Success Stories

Connecting first on a personal level is key to building trust, says Bandon Do, a first-generation Chinese-American pharmacist at Bob Johnson's Pharmacy in Seattle.

Hawaii Medical Services Association (HMSA) recently renewed a two-year contract with CPESN Hawaii to continue a gap closure program focused on increasing adherence for Medicare patients. Kerri Okamura, Program Support Lead for the Pacific Region, says the renewal adds an annual administrative payment to the fee-for-services program.

In this Community Connected Success Story, Ronnie Moore and his team at NYC Minority-Certified Allure Specialty Pharmacy partner with community organizations to provide disease management, and health and wellness education to neighborhood patients..

Alison Haas, CPESN USA Director of Value-Based Contracting, does the 2023 Success Countdown with lots of wins as improved patient outcomes, achieved payer goals, and increased revenue for CPESN community pharmacies.

As CPESN Mississippi pharmacies reached out to their UnitedHealthcare patients to collect blood pressure and A1c readings, they were able to meet additional needs and help patients overcome barriers to care. Amy Catherine Love Baggett, owner of Love's Pharmacy in Diamondhead and the network's Managing Network Facilitator shares how the payer program to close HEDIS® led to care coordination successes.

Kevin Day, owner of Day's Pharmacies and CPESN Ohio Managing Network Facilitator, describes the statewide Medicaid program exclusive to CPESN Ohio network pharmacists that allows billing for provider-status initiatives without a collaboration agreement. The program for Humana's Medicaid enrollees has a January 1, 2024 start date.

Tough times, turbulent times, and unimaginable industry change - familiar words for community pharmacy. How to make it through the coming months, positioned for opportunity? Randy McDonough, CPESN Iowa and USA Luminary, and a member of the CPESN USA Board of Managers shares his insights.

John Croce, CPESN USA Program Lead for Drug Clinical Trials, describes a growing non-dispensing revenue stream for participating pharmacies through three key partnerships, with interest from additional potential partners. "In the trials that we have performed, we have far outperformed other avenues that drug trial sponsors have used in the past."

CPESN® Virginia is preparing to launch the network's first value-based payer program to provide services to Medicaid patients enrolled in an Elevance/CarelonRx plan. Lura Thompson, CPESN VA Managing Network Facilitator, shares details in this video.

CPESN® Minnesota pharmacies will support prescribed use of medications for identified members enrolled in one of UCare’s Medicare plans. Lindsay Christensen, CPESN Minnesota's Executive Director, describes how network will provide direct support and education to promote medication adherence for hypertension, cholesterol, and diabetes medication, and will address gaps in statin therapy for cardiovascular health.

Medicaid patients of 18 CPESN® Iowa pharmacies showed improved outcomes for their mental health, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with fewer ED visits and hospital admissions. Elevance Health reported the outcomes last week, concluding that value-based partnerships with CPESN community pharmacies can be an effective strategy to improve quality and lower costs for plan members with the most complex needs. Lindsey Ludwig, CPESN Iowa Managing Network Facilitator shares the details.

Here's a preview of the 150+ Payer video stories in this showcase. It features CPESN local pharmacies from coast to coast, in small towns and in the Bronx, from the Midwest to the Deep South delivering improved patient outcomes and lowering costs through over 250 local Payer contracts. It's a story about scaling - learning from one success to build another for 41 national Payer contracts, and growing. Local. Quality. Scale.

A strong partnership between the Holston Medical Group and CPESN® Northeast Tennessee persuaded a national health plan to restore preferred provider status to CPESN pharmacies. Samantha Sizemore, COO of HMG and its Emergent ACO made a strong case to the payer, demonstrating value to both patients and the health plan.

Johnathan Hamrick, CPESN Georgia Managing Network Facilitator, describes the network's fee-for-service contract with a national Medicaid MCO to close car gaps for high-risk patients.

