Script Health

New in Forbes: Illinois becomes the latest state to embrace legislative reform enabling pharmacists to prescribe more treatments directly to patients.

Across the country, pharmacists, patients, and lobbying groups have been working to expand regulatory limitations preventing pharmacists from practicing at the top of their licenses. ��Now, a group called the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, representing both independent pharmacists and large retail drugstores, is making sure Illinois patients can get common-sense access to low-acuity treatments at their local pharmacies.

It’s an urgent reform: workforce shortages in the healthcare industry necessitate spreading basic care responsibilities to other providers, such as pharmacists. Primary care providers will get to focus on more complex cases, while patients enjoy faster access to more affordable care.

We’re always motivated by seeing legislation advance that expands pharmacists’ ability to serve their patients. But these changes can take a long time — that’s why Scripted can help expand your pharmacy’s service offerings in all 50 states TODAY.

Turn your pharmacy into a community health resource: https://buff.ly/3extkh9



Source: https://buff.ly/3xt6eCj

Wyoming pharmacist interviewed by AP: “I’m working for free a lot…I love to serve the community. But I kind of resent having to do that because of large corporations, huge pharmacy benefit managers, that are making millions of dollars a year.”

A powerful piece by Devi Shastri in the Associated Press highlights how devastatingly low reimbursements set by PBMs are crushing rural pharmacies.

Pharmacies in rural areas fill crucial gaps in our health system, ensuring that many Americans don’t go without needed care.

But with margins crushed so severely by greedy PBMs, staying in business and continuing to serve these communities is becoming a more and more tenuous existence for pharmacists in Wyoming and beyond.

According to the article, some patients drive up to five hours to access care at this pharmacy that they cannot access anywhere else — and yet 25% of the prescriptions this pharmacy fills are reimbursed below cost.

This is beyond unsustainable. This is why we say we need a real alternative to reliance on PBM reimbursements — an entirely new business model for the community pharmacy.

Patients need this care. Pharmacists want to continue providing it. But PBMs are making that prospect more and more untenable.

We say it’s — time to spread the word that what these PBMs are doing is ethically unjustifiable, and that submitting many treatments to medical insurance plans can mean the difference between pharmacies shuttering and staying open.

Ditch PBM greed and DIR fees and bring medical billing to your pharmacy: https://buff.ly/3yF5REM

Source: https://buff.ly/3RmMGWW

Here’s an example of just how huge the difference between d.0 and medical insurance reimbursement rates can be for your pharmacy: $21,000 PER YEAR.

This number is based on real internal data — we averaged data about flu vaccines that real pharmacists shared with our new medical billing calculator on scripted.co/paybacktime.

Running the numbers, we found that this “average” pharmacy could be missing over $20,000 on flu vaccine reimbursements ALONE if they don’t have the option to bill to medical insurance.

It gets worse: according to our data, one pharmacist’s answers revealed their pharmacy may be losing $57,000 PER YEAR on flu vaccines if they can’t bill to medical insurance.

This huge discrepancy in reimbursement rates is an outrage.

Other providers, like RNs, already get these medical insurance reimbursement rates for administering the EXACT SAME VACCINES we pharmacists do. So how does it make sense that we get paid so much less?

The answer is simple: PBM greed. The big PBMs think they can squeeze our margins and crush our businesses as much as they please — but we have had ENOUGH.

It’s — get a custom estimate for your pharmacy on our website, then learn how to bring medical billing to your pharmacy and get the full pay you deserve for the vaccines you administer. scripted.co/paybacktime

Despite what some skeptics might tell you, allowing pharmacists to prescribe directly to patients is NOT a radical proposal. Since 2023 in B.C., Canada, it’s the law of the land. So what really happens when to patients?

New data shows that a whopping 90% of patients approve of pharmacists’ expanded prescriptive authority in the year since new regulations have taken effect.

NINETY percent. As Americans, it can be challenging to imagine 90% of our populace agreeing on anything, but Canadian pharmacists have made it happen for B.C. residents.

That’s not all: 73% of polled patients reported high confidence levels in pharmacists ordering lab tests, and 79% have confidence in pharmacists offering point-of-care testing.

They also stated convenience and trust were top motivating reasons for seeking care at a community pharmacy.

The data tells a clear story: common sense, low-risk advanced services at community pharmacies benefit patients AND pharmacists. ��Bring them to your pharmacy: https://buff.ly/3extkh9

Source for those numbers: https://buff.ly/44OTylq

Pharmacists Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

Today, a Philadelphia pharmacy that’s been serving the local community for 26 years announced that PBM greed is forcing them to permanently close their doors.

