 I'm super proud to announce our brand new 2017 EPVS Program Workbook is now available on Amazon. This Workbook contains transcriptions of all 22 expert interviews from the 2017 Elevate Pharmacy Virtual Summit. Use this spiral-bound Workbook to follow along with the Summit and take notes as you watch top pharmacy leaders and experts share their experiences and ideas to help your pharmacy practice succeed! We've even left room for note-taking and adding your own ideas at the end of each interview . The Workbook, now available on Amazon is ready for you just in time for ENCORE Presentation of the Summit in September. If you are an All Access Passholder, you've already got access to these interviews in PDF format, but if you want them in a beautiful, coordinated spiral-bound notebook you can go here to get it now. The Elevate Pharmacy Summit Workbook is great for following along with the Summit interviews and there is even room for taking notes at the end of each interview. In addition to the original 22 interviews, the ENCORE Presentation of the 2017 Summit, will feature SIX brand new interviews with:
The Elevate Pharmacy Virtual Summit is the pharmacy industry'’s first web-based summit specifically developed for entrepreneurial pharmacists. You'’ll hear what works and what doesn't when it comes to:
Who will benefit from this Summit? Any pharmacist interested in building or improving their business and learning what successful pharmacy innovators are doing right now.
What is the benefit of the Summit? The Elevate Pharmacy Summit is a can’t-miss educational opportunity. Attendees will learn about new paths in the industry, validation/success stories of alternative business ideas, billing tips, and advice on building your network. Plus, we’ will discuss how to improve your existing practice with real-world advice from successful Pharmapreneurs. This spiral-bound, lay-flat Workbook will allow you to highlight your ideas, take notes and follow along word for word with the interviews while participating in Pharmacy's first virtual conference experience! Get your copy of the Program Workbook today and be ready for the ElevatePharmacySummit.com ENCORE Presentation on September 15-19th, 2017. Make sure you've got your free ticket to the Summit by registering using your email address here.  We are re-launching the 2017 Elevate Pharmacy Virtual Summit LIVE ENCORE on September 15-19th, 2017! If you missed any of the interviews and want access to our new BONUS interviews, join the Summit email list to get notified when the Summit ENCORE goes LIVE. I hope to see you soon and look forward to hearing your ideas and plans to Elevate our profession. Can't wait to get this information? Click here to upgrade to an All Access Pass and get access to the Summit instantly! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent consultant pharmacist living in Arkansas with her husband and daughter. Her latest project is the first-ever virtual pharmacy conference, the Elevate Pharmacy Virtual Summit. She is also the founder of Pharmapreneur Academy, an online e-Course and Community where she guides pharmacist-entrepreneurs through the process and barriers of building a pharmacy consulting business. She is the author of How to Build a Pharmacy Consulting Business, a contributing author for Pharmacy Times and guest host on the Pharmacy Podcast. More information about Dr. Thielemier can be found on her website.
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 As Winston Churchill once said, We all have dreams. Some of those dreams include running our own businesses. Some of them include quitting your full time job. Some of us know what are dreams are, but are too afraid to act on them. Pharmacists have to be one of the most fearless professions on earth. Why? Because every single day we complete very complicated tasks, hundreds, if not thousands of times with human lives on the line. I have explored this fearlessness of pharmacists in the past because I am so fascinated by the etiology of fear. When I began thinking about starting my independent consulting business, I had so many insecurities about not being "expert enough" or not knowing enough about business/marketing/etc. When examining your own career, do you have dreams of breaking out on your own and becoming a Pharmapreneur? Do you see yourself in a speaking and educational role? What opportunities that already exist within your current workplace? Once you have identified your passion and career dreams, don't be afraid to share your ideas. Following your dreams doesn't have to include quitting your job and diving in head first, but instead begin to test the waters. Perhaps you can find some inspiration my reading some books by people that you admire? I love to listen to podcasts and read about entrepreneurs that make a difference through their businesses. One thing they all seem to have in common is their willingness to share their skills in order to help others. If you want to start a blog, think about what your strengths are first. What do people ask your advice on? What do you enjoy doing? What makes you feel so passionate that you "lose track of time"? That is usually a good place to start when thinking about the value you can add to people's lives. Pick what you are interested in, and a passion that is most likely to be proprietary as well. I would love to hear from you and learn more about your goals. Email me if you would like to schedule a free 15 min coaching call! If you found this idea helpful and would like to continue receiving posts from us, we invite you to join the Pharmapreneur Newsletter to receive helpful tips and ideas on how you can build a clinical consulting business in your area! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com  Part 2: Using a Universal Pharmacy Scheduling SystemThis post contains some affiliate links. Some referral links may also benefit the referred as well as the referee. You may contact me for more information about referral links, as always, I only recommend products that I actually use.
