The ShiftShapers Podcast

EP #415: Turn Pharmacy From a Cost Center to an Investment Center — with Chris Antypas

August 01, 2022 David Saltzman
The ShiftShapers Podcast
EP #415: Turn Pharmacy From a Cost Center to an Investment Center — with Chris Antypas
Show Notes

This week's episode focuses on transforming pharmacies into investment centers, as Chris Antypas, Director of Pharmacy Solutions at Henderson Brothers Inc., shares his direct patient-care experience and pharmacy expertise, as well as how he is assisting employers in navigating the challenging pharmacy landscape.

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

  • 1:11 Chris Antypas’ strong commitment to community pharmacy and direct patient care.
  • 3:23 The lack of accountability for the outcome side of the equation in the healthcare ecosystem.
  • 5:32 Misaligned incentives between drugs, patients, employers, and plans.
  • 11:40 How they, at Henderson Brothers, are making the shift and the important role pharmacists play.
  • 15:27 Leveraging data to drive health care innovation.
  • 18:20 Competing with mail-order pharmacies.

Quotes:

4:32 “If we stop our efforts on pharmacy just to make sure we got a good deal, we’re ignoring the most important part of the equation, which comes down to whether or not those medications are actually working.”

5:02 “We’re exposing ourselves to risks in this investment [medications] with an expectation and a hope that a disease is going to improve as a result of it. And I really think, in our entire health care ecosystem, we’re lacking accountability to that outcome side of the equation.”

9:53 “Fundamentally, everybody else just wants utilization, utilization, utilization, but when you pause and look at CMS, they are very aggressively moving towards value-based care. They’re aggressively holding medical providers accountable to A1C and blood pressure. And I think it’s high time for employers to take a similar posture. And as a broker, we have the opportunity to help facilitate that with vendors, essentially, get creative in how we advise, and most importantly, give opportunities to vendors in the marketplace that are actually doing this because, to an extent, it’s happening, it’s just the exception rather than the norm.”

18:59 “Some patients need a pharmacy, and other patients need a pharmacist.”

21:06 “Arguably, there’s been no greater source of pharmacy waste than mail-order pharmacies, yet we continue to incentivize it.”