How NHC is Utilizing Pharmaceutical Innovation to Reduce Barriers to Care
Written by Dr. Jennifer McElravey, Director of Pharmacy at Neighborhood Health Center
Story Submitted by Kate Zilke, Communications Specialist at Neighborhood Health Center
As Community Health Centers navigate the ever-evolving landscape of community healthcare, it’s imperative that we continually seek innovative solutions to address the specific challenges our patients face.
At Neighborhood Health Center (NHC), we recently adopted one innovative solution that promises to improve medication access and patient outcomes within our clinics – prescription pharmacy lockers.
Our goal is for all NHC clinics to become fully integrated as part of our mission to provide comprehensive, whole-person health services.
This is a slow process, and in the meantime, we continually search for ways to meet patients where they are and have found great success in utilizing new forms of technology to simultaneously reach more patients and support our staff’s high caseload.
Thanks to a grant from our partner organization, CareOregon, we just launched a pharmacy prescription locker in our largest clinic. This state-of-the-art system is designed to provide patients with convenient and secure access to their prescribed medications while enhancing overall clinic efficiency.
Our lockers are not fully automated as each prescription pick-up requires a phone consultation with a pharmacist in our administrative office, just over 12 miles away. However, by automating routine tasks such as medication dispensing, our pharmacy staff can reallocate their time and expertise to provide more personalized care, medication counseling, and clinical support to patients who require additional assistance.
The locker provides a quick, contactless, and secure option for patients to pick up prescriptions while reducing their barriers to care, such as transportation, particularly for those with limited mobility, or busy schedules.
Prescriptions scheduled for pick up at our Tanasbourne locker location are filled at our administrative office, delivered to Tanasbourne, and placed into the locker. The patient then receives a notification that their prescription is ready for pickup and has the flexibility to pick up the prescription at their convenience, during clinic hours. This can reduce the wait time they might encounter at a pharmacy.
On its busiest days, NHC Tanasbourne Medical and Dental Clinic may see up to 200 patients, and because of our integrated care model many patients will visit with multiple providers during one visit, including clinical pharmacists. With this pharmacy locker, our patients can visit with their care team, have an appointment with one of our clinical pharmacists, and pick up their prescriptions all in one location and one trip to the clinic.
This locker streamlines the process not only for patients picking up prescriptions but also for providers filling orders. As the nation currently experiences a shortage of pharmacy technicians and clinical pharmacists that has increased wait times and frustrated patients, our prescription locker is incredibly valuable for maintaining a high quality of service for our patients and supporting the work of our staff. This locker has uniquely increased access to prescription care for our patients during a time when access to pharmaceutical care is decreasing nationwide.
This locker is just one part of our plan to expand our pharmacy services to patients, including low-cost delivery services, a new MedSync Program, stronger community partnerships to ensure affordable patient medications, and more.
As a Community Health Center, it’s essential that we embrace innovation and leverage technology to reduce the barriers to care in our communities. The introduction of automated pharmacy lockers represents a significant step forward in our ongoing efforts to enhance patient access, improve clinic efficiency, and deliver high-quality, integrated healthcare to those who need it most.