As an independent pharmacist, I sometimes am asked to help train pharmacy staff to implement new MTM and clinical service programs. When having technicians schedule CMR appointments for me I like to have everyone be able to access the same online calendar. Using a system like Google Calendar for the entire pharmacy to access can be a good way for multiple staff members to be able to see, update and plan the patient MTM appointments. There are a couple of paid online scheduling like ScheduleMax that will allow you to set up patients and the software will automatically send out a reminder text on the day before the appointment. I am a big proponent of getting community pharmacies organized in a way that makes sense for them to be able to offer clinical services in a sustainable way. A pharmacist spending hours calling, scheduling and preparing patients for MTM is not sustainable. Many pharmacists don’t have the extra time and resources to be able to commit hours to these activities. How to train pharmacy support staff to integrate clinical services optimize your daily workflow is identified in Part 1 of this article on “Making the Call”. The next logical step in that process is having a place to store the MTM appointment information. Mirixa and OutcomesMTM have scheduling software as part of their program, but in my opinion it is too time intensive for staff members to log in and view the calendar every time an appointment needs to be checked. There is also no "alert" functions available in the platform software systems. For these reasons, I like to use online scheduling software such as Google Calendar or even a paid scheduling system like vCita (referral link) or ScheduleMax. Using the pharmacy's email account calendar or creating a new Gmail account for the sole purpose of scheduling MTM appointments may be a good idea. Then any person on staff can see the appointment and inform the patient of the next steps in the process. Once a patient agrees to the CMR and is scheduled for appointment, the patient is entered into the scheduling calendar. Then on the day of the patient's appointment another staff member can see the appointment on the calendar and call to remind the patient to come into the pharmacy (discussed in Part 3). The main idea is to put systems in place so that each time a patient becomes eligible for a CMR, the patient does not fall “through the cracks”. Systems help create similar patient experience year after year, can help the staff work more efficiently and save the pharmacist a ton of stress when trying to work MTM into the workflow. If you found this information useful, and would like to get our blog posts and MTM updates sent directly to your inbox you can join our NEWSLETTER. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com  Part 1: Making "The Call" One big opposition to pharmacist-led medication therapy management (MTM) is lack of resources; usually in the form of too few staff or not enough time during dispensing. In past articles, I have shared a few patient marketing materials to help generate patient interest in your pharmacy's MTM services. However, until patients are beating down our doors and standing in line for CMRs you will have to call your patient list. This is a duty that can be entrusted to a technician or a support staff member. Integrating MTM into an already packed workflow is definitely a challenge, but as always there are ways that we can find to work through it. While clinical judgment pertaining to MTM should absolutely be the sole responsibility of the pharmacist, not every aspect of MTM requires professional judgment. Some of the organizational and clerical aspects of MTM scheduling can be delegated to the pharmacy technicians. How can pharmacy technicians help complete Comprehensive Medication Reviews (CMRs)? The most time-consuming part of the MTM encounter, in most pharmacists experience, is the booking and scheduling of the appointment. There are different tactics and offers that can be made to the patient in order to help get them to agree to come in to the pharmacy for a CMR appointment. A well trained pharmacy staff member can usually get just as many or more “Yes” answers to the CMR offer. Who should I ask to help me complete my CMR cases? Usually, I try to identify the staff member with the best customer service skills. Most pharmacies have that one tech that has a very special relationship with the patients. The technician or staff member can be taught about MTM and can learn how to offer the patient the CMR appointment. Many times a customer’s favorite technician will be more likely to get a “Yes” when an MTM eligible patient is identified. Delegating “the call” to a trusted technician can help build an MTM program and allows the pharmacy to work together towards a common goal. That goal, in case you are wondering, is a 76% CMR completion rate. This is the goal you will have to achieve to receive a 5 star rating from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. How do I train support staff to call