February 20, 2024

Let’s call it a first down

I’m learning that when you’re APC’s Board Chair, you get to participate in discussions and presentations that you otherwise might not even know were occurring, and yet those meetings point toward all kinds of good things for pharmacy compounding.

Progress is almost always incremental, of course. A single meeting is seldom a touchdown. But this past Monday I joined an APC work group in a presentation that definitely moved the ball down the field in terms of expanded patient access to compounded therapies.

For months now, APC has been seeking an opportunity to conduct a pilot project with a state Medicaid program. Thanks to an unexpected introduction, we’ve cultivated a relationship with a Medicaid Managed Care provider in the Southeastern Conference. That led to this week’s presentation by an APC working group quarterbacked by past Board Chair Shawn Hodges, supported by teammates Brian Harrison, Philip Smyth, Matt Martin, Joey Mattingly, as well as APC’s Savannah Cunningham and Tenille Davis.

Our pitch: That via a pilot program focused on compounded wound care therapies, we believe we can speed patient healing, reduce hospital stays, and—importantly—contain costs.

The good news is that the pharmacist and medical directors for that managed care company seemed genuinely interested in the idea – so much so that they not only requested additional info, including diagnosis codes for the conditions we’d treat via the pilot, but they would like to visit a compounding pharmacy that would be involved in the pilot program. Based on their review, we feel confident we’ll get a follow up meeting to discuss next steps. 

So no big scores this week, but we definitely moved the ball down the field. Let’s call it a first down.

And here’s the thing: We believe this project has legs. A score with one state Medicaid contractor can open doors in other states and for other therapies beyond wound care.

This is just one example of the kinds of projects APC is leading, all with an eye toward building your credibility and your compounding business. There are more meetings to come. I look forward to telling you about them.

Go team!

– Joe

Joseph P. Navarra, RPh, FACA, FAPC is the owner of Town Total Compounding Center in Woodbury, New York. You can reach him at joseph.navarra@towntotalcompound.com.