and how they're taking their medications correctly, how that if they take their medications correctly should improve on their overall health. Maybe they're having side effects, maybe they don't have a good daily routine. Maybe they've been in the hospital. Maybe they're lacking a needed medication.

00:03:55:05 - 00:04:01:00

Vic Johnson

We just want to increase communication between us and the patient.

00:04:02:00 - 00:04:22:08

Brittany Boyd

That is amazing and truly impressive. Vic, I do love hearing about the way that you're taking the data out of EQUIPP, and you are using it to focus on your patients and finding a way to further engage with them to best meet them where they are and ensuring that, they are ultimately getting the the best out of their medicinal regimen from their community pharmacy is.

00:04:22:08 - 00:04:43:08

Brittany Boyd

That's amazing. We often hear from pharmacies that it can be challenging to utilize EQUIPP at the store level, along with a number of other software programs that you all may have. And there may be other competing priorities. So how often, do you and the staff there at Living Well Pharmacy log into EQUIPP and when is the best time that you all have found to review the performance data?

00:04:44:01 - 00:05:08:18

Vic Johnson

So this is a fairly easy process for us. We're not an extremely busy pharmacy, so we pull up EQUIPP in the morning and it's running in the background all the time. So if we identify a patient or candidate to review, I mean, we just switch over the screen to EQUIPP and, and it really doesn't disrupt much on our workflow.

00:05:08:20 - 00:05:25:23

Vic Johnson

Of course, I know there are other pharmacies that the time is so critical in their workflow. But again, at Living Well Pharmacy, I think we have that good balance of being able to, utilize the technology that's there and we just try to keep it up in the background all the time.

00:05:27:03 - 00:05:44:10

Brittany Boyd

Well, I love to hear that. Vic, that sounds like you guys are really again, you are high performers in high utilizers of the EQUIPP platform. That's amazing. So you've already shared with us some, you know, really great best practices that you all are leveraging with EQUIPP running in the background and making sure that you're utilizing the outliers.

00:05:44:10 - 00:06:03:23

Brittany Boyd

And you've had really tremendous success that performance improvement from 2023 to 2024. It's so notable you guys are winning an award for it. So are there, other ways that, you and the pharmacy staff are planning to leverage the data insights within EQUIPP, to achieve maybe new goals you have set for 2025.

00:06:04:09 - 00:06:26:15

Vic Johnson

Well, that was a question that I struggled with just a little bit. And I think that, we're just going to continue to have in place, you know, putting our patients health first using technology like EQUIPP and our Pioneer in-pharmacy management system. I think we're just going to keep doing that in 2025 and beyond.

00:06:26:17 - 00:06:28:23

Vic Johnson

I just heard this weekend about some,

00:06:28:23 - 00:06:30:08

Vic Johnson

AI

00:06:30:08 - 00:06:42:21

Vic Johnson

that's going to get involved in, helping, have a virtual technician type program and, that can be running 24 hours a day for our patients. So, again,

00:06:42:21 - 00:06:46:04

Vic Johnson

As things improve. We'll keep trying to improve with them.

00:06:47:02 - 00:07:06:07

Brittany Boyd

I think some of the best goals we can set, Vic, is just maintaining the success and the goals we've already achieved. Right. And so that sounds like for you all, it's very much so, of what's not broke, there's nothing to fix. So you guys have found a system that, really works for you all and making sure that you can continue to be successful and continue to, like you said, putting your patients first.

00:07:06:07 - 00:07:26:09

Brittany Boyd

And that is remarkable. That's exactly what most of our pharm- are. All of our pharmacies are here for, right, is to put the patients first. And so we love that EQUIPP can support you in that initiative. So there's a lot of information, right. It's in EQUIPP, that can be can, you know, consumed first a lot of different pages within the dashboard, a lot of different things you can download and save.

00:07:26:11 - 00:07:35:01

Brittany Boyd

But I'm curious to know, you know, other than the outliers that you mentioned, are there any other specific features within EQUIPP that you have all found to be the most helpful?

00:07:35:20 - 00:08:02:09

Vic Johnson

Okay, this is probably your easiest question for me to answer. I love the outliers link in the EQUIPP platform. It is the go to for our staff. I love the information there, and it has so much, knowledge about the patient's medication history, where they're not being compliant, where we can try to help them as a pharmacy staff.