patients? I use a simple training call script (download below) to help teach pharmacy staff members how to approach a CMR offer. You are welcome to use it, try it and alter it to find the wording that works best for your pharmacy and your patients. Once staff has been trained, access can be made to a pharmacy-wide scheduling software that we will examine in Part 2 of this series. Now go out there rock MTM in 2016! Now you have a goal, so go out there and achieve it! If you found this information useful, and would like to get our blog posts and MTM updates sent directly to your inbox you can join our NEWSLETTER. In 2016, I will also be offering personal coaching packages to pharmacists who are interested in starting their own independent consulting services. There are limited spots available, so if you are interested in personalized coaching, you may contact me directly here. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com 
This post contains some affiliate links. Some referral links may also benefit the referred as well as the referree. You may contact me for more information about referral links, as always, I only recommend products that I actually use. Imagine if you had the time to personally tell each customer about every new sale, product or service that your pharmacy is offering. Imagine being able to have very personal conversations with each patient, speaking directly to them, on their time and in a place where they felt comfortable with receiving your information. Now, think about the many modes of communication you use each day.  Interpersonal communication can be written or spoken; this can include the [digital] written word. Think about when you are most receptive to being "informed" of new services, sales or products from your favorite retailers. It probably does even occur that often if you think about it. But, if you are like myself your email inbox is filled everyday by companies that are marketing directly TO YOU as a consumer.
My question for everyone is this. Why has your pharmacy not taken advantage of this very inexpensive, yet VERY impact-full form of marketing? Having an email list is becoming increasing important for all businesses. Even older patients are no longer looking into the yellow pages or in the local paper for information. More and more of our patients are going online to find the information they need. If they are online, chances are that they have an email address. I mean, you HAVE to have an email address to get on Facebook, right? So many businesses waste time on marketing that is now longer viable. Those that are looking into online marketing are looking in the wrong places, quite frankly. A Facebook page may be a great idea, but that page is actually very ineffective unless it is put in place to serve one purpose and one purpose only... to gather email addresses. Does that surprise anyone? How many times have you been asked for your email address today? I challenge you to start keeping a daily count. And notice that those companies are doing FOR A REASON. It is because you have shown an interest in their business (via a website or Facebook page) and they want to retail YOU as customer. They see your email address as an open invitation to market their goods and services to you on a weekly, daily, sometimes hourly it seems, basis. This isn't a bad thing, because it allows you to process the information they are sending you at a good time for you. At a time when you will be most receptive to their marketing. So you can take advantage of this very easy to use marketing strategy and implement it into your pharmacy business today. Its called a subscriber list. For a small monthly, quarterly or yearly fee a company like Aweber (affiliate link) or MailChimp will help you to gather email addresses from your website or Facebook page or you can enter them manually with permission from the customer. They are super easy to use and once you have set up your address gathering page people can subscribe or unsubscribe as they choose. You, however, do not have to do anything except send out a marketing email every once in a while when you have a new service that you want to promote. Want to host a flu shot clinic? Tell your list, you'll get a great turnout. Having a sale on some short dated OTC products? Tell your list, liquidate your inventory. One can easily see that being able to market directly to a targeted list of active subscribers is going to be effective. It allows you to connect directly with your most active patients in a way that is easy for you both to communicate. It is a very cost-effective way of marketing and most importantly, it works! If you could send an email directly to your patients RIGHT NOW, what would it say? If you found this information useful, and would like to get our blog posts and MTM updates sent directly to your inbox you can join our NEWSLETTER. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com
I am so excited to be featured on the only podcast dedicated to the business of pharmacy: The Pharmacy Podcast Show!
