The future of healthcare is digital. Independent Pharmacy Cooperative, the leading GPO and secondary wholesaler for independent pharmacies, is introducing the iCare+ program. This initiative will help community pharmacies provide accessible healthcare nationwide and enhance patient outcomes.
“We created a pharmacy-centric solution and uniform destination network,” said Ashton Maaraba, president of IPC Digital Health. “Consumers can walk into their independent pharmacy and not only pick up their medications but also have access to telemedicine doctors to make sure the medications are working, which is a problem in healthcare.”
Studies show that patients visit a pharmacy twice as often as they see their physician. With the increasing difficulty of scheduling appointments with a doctor, or taking time off work to see one, telehealth has emerged as an ideal solution
iCare+ not only makes quality healthcare accessible, but it also simplifies a patient’s life.
“There are patients who do not have access to convenient and affordable healthcare.” said Kelli Stovall, vice president of Pharmacy Services for IPC. “With iCare+, the accessibility is there.”
IPC’s iCare+ is a good option for uninsured and underinsured people for whom a doctor’s visit could cost considerably more. But it also appeals to younger generations, people in high-deductible health plans, and those with affordable health insurance who don’t want to wait several days to schedule an in-person appointment.
“We can offer these types of programs for cash patients, who are the uninsured and underinsured patients,” Maaraba said. “Our services are going to be three, four, maybe 10 times more affordable than traditional services.”
iCare+’s telemedicine services offer convenience, timely care, and access to specialists who might not be available locally. Telemedicine reduces the need to travel or sit in waiting rooms, and it’s especially beneficial for people with mobility issues, busy schedules or living in remote areas.
By getting care remotely, patients can save money on follow-up visits or routine consultations. They can receive continuity of care by having regular contact with healthcare providers.
Telemedicine and telepharmacy services are especially important for people who live in rural or underserved areas.
iCare+’s Telepharmacy Lite provides patients with a direct virtual consultation with their pharmacist to confirm compliance, adherence, and the patient is getting the benefit from the prescription provided.
But iCare+ offers more than just telemedicine and telepharmacy lite visits. It also provides remote patient monitoring, home health test kits, and the iCare+ ScriptPass prescriptions savings program. Home health tests, such as Complete Diabetes (a1c, glucose, and more), STI, Thyroid, and Testosterone, offer privacy and confidentiality that might not be possible in clinical settings, and they can help detect health conditions or risk factors to improve health outcomes. With lab results displaying directly in the app for the patient and to the pharmacist and provider, the care team is aligned to support the patient’s needs quickly and effectively.
The program’s patient monitoring systems help those with chronic conditions receive personalized care plans and medication management strategies. Patients can also receive devices that allow them to remotely measure and track their health metrics, receive educational resources, and chat remotely with pharmacists. The systems, which monitor a patient’s health status in real-time, allow for timely intervention – helping to reduce hospitalizations and improve overall patient safety.
iCare+ ScriptPass Prescription Savings Program gives patients immediate discounts on their prescriptions – without paying a membership or subscription fee. It’s easily accessible anytime via the iCare+ mobile app and website, www.scriptpass.com, where patients can search for medication prices, compare options, and access discounts.
In addition to these services, iCare+ also offers patient transport services, which have not been launched yet.
“We are integrated with Uber Health so our pharmacists can assist patients who lack transportation for medically necessary travel,” Maaraba said. “We are the first to integrate Uber Health into our remote patient monitoring platform. We’ve developed a virtual healthcare ecosystem.”
In 2022, almost 10% of the non-Medicare-age population was uninsured, which is between 25 to 27 million people in the United States, according to KFF, a leading health policy organization, and because most patients live within five miles of a pharmacy, they have access to these services.
“Independent pharmacists are poised to have a bigger role in the underserved, underinsured and uninsured populations that are struggling with the affordability of healthcare,” Stovall said. “What I’ve experienced in my 30 years in the profession is that pharmacists are really focused on solving healthcare issues for patients in their community.”
IPC continues to be future-ready by offering several new services, including prescription delivery through Uber via the iCare+ platform. It also will have point-of-care testing at the pharmacies in the future.
“Point-of-care testing really expanded into many independent pharmacies during the pandemic. and you could go into the pharmacy and be tested for COVID,” Stovall said. “Similar to the tests we have for COVID, point of care testing products have expanded so it is now convenient to test for strep, RSV, flu and others while in the pharmacy. It’s the path to diagnosis and treatment. You can come in, test with the pharmacist on site, get a positive result, see a telemedicine provider who can send a script to the store, and you’re totally taken care of on a patient level.”
To learn more about how independent pharmacies are providing patient care through iCare+, visit myicareplus.com.
