Modern medicine has done wonders for our quality of life, overall health, and longevity. The medicines we can access today help us live longer and better. Concierge pharmacists, in particular, are driving change by offering exclusive services to patients and working with medical offices and practices to ensure the best quality of care.
With a pharmacy concierge service, it’s often possible to get expensive drugs, including name-brand drugs, at a much lower cost. Medical costs are obviously a big concern for patients, and while healthcare quality has never been higher, it’s often expensive.
A concierge RX pharmacy will also keep an eye on patients and help to monitor their drug use to make sure that they are optimizing results. Medicines can accomplish many different things. However, it’s important that patients follow the directions offered by their doctor and pharmacist closely. Otherwise, results may be suboptimal. This could lead to complications and various issues.
At the end of the day, we all want the best quality health care possible at the most affordable price. When patients and doctors work with a concierge pharmacy, they can often ensure great results by gaining the insights of tried and true professionals.
Over the course of our lifetime, we probably fill dozens if not hundreds of prescriptions for ourselves and our families. The medical field has made incredible advancements in saving our lives and extending our lives, and many of these advancements end up in pill form, prescribed by our doctors and handed out in pharmacies. Although there’s been some outrage in recent years about the rising price of prescriptions and medical costs, we rely on these prescriptions to keep us healthy and having a good quality of life, especially as we get older. However, pharmacies also provide other services other than filling prescriptions — these are often a center for receiving yearly vaccinations like flu vaccinations, getting over the counter medicine like pain relievers or fever reducers, and even consultations with a pharmacist.
Talk to Me About Pharmacies and Prescriptions
Most of us fill our prescriptions at big chain retailers like CVS, RiteAid, Duane Reade, Walmart, and other pharmacies. Indeed, over 50% of all prescriptions get filled at retail pharmacies. Insurance usually helps cover some (if not all) of the cost for prescriptions, though there might sometimes be a copay involved. The average copay for a patient’s prescription is $10.73. Almost 80% of all prescriptions are filled in the generic form, although compounding is becoming more popular.
Compounding is done by pharmacists, who prepare personalized medications. The medical professional prescribes the medication and then the pharmacist mixes the ingredients together to match the strength and dosage form prescribed and needed by the patient. Independent pharmacists were surveyed nationally and results showed that over three-quarters of them prepared compound medications for patients. The compounding industry is responsible for about 1-3% of the prescription market, which has an annual revenue of about $300 billion in total.
How Do Pharmacies Help With Vaccinations?
Pharmacies are also often responsible for issuing vaccines, such as flu vaccines. If you routinely get your vaccinations through a pharmacy, they may even have an immunization record on hand for you — helpful if you’re traveling. Although doctors’ offices will do booster shots and some of the major vaccinations that kids get, flu vaccines are often available at pharmacies for convenience. Vaccines prevent almost three million deaths annually. Between 2000 and 2008, vaccines cut down deaths from measles by almost 80% worldwide and in sub-Saharan Africa, casualties dropped by over 90%.
Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there’s been a 99% reduction in bacterial meningitis that comes from haemophilus influenzae since the vaccine was introduced in 1988. Having pharmacies issue vaccines has been helpful in encouraging more people get vaccinated and reducing the spread of diseases that can have a deadly impact.
Common immunizations available at pharmacies include Influenza, meningitis, pneumonia, shingles, tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis. However, each state has different requirements and regulations, so be sure to check what your state allows. You may have to go to your doctor’s office for immunizations for HPV, chickenpox, and hepatitis A and hepatitis B, for example.
Why Are Pharmacists So Vital to Our Medical System?
Pharmacists are often the intermediary between the doctor’s office and the pharmaceutical industry, dispensing medicine and information about the medicine that patients are prescribed. They help the general population feel better, monitor patient health and progress in terms of their medication, and educate consumers on how to use their prescriptions and any other over-the-counter medication.
They’re also important to doctors and nurses, keeping them informed about what the best drugs to prescribe are. They monitor drug purity and strength to make sure that drugs won’t interact in a negative way for the patient and ensure that they’re being manufactured correctly. Pharmacists are also concerned with drug composition and regulate drug safety. They’re concerned with their patients’ wellbeing and health first and foremost.
Next time you visit your pharmacy, think about the ways that pharmacies and pharmacists are helping you live your best life. They provide an important service to the community and are an important part of our medical system that helps us live longer and better.