In this episode, Todd and I discuss the future of patient care, the enhanced MTM model and even pharmacogenetic testing. We share ideas about how pharmacists can market their clinical services to patients using Open Enrollment Flyers and MTM Marketing Signs. I also offer the listeners of the Pharmacy Podcast Show a free 30 minute coaching consultation for pharmacists interested in building a clinical services business. ​If you are interested in pharmacy business coaching contact me here, to set up your free consultation. You can also subscribe to the Pharmacy Podcast Show in iTunes and get each new episode delivered straight to your smartphone! Also follow the @PharmacyPodcast on Twitter and stay up to date on the future of pharmacy!  "It has been my experience that being pro-active, and not reactive, in protecting yourself, your business, your assets, and your family’s assets is of the highest concern." Today we are so lucky to have a guest post from our friend and lawyer, Alex Bigger, JD. He graciously wrote this guest post to help pharmapreneurs to understand exactly what, why and how you should LLC your small business. It is important for pharmacists to understand the legal issues surrounding contracting for clinical services and to protect themselves and their personal assets. Bigger attended law school at the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi, and in 2012 he received his J.D., cum laude, along with several honors and awards. While in law school, Alex served as a member of the law review and was a teaching assistant and student mentor for new law students. During his final year of law school, he became certified under Arkansas Rule 15 for Student Practice and clerked at the Craighead County Prosecutor’s Office in Jonesboro. Alex is licensed to practice law in Arkansas and is a member of the Arkansas Bar Association. He currently serves as the elected City Attorney for Pocahontas, Arkansas, as the appointed City Attorney for Corning, Arkansas, and as General Counsel for the Clay County Electric Cooperative Corporation. He is also the president of the Randolph / Lawrence County Bar Association. Today he shares with us some considerations that we should take in order to protect our personal assets. For a professional provider, like a lawyer or pharmacist, why is an LLC useful? Of the various types of corporate structures, the Limited Liability Company (LLC) is often viewed as the most flexible type of formal business structure, or entity. In Arkansas, as similar to other states, with the filing an Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State and after a few other procedural formalities and elections, an individual can form a limited liability company. In this writer’s opinion, it is one the first steps an individual should take in the forging of business credibility and strategy. The two immediate and most crucial takeaways are the limited liability status that is offered by forming an LLC which in turn offers asset protection and personal liability protection. An LLC will provide what is termed limited liability protection to its owners and members. Limited liability is protection from any action taken or failure to act on behalf of the limited liability company unless the act or omission constitutes gross negligence or willful misconduct. This means that the personal assets of the owner or member are not exposed to the debts and liabilities obligated by the LLC (unless otherwise personally guaranteed by the respective owner or member). In other words, a creditor may not successfully pursue the personal assets of the owner to pay the business debts of the LLC. This is in contrast to a sole proprietorship or partnership where an owner’s assets would be vulnerable and potentially subject to the same liabilities and claims asserted against the owner’s business. Without a corporate structure such as an LLC, a business owner is unable to avail themselves of the limited liability afforded to a lawfully organized limited liability company. What are the differences in the types of LLCs? The LLC offers flexible membership and management structures. Arkansas law recognizes the formation of “member managed” and “manager managed” LLCs. An LLC organized in Arkansas is member managed by default, which means that the collective membership of the LLC manages the business affairs and may each individually bind the LLC to contractual agreements. If this type of management structure is not preferred by the incorporator of an LLC, an incorporator may alternatively elect to use a manager-managed LLC. In a manager-managed LLC, the members may delegate management responsibility and authority to a single member or a group of members, or even a non-member if the collective membership makes this preference. Among other important decisions, determining which management structure to use for a particular LLC is one of the predominant reasons for retaining a trusted legal adviser for the creation of an LLC. Why should you use a lawyer experienced in corporate structure instead of "DIY"? An individual unfamiliar with the law would be better to be well advised by a professional attorney to set up an LLC. While LLC formation can be done by the individual person, a person not trained in the law may not be aware of issues or the effect of crucial decisions that are made in the formation process; further, the individual may not likely be aware of the various election options or how to conduct business in such a way that does not subject their assets to personal liability. In closing, the business environment is increasingly becoming more competitive, no matter the field of practice. It has been my experience that being pro-active, and not reactive, in protecting yourself, your business, your assets, and your family’s assets is of the highest concern. Formation of an LLC is, in my opinion, the first crucial step to creating a legitimate small business for an aspiring entrepreneur. Key Takeaways:
