Community Pharmacy Freedom, Cash-Based Models & AI-Powered Medication Optimization | TWIRx

Yoona Kim (0:05)

You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.

Todd Eury (0:43)

Thanks Rick, it's so good to see you.

Rick Seipp (0:44)

It's great to be on the program and thanks for coming and visiting us.

Todd Eury (0:47)

We get to be at Value Drug Company's headquarters here. It's Duncanville, right?

Rick Seipp (0:54)

Duncanville, yes.

Todd Eury (0:55)

Duncanville.

Rick Seipp (0:56)

We're so happy to have you here.

Todd Eury (0:58)

Well, I got to tour the facilities and I was blown away. The modernization, the automation, the conveyor belts. But as John DeJayme said, the cleanliness of this facility is just amazing. And it doesn't, I was talking to Kathy and she said, we're about 10 years old. This place looks brand new.

Rick Seipp (1:19)

Really appreciate that. The team has a lot of pride in what they do every day. Making sure we're supporting our pharmacies. But if you can't keep the warehouse clean, that's the product that are getting into patients' hands. So we're trying to make sure that everything is ready and ready to use for our patients.

Todd Eury (1:37)

So values drug, value drug company, your growth is phenomenal. You've reached your 90th year.

Rick Seipp (1:47)

Yes, we're actually, this is your 93 for us.

Todd Eury (1:50)

And the changes from my perspective is, pharmacy is going through massive change in and of itself. We're leaning much more into clinical services. We're spending a little bit more time with the clients or the patients that are dealing with our chronic disease states, backing that up with products that are constantly there. Last time you were on TWIRx, we were talking about the importance of getting the product, the timeliness of it, the shipping of it.

Today we're going to shift into the same element of change. And some of that change starts falling into that cost plus model.

Shout out to Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs and what they've done throughout the nation and bringing attention. Not so much him as a source. That's not where I like to go, per se. I'm always about the independent community pharmacy and Value Drug Company. But he brought a lot of attention to the term and people got curious. People started digging in and they realized, holy cow, PBMs and the way that their yesteryear model is now being forced to change because they're just not accepting it. So, talk to us about the evolution of how Value Drug is now that next generation wholesaler, full line wholesaler and not kind of like the way it was 20, 50 years ago.

Rick Seipp (3:12)

Absolutely. And we're very proud that we partner with all of our pharmacies and our shareholders and even our non-shareholders. So, any independent pharmacy, we're happy to service.

But it's not just servicing, it's partnering. And when you're partnering, you need to make sure you understand where they're going and meet them there. So, as you mentioned, we're happy, we want to make sure the product is getting there securely and without problems and clean. But at the same time, the pricing models are really important as well. So, as reimbursement has continued to be less and more restrictive, there's some evolution to cost plus and cost plus pharmacies, especially the pharmacies that just won't accept third party contracts and PBMs. And they're trying to make sure that they can service their patients efficiently, effectively, and have that patient care. And they could do that for minimal cost. And we have two very strong partners out in the Pittsburgh market in ForwardRx and Blueberry Pharmacy. And we have been very happy to pilot with them our cost plus program for the last several months. We're finishing our pilot here in the next month or so. And then we will be rolling that out to any pharmacy that like to within our area. And really, it's a matter to get them cost of goods, very reasonable for generic products, so they can turn around and then have even more patients to be able to be serviced by them. And take care of many of those burdens that they would have otherwise. They don't have the contract with third parties, etc.

And at that point in time, it's a win-win for them and their pharmacies. They don't have to worry about the issues that they run into with other wholesalers, and just eases that burden.

Todd Eury (4:59)

There's a freedom in that. The relationship that you have with your patients as an independent community pharmacy, there's freedom just at that starting point. But then when you add into that a cost plus model, you really get to drill down into care much more, and you're not being dictated by a formulary, you're not being dictated by pricing changes.