“You have to make the most of each day, with what you have in front of you.” -Staci Hubert, 2020 CPESN Luminary of the Year

Each year, the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN) recognizes an outstanding leader that helps run a local CPESN network in their own community.

These “luminaries” are inspiring pharmacy professionals who are passionate about coordinating patient care to provide enhanced services and implement a value-based reimbursement model. The 2020 Luminary of the Year, announced at this year’s NCPA annual convention, is Staci Hubert.

“I’m very thankful,” says Hubert graciously. “I have a great leadership staff, too. I’m the one that has the name on the award, but I accept it on behalf of all of my Nebraska team.”

She is from Ashland, NE, a town where residents have access to the neighboring big cities but still get to live in a place with a “small-town feel.”

Staci Hubert is a pharmacist and owner of Ashland Pharmacy, and lead luminary/President of the CPESN Nebraska chapter, also known as Nebraska Enhanced Services Pharmacies (NESP).

She’s been working at Ashland Pharmacy since her graduation, and has been  slowly buying into the company until becoming full owner about 5 years ago.

“I got PioneerRx right when I first bought out the store,” she recalls.

Hubert is passionate about patients interacting with pharmacies in their community, instead of moving primarily to services like mail order.

“I feel that we give better care. So I really have pushed for keeping clinical services local,” she explains. “I think we can [provide] better care for our patients if we have a touchpoint.”

She joined forces with CPESN at the national level and also started the Nebraska chapter of CPESN. Her work currently revolves around empowering pharmacies to get paid for their clinical services and finding out how to properly communicate with payers.

“So I’ve just been knocking down doors and calling people the last two, three years trying to get a contract to pay for some of these services,” says Hubert. “[My end] goal is to have a sustainability plan for our community pharmacies. That’s what drives me every day.”

She explains optimistically that 2021 is looking promising. They have a contract in the works that will position pharmacies to work with a state Medicaid group and prove the value they are adding to their patients’ care through multi dose packaging and MTM.

One of the first tasks Hubert and her NESP team focused on was finding out how to use pharmacy software systems to communicate with payers.

“PioneerRx was really an integral part of my journey as far as being able to document and prove what we’re doing to the payers,” Hubert emphasizes. “I have been really happy with [getting] information transmitted and it’s going faster and faster all the time. PioneerRx has done a great job of integrating with CPESN.”

Pharmacies make a significant impact on their communities, but in order to get paid for these valuable services, this impact has to be communicated through the proper methods. Staci Hubert and her team believe that your pharmacy system should empower you to document this efficiently during your workflow.

Staci Hubert is actively involved in her community, and if what you’ve read so far isn’t enough to prove it, she is even involved in her town’s Chamber of Commerce. She has served as President in the past and continues to serve as a member of the board.

“I feel that being a part of the Chamber is huge,” Hubert says.

The Chamber of Commerce aims to help local businesses, show appreciation for teachers, and increase community involvement as a whole. While things have changed this year due to COVID, they typically put on a festival every year called Ashland Stir-Up Day.

This is an exciting event that ‘stirs up’ business in the community by promoting small businesses.

“It’s just a good way to get people together,” Hubert says fondly.

Staci Hubert is passionate about her community and her role at Ashland Pharmacy.

At the end of the day, she just wants to improve her patient’s lives and exemplify what being an independent pharmacist is all about.

“We just try to do anything that our town would need. And with PioneerRx, it’s been nice to grow our clinical services along with how [the software] is documenting it.”

As we head towards 2021, in what ways will you be working towards building a sustainable future for your pharmacy?