00:08:02:11 - 00:08:06:22

Vic Johnson

There's just no doubt that the outliers link is, is what is our go to.

00:08:07:06 - 00:08:23:00

Brittany Boyd

I love that. And again, that's a really important feature to have because like you said, it's important for you to know what patients you need to engage with, right? Which ones you need to set them up on a med-sync, compliance, packaging, whatever is going to best suit them and their needs. And so that's a really important feature.

00:08:23:00 - 00:08:46:22

Brittany Boyd

So I love that you love that. So two more questions for you. And you can answer in any order. You choose to you choose. But what sets Living Well Pharmacy apart from other pharmacies that have led to your success in receiving the Most Improved Pharmacy award? And what piece of advice would you give to our Quality Corner Show listeners, who may be needing some inspiration to be even more actionable within EQUIPP?

00:08:47:19 - 00:09:13:13

Vic Johnson

Well, first of all, Brittany, I don't think we are that much different than any other pharmacy. We all want to help our patients achieve healthy outcomes. Now, perhaps other pharmacies are not using a software platform such as EQUIPP on a daily basis, and if they're not, they should give a hard look into doing so. Living Well Pharmacy is a testament to what you can do for your patients,

00:09:13:15 - 00:09:22:12

Vic Johnson

if you combine the knowledge of the pharmacist and the technology available to increase medication health awareness.

00:09:24:15 - 00:09:40:01

Brittany Boyd

Thank you for that, Vic. That is actually really important components. And I hope that all of our Quality Corner Show listeners and our other pharmacies that are out there, really take and understand that advice that's really, really great. So I do have, one final question for you, but I'm actually going to give you this on the fly.

00:09:40:01 - 00:09:54:19

Brittany Boyd

Vic, this was not, a question I originally gave to you, but we want to get to know more about you. And again, I want our Quality Corner Show listeners to understand the value that you continue to provide to your community there in Augusta and Living Well Pharmacy. So how long have you been a pharmacist, Vic?

00:09:55:08 - 00:09:59:21

Vic Johnson

Oh, this is ah, this is, I'm completing my 40th year.

00:09:59:23 - 00:10:02:11

Brittany Boyd

Amazing. That is fantastic.

00:10:02:16 - 00:10:04:24

Vic Johnson

Yeah. So I'm really old. Yeah.

00:10:05:02 - 00:10:12:21

Brittany Boyd

No, you are not. But what a dedication to the profession. That's amazing. How many years has Living Well Pharmacy been, providing care to the community?

00:10:12:22 - 00:10:18:19

Vic Johnson

Yeah. This is our, this is the 12th year. This is my third retail pharmacy venture.

00:10:18:19 - 00:10:19:10

Vic Johnson

Okay.

00:10:19:10 - 00:10:39:06

Vic Johnson

I have, over my career, I've worked in the, I've worked in the chain sector for a number of years. Again, mostly independent pharmacy owner. And actually, I'm a board certified nuclear pharmacist, so, I did, I did hospital nuclear pharmacy for, for about, eight years.

00:10:39:06 - 00:10:40:14

Vic Johnson

Also.

00:10:41:03 - 00:11:01:18

Brittany Boyd

That is an interesting repertoire, but I love that, you've touched some very interesting spaces in pharmacy. Okay, so one more on the fly question for you. What about, the community pharmacy space drove you to kind of, you know, really plant your feet here and, be so interested in. And now, as the owner of Living Well and in maintaining the business there over the last 12 years.

00:11:02:02 - 00:11:28:24

Vic Johnson

Well, when my, when my job kind of changed from the last nuclear, setting that I was in, and I went, I went back to my home, if you will. Retail pharmacy is where I started. I was in pharmacy, and that's why I said I've been doing it for, 40 years. Actually, within six months of me graduating from pharmacy school, I was in a, community retail pharmacy.

00:11:29:05 - 00:11:59:22

Vic Johnson

Ended up purchasing that retail pharmacy from the owner. Within the next year or so, within 12 months of me, of me graduating from pharmacy school, I was already a pharmacy owner. And so the community pharmacy still is my heart. You get to see, people on a daily basis that you can help them with their, with their health and, you know, and you can also talk to them about their dog, or you can talk to..