This writing is not meant to be exhaustive in terms of the intricate details and elections of forming a LLC. Consulting with an attorney who is knowledgeable in this field would be the best practice. If you are interested in starting your own pharmacy consulting services please contact me for a free 30 minute coaching consultation call and join our NEWSLETTER for all of our updated blog posts and MTM news. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com  How do you get really, really good at your job?
You do it over and over and over and you get the picture. As you repeat a task, you will find that you become more confident in your ability to complete that task. You become more efficient, you find better ways to do it. When you are used to filling 150 scripts per pharmacist and suddenly your numbers jump to 250 scripts per day, you figure out a way to make it work. Adding clinical services to your pharmacy is sort of like that. But what if you are just not interested in delivering clinical services of any kind? You find a person who is stronger in that area and you allow them to take the reigns while you focus on growing your own strengths. It is my job to identify and help correct workflow issues in the pharmacies that I work with. I help spot "bottle-necked" areas in the workflow and come up with efficient ways to overcome these barriers. It is challenging at times. One idea that may help alleviate workflow issues is to have a dispensing "productivity specialist" pharmacist to use their strengths to fill orders quickly and efficiently. Then to have another clinical "quality specialist" pharmacist to make sure the patients are equipped with the knowledge they need to use their medications safely and effectively. The dispensing pharmacist and the clinical pharmacist: Divide and Conquer? Clinical pharmacy can be tedious as well. You will find that you get asked many of the same questions and most of those questions involve cheaper copays! As you go through more and more comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs) you become proficient at communicating succinctly and impact-fully. Can a dispensing pharmacist stop and give a flu shot or complete a comprehensive medication review MTM and keep workflow running smoothly at the same time? No, but we are asking it of them. Should the consulting pharmacist be asked to pause a CMR consultation in order to contact a provider over a dosing error on a waiting prescription order, manage an inventory issue or troubleshoot an insurance claim? No, but we are asking it of them. It makes more sense to have separate job duties for two totally different job descriptions. How does this apply to MTM and independent pharmacy consulting? Think of your dispensing pharmacist as your “productivity specialist” and your consultant pharmacist as your “quality specialist”. Some personalities work better when kept constantly busy, they thrive on excitement, and can easily perform many tasks at once. People with these personalities make for great managers and are amazingly productive with very little resources. For a consultant pharmacist, more suitable personality traits may be great communication skills, being relatable, handling difficult or angry patients and performing a complex single task for long periods of time. For a dispensing pharmacist, they may prefer to take on a leadership role and keep workflow running smoothly to prevent problems before they occur. This is not to say that one specialty of pharmacy is better than another, just that it is ok to identify more with one side or the other. Some pharmacists hate doing MTM and counselling, but for some people it is their passion. So why not allow pharmacists to “choose sides”? Why are we expected to “do it all”? Because we always have. It is time for a grassroots movement in pharmacy, and it can only be accomplished by pharmacists. We have to take a stand for our profession. We have to advocate for ourselves, protect our profession and guide it in the direction that we feel is best for the advancement of pharmacy. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, then who will? If you are interested in starting your own pharmacy consulting services please contact me for a free 30 minute coaching consultation call and join our NEWSLETTER for all of our updated blog posts and news about upcoming courses. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting can be found on their website at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com  We are so excited to introduce to you a truly inspirational pharmacist!
