Pacific Health Inc. Pharmacy, better known as PHI Pharmacy, made clear in an interview with Saipan Tribune that all it wishes to do is \u201cwork with [the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.] and make it easy for the pharmacy to remain open within the Commonwealth Health Center without interruption.\u201d<\/p>\n
The recent dustup between PHI Pharmacy and CHCC over the control of the pharmacy within the hospital\u2014called an outpatient pharmacy\u2014has resulted in patients, hospital officials and employees, and even politicians weighing in on the pros and cons of having a pharmacy in the hospital.<\/p>\n
PHI Pharmacy vice president Bruce Cohen said in a long distance phone call with Saipan Tribune that PHI has been able to \u201crectify the situation,\u201d referring to the Commonwealth Health Center\u2019s previous inability to maintain stocks of certain medicines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 21 year we\u2019ve never had problems. We stayed open through Typhoon Soudelor and we have been offering a 365-days-a-year service, making access to prescription drugs easy for people,\u201d said Cohen.<\/p>\n
In an earlier interview with CHCC chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a, she cited four benefits of an outpatient pharmacy controlled by CHCC: the reduction of costs in medicine, increased quality of care for patients, potential profit for the hospital, and Centers for Medicare\/Medicaid Services compliance. <\/p>\n
Also, CHCC participating in the 340B drug program, Mu\u00f1a said, is a way to secure significantly cheaper prescription medicine.<\/p>\n
The 340B drug discount program is a federal government program established back in 1992 that requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care organizations and covered facilities at significantly reduced pricing.<\/p>\n
Cohen said the program, however, does not include independent pharmacies.<\/p>\n
For 340B pricing to be utilized by a pharmacy, the pharmacy first has to be a \u201ccontract pharmacy to a facility that is eligible and approved by the 340B pricing program,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
That means that as long as CHC is eligible to participate in the 340B program and as long as PHI Pharmacy has a contract with CHC, PHI is also eligible to participate in the 340B program alongside the hospital.<\/p>\n
CHC has yet to be deemed eligible to participate in the 340B pricing program.<\/p>\n
\u201cPHI has approached CHC and said we would be a contract pharmacy using 340B medications and participate along with CHC in the program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an established pharmacy, we have all the insurance companies online, we have the inventory, staff, computer systems, and everything that is necessary to make this transition very easy for CHC,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cohen also pointed out that if CHC chooses to operate its own outpatient pharmacy, the estimated time of approval for the hospital\u2019s eligibility to participate in the 340B program would be in late August this year. Also, the construction of a new outpatient pharmacy may take a while, he said. <\/p>\n
These possible avenues of delay could mean the hospital would be without a pharmacy for more than a month, Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen believes that PHI has been providing patients adequate \u201caccess to pharmaceuticals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have adequate inventory, staff, and availability. We work with the physicians of CHC. We partake in several meetings that the hospital has for continuity of care. We\u2019re constantly working with physicians. I don\u2019t really see how that can be improved,\u201d he said, adding that the sharing of patient information through electronic health records, or EHRs, as Mu\u00f1a had cited, takes too long.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026It is so much quicker to make a phone call to a doctor. The doctors are right there. In retail pharmacy, outpatient pharmacy, people want to get their prescriptions as soon as they can. Over half the time, the person is not going to come back or wait,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
PHI prices follow insurance companies<\/strong> \u201cThey send a contract to the pharmacy\u2014even doctors, radiology labs, and other healthcare services\u2014to either accept the deal the insurance company is offering and participate in the program or not. Pharmacies don\u2019t set the price for prescription drugs, the insurance companies do,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Team player<\/strong> \u201cThis is an opportunity to work as a team and solve this situation that isn\u2019t really a problem,\u201d said Cohen. \u201cIf PHI is asked leave this Aug. 14 and a pharmacy doesn\u2019t open until next year, that would be a dreadful public health crisis with lack of public prescription drugs, particularly at the hospital,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are asked to leave, we are asked to leave, but do we want to close PHI and have nothing to open in its place? I don\u2019t think so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pacific Health Inc. Pharmacy, better known as PHI Pharmacy, made clear in an interview with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[666,92,410,11329],"class_list":["post-253879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-chcc","tag-commonwealth-health-center","tag-drugs","tag-phi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nContrary to popular belief, Cohen said, the prices of pharmacies are dependent on health insurance companies. He said the insurance company hires a pharmacy benefit manager that designs the reimbursement for pharmacies using average wholesale prices and other different pricing schemes plus a dispensing fee.<\/p>\n
\nCohen said the bottom line is that there is access to pharmaceuticals at the hospital. He said PHI is not \u201cagainst CHC [taking over] the outpatient pharmacy.\u201d He would rather have PHI and CHC working together to maintain the pharmacy \u201cwithout interruption.\u201d<\/p>\n