According to a new story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, pharmacist Brad Tabaac has been working in drug stores since he was just 11 years old. On May 31, after 26 years in business, Friendly Pharmacy has been forced to close its doors.

He’s not shy about explaining the reason why: it’s PBM greed, plain and simple.

The Inquirer points out that last Monday, of the 318 prescriptions Friendly Pharmacy filled, the PBM reimbursement for 1/3 of them was less than $3. For 22 of those prescriptions, the pharmacy lost money.

When pharmacies are forced to turn patients away because the PBM reimbursement rate for a drug is so pitifully low — when independent businesses that have served communities for DECADES begin shuttering their windows across the country — we think it’s clear that something has gone very, very wrong in this industry.

The closure of Friendly Pharmacy isn’t a tragedy. It’s an outrage.

It’s another community business being squeezed to the point of insolvency by the casual cruelty of PBMs who shore up their own bottom lines at the expense of our pharmacies and our patients. �
Aren’t you tired of reading stories like these? We are. That’s why we spend every day busting our butts to build a real financial alternative to reliance on these vampiric PBMs. All of our businesses depend on it.

Bring medical billing to your pharmacy and reduce your reliance on the PBMs: https://buff.ly/3extkh9

Read the full story in the Philadelphia Inquirer: https://buff.ly/3QBgYVC

Pharmacists Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

We’ve been saying for years that federal provider status for pharmacists is a great idea. This week, Forbes reported that a few familiar organizations have come to that conclusion as well — Amazon, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

About time, guys! 😂 Jokes aside, this is a really big deal for pharmacists’ prescriptive authority.

Notably, several of these organizations have already launched test-to-treat programs in their retail pharmacies and are adopting this stance after seeing the success of those programs.

Another key factor here is that all of these organizations have massive lobbying capacity.

If they see federal provider status as a worthwhile endeavor, they could potentially spend billions pushing it through the House and Senate through their lobbying arms.

But that process could take quite a while — and most independent or regional-chain pharmacies don’t need to wait to bring advanced services to their pharmacies in almost every state.

Regulations are changing — but you can launch services NOW and keep your advantage over the big chains. Bring advanced services to your pharmacies before CVS and Walgreens beat you to it: https://buff.ly/3extkh9

Pharmacists Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

New data from the CDC shows pharmacists administered 67.7% of bivalent COVID-19 vaccine doses in the US from Sept. 2022 to Sept 2023 — that’s two thirds of ALL DOSES administered in the country.

Since then, they’ve done even more: over 93% of COVID-19 vaccines between mid-September 2023 and March 16, 2024.

The impact pharmacists have had on public health by providing care directly to patients throughout the pandemic is undeniable.

And what’s more — patients are clamoring for even more access to care from trusted neighborhood pharmacists.

CDC data also shows 85% of U.S. adults find pharmacists easy to access and 73% support pharmacists preventing chronic diseases.

It’s time to expand common sense care offerings available at neighborhood pharmacies — and ensure pharmacists get paid like providers for providing these essential healthcare services to patients. It just makes sense.

Ready to bring advanced services to your pharmacy and expand revenue opportunities with medical billing? Join the Scripted movement: https://buff.ly/3extkh9

Source for those numbers: https://buff.ly/3xQnLnQ

This independent pharmacy in Wauwatosa, WI has something most pharmacies don’t — and they’re reeling in patients and local media coverage as a result.

Patients approaching the pharmacy counter at Swan Serv-U Pharmacy, run by Randy Dawes and his team, can’t miss it — a dedicated space for vaccines and clinical services, complete with a private screening room and a computer for intake forms and appointment booking.

It’s not a huge change, but it’s an indicator of a shifting intention at high-performance independent pharmacies.

Focusing on PBM reimbursement table-scraps and generic fills gets more unsustainable each and day. So what’s the alternative?

Simple — expand advanced high-margin care options, and take the time to make each patient feel welcome and well cared for.

Since installing their Swan Quick Clinic, clinical service transactions have skyrocketed at Swan Serv-U. Patients are starting to learn that a pharmacy can be a place to seek common care — and local journalists are eager to help spread the word about affordable, same-day healthcare.

Some might see just a few chairs and an extra room, but here, we see the future of the independent pharmacy. We see financial independence from margin-squeezing PBM greed, and an affordable and convenient care alternative for patients.