CPESN® pharmacies working with Mobility Health under a national payer program now have access to two additional lab services - the COVID-19 / Flu A&B / RSV Multiplex (four results) and the new COVID-19 Antibody saliva test. Sarah Priestle, owner of Hart Pharmacy in Cincinnati, talks about the new patient offerings.

Moose Pharmacy in Monroe welcomed the community with an open house to announce the opening of its Big Tree Medical Clinic. With a startup goal of 30 patients in 30 days, Ashley Moose, owner and pharmacist, says marketing includes social media, and outreach to self-insured employers and pharmacy patients.

CPESN® Michigan luminary Austin Brown reminds network leaders to look in their backyards for unexpected payer opportunities with local and regional agencies.

Rebecca Wagers, CPESN® Northeast Tennessee Managing Network Facilitator details how four CPESN networks in three states helped Emergent ACO boost flu and fall risk scores in a 2022 year-end crunch. Now is the time for networks to approach local ACOs to offer similar support earlier.

CPESN® Pennsylvania pharmacists will provide onsite vaccine clinic services at community outreach events held by a payer partner under an expansion of a regional Medicaid MCO program.

CPESN® NYC Luminary Roger Paganelli says training support staff as community health workers is a no-brainer for owners wanting to take their pharmacies to the next level. His Mt. Carmel pharmacy has affiliated with the special purpose program CPESN® Health Equity and will help promote a November CHW training to support NYC network pharmacies.

CPESN® North Carolina Luminary Jessi Stout says involving a pharmacy student helped make recruitment for an asthma medication study fast and easy for her Table Rock Pharmacy in Morganton, NC. The 10 participating network pharmacies met the RxE2 program goal of qualifying 32 patients for referral to the study sponsor.

CPESN® Washington's Kari VanderHouwen talks about her decision to affiliate with the special purpose program CPESN® Big Tree Medical. Big Tree is recruiting a primary care practitioner to reopen a clinic in a building owned by VanderHouwen and the location of one of her two pharmacies.

Through a national payer program with Genemarkers, CPESN® pharmacies are paid a flat fee to collect patient DNA samples for testing and review results with patients. The personalized medicine approach can indicate how a patient might respond to a particular treatment or which medication may work best for an individual.

Medicaid MCO coverage of adherence packaging and delivery through CPESN® Nebraska has allowed Elmwood Pharmacy to expand the service. Pharmacist Crystal Pfeifer says that's a plus for patients and for the pharmacy.

In this Community Connected Success story, pharmacist/owner Chichi Ilonzo Momah shares some of the steps she takes to welcome and successfully serve deaf and hard of hearing patients at her Springfield Pharmacy in Pennsylvania.

Clinical Screening for Major Depression Disorder treatment study proved a good opportunity for pharmacies in the St. Louis, MO metro area to boost patient engagement and pharmacy revenue. Tyler Taylor CPESN Missouri regional facilitator, said the RxE2 program paid pharmacies for all steps regardless of outcome, saying that's "... very helpful in a world where we don't get paid for our work very often."

Expansion of a Medicaid MCO program allows CPESN® Pennsylvania pharmacist to add diabetes disease management to services they provide to Medicaid patients. Additionally, they will now be paid for Social Determinants of Health screenings and referrals.

Successful engagement of pharmacy-based community health workers in a HRSA-funded vaccine hesitancy program helped pave the way for the special purpose program CPESN® Health Equity.

Sanjay Patel, Clinical Director with Haller's Pharmacy describes how the CPESN® California pharmacy built a multicultural team to serve patients in its diverse local community. Attention to cultural sensitivities is important for team members and patients. This is one in a series of Community Connected Success Stories.

Laura Rhodes, CPESN USA Regional PPP Lead, describes how quality performance by CPESN® Florida pharmacies in a 2022 Medicaid adherence program has led to renewal in that state with opportunities for nearly three times as many pharmacies, and expansion to Texas where almost 90 CPESN pharmacies will be able to participate. The two networks trained together last week, preparing for the renewal and rollout in Texas.