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As a mentor, CPESN Luminary, preceptor, and owner of 5 pharmacy locations, Bob Lomenick is well-acquainted with being busy.
The year of 2018, however, was especially eventful. Between acquiring another pharmacy and speaking at Connect 2018, Bob’s been working nonstop inside and outside the pharmacy to motivate his colleagues to adopt better patient care practices.
After becoming a Luminary for CPESN® Mississippi, Bob became passionately involved with the network’s mission.
“I love the CPESN model because it’s a standard across the nation,” he explains. “It’s an eye-opener for pharmacies that need to elevate their practices beyond just filling.”
As he educates his fellow Mississippi pharmacists on CPESN, he hopes to see an increase in value-based services that keep patients out of the hospital and capture the attention of payers.
When he took ownership of G&M Pharmacy, Bob was excited to take on a store with a well-established reputation for its care in the Oxford, MS, community.
Once he became familiar with the pharmacy’s day-to-day operations, he knew he could elevate the workflow and level of care with the help of new software, automation technology, and enhanced services.
“The days of physically doing everything ourselves are over,” he says.
He reports that, with the help of technology, he has incorporated new processes into the workflow, and even has a sync program with around 500 patients.
“It’s been a busy and interesting year getting that new operation going. With that said, maybe I lost focus on the things I normally focus on,” he admits.
The start of a new year encourages change, so Bob and his team are getting back on track for the sake of their patients and their business.
With the new store requiring a lot of his resources, he was less attentive to his patients who typically need additional care.
Bob, who is known for encouraging independent pharmacies to practice medication synchronization, normally keeps a close eye on his adherence levels but fell behind once he took over operations at G&M Pharmacy.
"A small percentage of patients could actually save or cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Bob reveals.
He relies on EQuiPP™ scores to pinpoint these patients. Then, with the Care Plan capabilities in PioneerRx, Bob is going to track their progress and assign them to a health coach.
“If a patient has performed poorly in the past, they’re going to continue performing poorly in the future unless we intervene and begin regularly communicating with them,” he observes.
While 2018 was a year of expansion, 2019 will be a year of regrounding for Bob and his team.
“My overall goal for this year is to refocus on patient care,” he says. “If we do that correctly, then my patients will continue to improve.”
For all independent pharmacies, times of refocusing on foundational practices and basics should not be viewed as a setbacks. Instead, they are equally important to times of growth and essential to reaching new achievements.