When you start to see little clinics like these crop up at pharmacies in your neighborhood — and you will — remember the trailblazers like Randy and his team that are innovating to keep independent pharmacy alive and thriving.

Want to bring a quick-clinic and advanced services to your pharmacy? Scripted is the easiest all-in-one pharmacy software solution: https://buff.ly/3extkh9

What is the difference between pharmacy benefits and medical benefits, anyway? Knowing the answer can get your pharmacy more money.

Most pharmacies are probably familiar with submitting claims to a Pharmacy d.0, typically managed by a PBM. Pharmacy d.0 provides swift reimbursement for medications as well as basic services like vaccines and basic MTM.

But there’s a BIG catch: in many cases, pharmacies that choose to reimburse through d.0 get paid less than those that submit services like vaccines as medical claims. Even better, medical claims aren’t subject to DIR fees.

So why doesn’t every pharmacy just do medical claims submission? Isn’t more money better?

Unfortunately, the health plans make you work for it. Medical claim submission uses CPT and HCPCS codes, which most pharmacists aren’t familiar with. d.0 is programmed directly into many pharmacy medical systems, but medical claims typically are not. Additionally, reimbursement from health plans can take longer (roughly 90 days) than from a PBM.

When quick reimbursement is a priority, d.0s are a good solution — but we believe many pharmacies would prefer to get paid more for the services they already provide if medical claims weren’t so confusing.

That’s why we’re demystifying the medical claims submission process for pharmacies: you deserve to make an informed decision about how and when to use medical claims OR pharmacy claims to suit your business.

Interested in learning more? We break down all the complexities of medical billing in a pharmacist-friendly way in our latest guide:

Mastering Pharmacy Medical Billing & Claims Submission: A Comprehensive Guide Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

The latest in Canada’s ongoing clinical service success story: 300,000 people have received free contraceptives or care for minor ailments at a community pharmacy since June 1.

Especially for the 188,000 people who received contraceptives, this is huge: prior to April 1, hormonal pills cost as much as $300 a year for Canadian patients.

The takeaway is clear: when pharmacists operate at the top of their licenses, patients access crucial care while saving valuable time and money.

Canada’s embrace of advanced services at the pharmacy has had transformative effects on patients’ access to care. It’s never been clearer that this model can — and indeed, WILL — improve patients’ lives here in the US, too.

Source: https://buff.ly/48jHGbA

ICYMI: We gathered everything pharmacists need to know about making more money with medical billing and claims submission in one place.

Mastering Pharmacy Medical Billing & Claims Submission: A Comprehensive Guide Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

Huge news from CVS this week: in response to pressure for transparency from competitors like Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs and GoodRx, they’ve announced a major shakeup in the way they price their drugs.

Under the new rules, CVS will get reimbursed based on the cost of the drug plus a set markup that covers operational fees. It’s that simple.

We obviously support any change that makes needed care more transparent and accessible to patients at the pharmacy. But what’s key here is the broader trend: from the biggest pharmacy companies in the country to the smallest independents, “business as usual” isn’t cutting it anymore.

It’s no wonder that CVS announced this change in the very same press release where they launch CVS Healthspire, a new brand combining their various value-based health services as they “more fully integrate with [their] core businesses”.

It’s the latest data point in what’s becoming an increasingly clear pattern: drug reimbursements being phased out as the primary business model of the pharmacy in favor of advanced services.

Change is coming quickly, but independents have the advantage: bring advanced services to your pharmacy and beat CVS to market with Scripted. scripted.co/pharmacists

Source: https://buff.ly/3Ruo6DY

Pharmacists Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

New on our site: our comprehensive guide to pharmacy medical billing and claims submission breaks down the complex details so that pharmacies can make more on the services they already offer.

Mastering Pharmacy Medical Billing & Claims Submission: A Comprehensive Guide Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

Are you a pharmacist wondering how to prescribe? Curious who can legally administer vaccines? Or what “clia waived” means?

We’ve got all those answers and more on our comprehensive guide to pharmacists’ prescriptive authority in 2023: https://buff.ly/3R1Y2je

A pharmacist's guide to prescribing — Scripted Skip the doctor's trip. With Scripted, you can get a prescription for common conditions right at your local pharmacy.

Walmart may have just changed the pharmacy game, and hardly anyone is talking about it.

This week, they announced a staggering $9 BILLION investment in upgrading 1,400 of their stores over the next two years.