Here is our interview with a retail MTM consultant pharmacist, Alan Tanabe. He stepped up to take the lead in his pharmacy's MTM program and helped the Meijer chain of pharmacies be recognized as one of the best MTM programs of any retail chain in the country. He is active on LinkedIn giving tips and contributing to discussions. He is very passionate about pharmacy's opportunity to serve patients through MTM and clinical services. Alan Tanabe graduated from Ferris State University with a Bachelors in Science for Pharmacy in 1991, and is currently enrolled as a student in the Non-Traditional Pharm D. program at the University of Colorado, Denver (expected to complete in 2016). He has worked at Meijer Pharmacy since 1989. We are featuring Alan here so that he can share the story of how he found his passion for clinical services in a retail setting. We appreciate him sharing his story in order to inspire other pharmacists and help them grow in their careers. How did you begin offering MTM services? Alan: I believe that our company started with offering Mirixa MTM services in 2006, and shortly after (Meijer pharmacies) contracted with Outcomes. We didn't have many assigned cases at that time, and MTM was still a very new concept, at least for me. I felt like I fumbled my way through it at first, not exactly knowing what was expected of me, but was able to complete cases. Then around 2010, our Clinical Services Pharmacist approached me and asked me to take on a more active role as an MTM pharmacist. At the time I didn't really understand why she chose me as I didn't exactly feel like I was an expert with MTM, but I agreed to try my best. A lot of MTM at that time was self-taught, and with practice and experience not only did my MTM skills improve, but I discovered that I really enjoyed working MTM and recognized the potential impact that it could have on patient care and the profession of pharmacy. Fast forward to today, and it is very clear how important MTM is, and will continue to be, for pharmacy and the patients we serve. What does your day consist of? Alan: I work in a community pharmacy setting, so a lot of my day consists of filling and checking prescriptions, patient counseling, communicating with prescribers, being a preceptor for IPPE and APPE students, and other duties associated with community pharmacy. I generally have one full day per week to devote to MTM. However, as I've become more experienced with MTM, I've found that I can usually work some MTM activity into most days. I know that some pharmacists feel that they do not have time to do MTM work as we are already so busy. However, MTM is not solely working up comprehensive medication reviews and conducting them with patients. MTM also includes activities that many of us are already doing on a daily basis such as recognizing gaps in therapies, recognizing and addressing non-adherence, addressing patient concerns regarding adverse effects, finding cost-effective opportunities for our patients, and many other aspects. Once you realize this and gain some experience, incorporating MTM into your daily work does not seem so difficult. What does a normal week look like? Alan: Focusing on my "MTM day", I spend the majority of that day assisting some of our other stores with their cases. I make calls to assigned patients for various reasons, such as performing adherence checks or following up with their medications to assess responses. If the patient is targeted for a CMR, I first look for reasons to speak with the patient. For example, if I notice that the patient recently experienced a change in dose or medication, or if the patient is overdue to refill a medication, that gives me a good reason to talk to the patient and creates a nice segue for asking the patient to update their medication profile with us so we can assess their responses to therapy and address any questions or concerns (instead of using the term CMR). I also spend some time communicating with physician offices, making recommendations if I notice gaps in therapies or the use of potentially inappropriate medications such as BEERs drugs for our older patients. Other times I have the opportunity to be a trainer for other pharmacists and interns, to show them effective ways of incorporating MTM into their daily work. What is your favorite part about doing MTM? Alan: There are a couple of things I really enjoy. Of course it is rewarding to see when your efforts result in better outcomes for our patients, and it does help reinforce the relationship between patient and pharmacist. I also really enjoy showing students/interns just how involved MTM work can be and the impact that it can have. Although the topic of MTM is now discussed in schools, many students seem surprised just how expansive the