Working With Your Pharmacist

My name's Scott Jakopovic and I'm a clinical pharmacist. Pharmacists are medication experts who love to solve medication problems and they can be a really important part of your healthcare team.

How Can Your Pharmacist Assist You?

Ask your pharmacist, they can help you understand your medications and your treatment decisions that are being made within your healthcare team. They can help educate you on your medications, how to take your medications with or without food and in regards to your other medications, so that you can maximize your therapy and your dollar spent. How you take your medications can have a really important impact on your health overall. Medication adherence is important to take your medications the same way and at the same time each day, it can have a really big impact on your overall health and the success of your therapy.

What is Medication Sync?

Many pharmacies offer where it's called Med Sync, where they'll fill all of your medications at the same time, so that you're only taking one trip to the pharmacy, and with your doctor's permission, they can fill 90 days at a time, so that you're only having to go every three months. Even better than Medication Sync, some pharmacies offer bubble packing or adherence packaging where your medications come already pre-planned for you, either in one month or three month increments. All you have to do is open the bubbles, take the medication, it takes all of the guess work and the timing out of it.

Paying for Your Prescriptions

One of the hardest parts of a pharmacist job is knowing that medications can be really expensive, and it's often a barrier to many patients care. Talk with your pharmacist about other available therapies, possible generics or other cost-saving measures, such as co-pay cards or medication assistance plans that may be available to you. Some pharmacies also offer Medicare Part D reviews, and as open enrollment here comes, it may be important to speak with your pharmacist about your insurance so that you can maximize both your insurance and your cost savings.

Pharmacists are highly trained to review the patient as a whole, so they can help you review your vaccinations, assist with monitoring blood pressures, educate you how to use your medical devices such as glucometer, continuous glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs, and many other durable medical equipment. Bottom line, it is important to talk to your pharmacist about all things regarding your healthcare.

Learn more about CHI Health Pharmacy Services or CHI Health Diabetes Care.