Most news coverage has focused on the brand’s shift in image, highlighting new flooring, lighting, and other modernizations.

But buried in the last paragraph of this CNBC article is the REAL headline for pharmacists: “[stores] will also host bigger pharmacies with private screening rooms for pharmacist consultations and services”.

That means 1,400 conveniently-located pharmacies, decked out with private space for clinical services like test-to-treat, launching in the next TWO YEARS.

For pharmacies that aren’t offering clinical services, this announcement should be ringing alarm bells.

A $9 billion investment in big-chain competition is intimidating, but here’s good news: Scripted pharmacies don’t have to wait two more years to start offering clinical services. And what’s more, Scripted pharmacies offer way more services than the big chains have announced.

Launch clinical services at your pharmacy, before the big guys beat you to it: scripted.co/pharmacists

Source: https://buff.ly/3QpWyxI

The pharmacists are RIGHT.

This week, thousands of pharmacists at major retailers will walk out, representing hundreds of thousands of pharmacists to demand change in this industry.

The pharmacists that choose to participate are not being greedy — they are asking for basic dignity and respect. For reasonable workloads, for support staff, for fair wages and breaks. They deserve all of it, period.

Some people we’ve spoken with have been surprised to hear our passionate support for these walkouts.

We believe in a future where clinical services are a part of pharmacists’ daily professional lives, because patients need the care — but if we fail to treat our pharmacists with basic decency, that future is NEVER coming.

Why? It’s simple: you can’t run a pharmacy without pharmacists. And every day, pharmacists at some of the major chains are crying out for their basic needs to be met so they can care for their patients.

The fact that some leaders in pharmacy cannot meet these basic demands is a grim indictment of a toxic status quo.

When we treat our pharmacists better, the standard of care for patients increases and pharmacist satisfaction and retention improves. It’s simply better healthcare.

This shouldn’t be a discussion: GIVE. THEM. EVERYTHING.

If you’re a pharmacist participating in a walkout today, THANK YOU for your bravery. You are the future of our industry.

This weekend, Rite Aid became the latest pharmacy chain to declare bankruptcy.

There are many factors at play here — hugely expensive legal fees over alleged overprescription of opioids, for example — but ultimately, this bankruptcy is just another symptom of our deeply troubled industry.

Independents have been trying to tell us for years that drug reimbursement-based business models are no longer sustainable.

Now, even the big chains are finding out the hard way — Rite Aid lost $3 BILLION over the 6 years (are independent pharmacies supposed to compete with someone that can lose $500 MILLION a year and still keep the lights on?)

For pharmacy to survive, we can’t keep pretending business as usual is working. We need big changes: transformations in pharmacist treatment and patient experience that shift the entire business model toward care relationships.

Above all, we feel for the hard-working employees at Rite Aid pharmacies whose livelihoods are now endangered. We hope they’re able to quickly find new opportunities quickly.

Source: https://buff.ly/3ZTHm0p

2023 is shaping up to be the year that pharmacies demanded a better industry.

By now, you’ve all heard about the inspiring and industry-shaking mass-walkouts organized by CVS Pharmacy employees.

They put their careers on the line to demand better pay and better treatment — and shook the entire industry by doing it.

Now, here’s another amazing development: Osterhaus Pharmacy in Maquoketa, Iowa has filed a class-action lawsuit against CVS, Caremark, and Aetna about their unfair DIR fees.

They’re taking the fight against PBM greed to where it hurts the most: their pocketbooks.

And even better, if they win, they could help pharmacies across the country recover some of their absurdly high DIR fee payments.

Pharmacists all over the country are saying “enough is enough” in ways not even the most out-of-touch chain pharmacy exec can ignore.

We’ve had it with understaffing. We’ve had it with lowball salaries. And we’ve absolutely had it with all this disrespect.

We’re proud to stand up alongside the brave pharmacists and pharmacy owners who have chosen to put their careers and businesses on the line to ensure that pharmacies serve patients first and foremost, not shareholders.

This movement is long overdue, but it’s here. Let’s keep turning the tables and demanding the fair payment, benefits, and treatment we deserve as medical professionals.

Source: https://buff.ly/46w2Mmj

📞 Independent pharmacy owners need a WAKE UP CALL.

As of this month, here’s one thing that Walmart, CVS Pharmacies, Walgreens, and Albertson’s have in common — clinical services.

They’ve been working behind-the-scenes on bringing test-to-treat, wellness checks, and other treatments to their pharmacies for MONTHS.