services can be. What is your least favorite part about doing MTM? Alan: Even though MTM has been around for about 10 years, the concept of pharmacists taking the initiative to address patient therapy is still very foreign to many people. It can be frustrating when you receive the response "That's my doctor's job...I will discuss it with him/her." However, don't get too discouraged. MTM is becoming more accepted by other health professionals and can become a more regular practice with their patients. What advice would you give to a person wanting to begin offering clinical services like MTM? Alan: If MTM is new to you, it would be advisable to look for opportunities for introduction training, such as through APhA. After that, communicate with other pharmacists who are active with MTM and ask them to share their advice and experiences with you. Learn tips about what has worked well for other pharmacists. Also, make sure that you are familiar with current therapy guidelines (e.g. JNC8, ASCVD, ADA, etc...) which will help you assess patient response to therapy as well as identify opportunities for additional RPh-initiated claims. Is there an example of a big impact you have made in regards to a single patient's intervention during an MTM consultation? Alan: One example of a pretty big impact an MTM consultation had on a patient was when I conducting a CMR, a patient was already taking trazodone for sleep and depression, but was having suboptimal responses. Through interviewing, I found out that she was also experiencing symptoms of urinary incontinence and some nerve pain, but wasn't being treated pharmacologically for those symptoms (except for some occasional NSAID use for the pain). I told her that I had an idea of an agent that may be able to help her with each of these symptoms & that I would discuss it with her physician. I suggested to the physician to discontinue to trazodone and try nortriptyline, hoping that it would give her better relief of her insomnia, depression and nerve pain, but also the anticholinergic activity may improve her urinary incontinence. The physician agreed to try it. Some months later, that patient came to the pharmacy counter to thank me for the service and my suggestion as it was successful in improving each of her symptoms with minimal adverse effects. Takeaway points:
Thanks again to Alan for not only being a great patient advocate, but a great advocate for the profession of pharmacy.  Connect to Connect! "I was never afraid of failure, for I would sooner fail than not be among the best" -John Keats If you are a professional like myself, you likely have a old (or new, but unused) LinkedIn page. Maybe you even check Twitter sometimes, but you probably don't know the people in your feeds on a personal level. LinkedIn is not intended to compete with the entertainment value of Facebook, instead it should be used to help you meet your career goals.
But LinkedIn is so boring! Right? Not if you are doing it right! It can be used as a global, industry-wide email list. Thank of all of the possibilities! Ask yourself: If you could email anyone in the world, who would it be? And what would you say? As a pharmacy professional, when you want to make meaningful connections, network and exchange ideas you go to CE conferences. What if you could cultivate those relationships without the registration fees, plane tickets and long days freezing in a sub-zero conference center? The tip that totally changed my interactions with people was the one I heard on Natalie Eckdahl's BizChix podcast interview on LinkedIn for Leads and Sales. It was this: Send a Hello and Thank you via In Mail to every new connection you make! Where else could you have a personal connection to CEOs in your industry? I officially challenged myself to reach out to someone I admire every day for 20 days on LinkedIn. Choosing people who I assumed would never even message me back; I put myself out there. So can you! At least three of those people that I NEVER expected a response from scheduled follow up calls with me. Two of my newer connections have become friends and a few even recruited me. Connect to CONNECT. That's it. That simple tip has changed the way I view LinkedIn. We connect to CONNECT. And I would really love to connect with you! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent clinical consultant pharmacist living and working in the Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri. Dr. Thielemier is committed to helping advance the practice of pharmacy through providing training and guiding implementation of new clinical services in community pharmacy. You can visit the BT Consulting website at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com |
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