00:11:59:22 - 00:12:23:02

Vic Johnson

You talk to them about whether you're going on vacation. I mean, you know, there's the interaction of just knowing people. Something that I don't didn't get in, some of the other, pharmacy settings that I've been involved in. So I, I do like that. I do like the, community pharmacy aspect of pharmacy, just because number one, because of the people.

00:12:23:18 - 00:12:42:15

Brittany Boyd

You know, that level of relatability and trust and kind of safeness you have with the community pharmacy because it's there, right? It's in your neighborhood. You know, these people, like you said, you get to know about their families, their pets, their vacations. It definitely sets apart and allows you to continue to be a trusted clinician for them, that they can continue to rely on.

00:12:42:16 - 00:12:48:18

Brittany Boyd

So kudos to you. And what you all do there at Living Well Pharmacy and what you continue to do for the community.

00:12:49:09 - 00:12:50:00

Vic Johnson

Thank you.

00:12:50:05 - 00:13:00:20

Brittany Boyd

You're welcome. Okay. So now pick as we wrap up, I want to know from you, are there any other thoughts or comments that you would like to share with our listeners about, Living Well Pharmacy?

00:13:01:04 - 00:13:30:21

Vic Johnson

Well, speaking directly about the pharmacy, I would be remiss, and I would get some deserved grief if I didn't mention my staff, that has helped me here at Living Well Pharmacy achieve this award. Heather Russell has been with me eight years and she is my lead pharmacy tech. Michelle Scurry has been with me all 12 years of Living Well Pharmacy's existence, and is a pioneer in clinical consulting as a pharmacy tech.

00:13:30:23 - 00:14:00:09

Vic Johnson

Margaret Keel Holt and Christine Reid were also a large part of our success. From 2023 to 2024 and have gone on to Margaret getting a nursing degree, and Christine has become an operating room surgical tech. We now have added Carson Posey and Whitney Davis as members in training. I'm so proud of my staff. They are the lifeblood. They keep me going.

00:14:00:11 - 00:14:21:05

Vic Johnson

That's that makes it great for me to have the working atmosphere that I, that I come to work every day knowing that my staff is just as engaged as I am in helping our patients. So I do want to finish up, of course, and say thanks to EQUIPP for the recognition of Living Well Pharmacy for this award.

00:14:21:21 - 00:14:48:24

Brittany Boyd

Thank you Vic. This is fantastic and really empowering to hear about the career path, dedication, commitment of your staff. I love knowing that everyone is just as engaged as you are, and you all have your common goals together and you're working to achieve them. And I love that EQUIPP is a component of that. So I want to really thank you, for one, being recipient of our very first, Pharmacy Stars Award program yet we have not unveiled this program yet.

00:14:48:24 - 00:15:09:04

Brittany Boyd

So you are our first, most improved, pharmacy that we are awarding. So, yes, this is inaugural. We do plan to continue this on for our other pharmacies, community independent pharmacies that are out there because we do want to recognize, the growth that you all continue to do within the profession, within the pharmacy, as clinicians and health care providers.

00:15:09:09 - 00:15:25:21

Brittany Boyd

How you and your staff are, again, it takes more than just one person right to change people's lives. But when it's a group of you all together, you're like superheroes and you are instilling that in your community for all the things that you guys continue to do. So we thank you for that and we're happy to award you for it.

00:15:25:23 - 00:15:44:06

Brittany Boyd

And really excited to be able to meet you in person at the APCI meeting here, coming up in Nashville. And more to come for all of our independent pharmacies. So again, thank you, Vic, for our Quality Corner Show listeners. That is all we have for you today. But we thank you for tuning in, and we look forward to being in your ears on our next episode.

00:15:44:10 - 00:15:45:06

Brittany Boyd

Thanks, Vic.

00:15:45:10 - 00:15:46:24

Vic Johnson

All right. Thank you. Brittany.

00:15:47:06 - 00:15:51:15

Voice Over

The Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show has a request for you.

00:15:51:17 - 00:16:15:02

Voice Over

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. If you are a health expert and you want to contribute to the show or even talk on the show, please contact us.

00:16:15:04 - 00:16:31:01

Voice Over

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, and we wish all of you listeners out there

00:16:31:01 - 00:16:31:09

Voice Over

well.