If you’re not working on offering those same services to compete with them, you’re officially falling behind.

The time to start moving is NOW.

But here’s the good news: thanks to Scripted, launching clinical services has never been easier.

We can help you launch DOZENS of new services — yes, even more than the big chains — at your pharmacy in just a few weeks.

Make the big chains the ones who need to play catch-up. Request a demo and bring clinical services to your pharmacy today: scripted.co/pharmacists

We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes streamlining the 2023-2024 RSV, COVID-19 and Influenza vaccines on Scripted 💉 Here’s an update on what Scripted pharmacies can expect!

𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄: 𝗥𝗦𝗩 𝘃𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱
Vaccine workflows for Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are live on Scripted today.

Simply enable RSV as a vaccine option from your Scripted dashboard to enable bookings for your patients.

𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟭-𝟮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀: 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗 + 𝗙𝗹𝘂 𝘃𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀
The Scripted team will bring updates to our COVID-19 and Flu vaccine offerings within the next 1-2 weeks.

These updates will help streamline the administration experience and will be based on the latest administration guidance from the CDC and new vaccine information for this vaccination season.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯-𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗 + 𝗙𝗹𝘂 𝘃𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆
Our updated flows will simplify administration…but you and your patients don’t have to wait.

You can still proceed with vaccine appointments in the current flow — documenting the updated vaccine information manually.

For the details on manual documentation, review CDC guidelines here:
COVID-19 vaccines: https://buff.ly/3k3ERTg
Flu vaccines: https://buff.ly/2m2Lr3P

Just 1 in 4. That’s the percentage of doctors in the US today who practice primary care — and that number is rapidly shrinking.

Access to primary care physicians in the US is reaching an alarming tipping point, according to the Washington Post.

Physicians are abandoning primary care in droves, leaving more and more patients struggling to access care — even those with good insurance coverage.

Too often, patients are being forced to choose between expensive urgent care treatments, inaccessible primary care providers, and perhaps the most likely option: not receiving needed care at all.

This is a massive, dangerous problem. And it’s only getting worse.

It’s just one more reason that expanding prescriptive authority for pharmacists is so urgently necessary in our current health system.

Pharmacists are a qualified, competent addition to patients’ care networks, especially when primary care isn’t available. From treating acute conditions to value-based healthcare approaches, pharmacists can make a huge difference and get paid like providers as they do it.

Make your pharmacy part of the solution: scripted.co/pharmacists



Source: https://buff.ly/3PB0mgx

It’s official: pharmacists now provide more flu vaccines than physician’s offices.

According to IQVIA, almost 60% of post-2020 vaccines were issued at a pharmacy.

It’s not hard to imagine why: pharmacies are convenient and trusted community health resources.

Especially compared to expensive urgent care or inaccessible primary care, for most patients, it just makes sense.

This isn’t an anomaly. It’s more than a trend: it’s the future of the pharmacy.

The only question now is which pharmacies will step up to the plate to meet patient needs, and which will fall behind — at their own peril.

Bring clinical services to your pharmacy: scripted.co/pharmacists

This has been one of the biggest weeks in pharmacy news in YEARS — so big that Rite Aid careening toward insolvency isn’t even the headline.

Walgreens, Walmart, and CVS all announced today that they’re bringing clinical services to their pharmacy locations across the country.

They’re bringing point-of-care testing for strep, flu, and COVID to hundreds of locations.

Independent pharmacy owners NEED to be paying attention to this shift.

Yesterday, if you did offer clinical services at your pharmacy, you were considered ahead of the curve.

Today, if you’re not offering them, you’re officially losing ground to the big guys.

As more chain pharmacies roll out advanced services, more patients will come to expect them. The time to prepare your pharmacy and protect your business is NOW. We can help: scripted.co/pharmacists


Source:https://buff.ly/3svOgMB

“Overworked and overburdened pharmacists, which is the case for many across the nation, lead to a worse patient experience and burnout among pharmacists.”

Our CEO James Lott, Pharm.D., MPP is featured in The Food Institute today, reminding the industry that pharmacists equipped with appropriate pay, staff, and workload provide better experiences for patients and staff alike.

“It’s all about 2 things,” Lott told The Food Institute, “better technology tools to help them manage the pharmacy [and] happy pharmacists who have more time to help their patients in a meaningful way.”

Check out the full article: https://foodinstitute.com/focus/analysis-why-sams-club-and-h-e-b-dominate-pharmacy-customer-service/