Our Pharmacies
Long term care (LTC) pharmacies dispense pharmaceuticals, sterile intravenous drugs and nutritional products to patients in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospice programs, and similar institutional sites of care.
LTC pharmacies provide a standard of service that goes far beyond that provided by retail pharmacies. Patients in institutional settings have special needs - they are elderly, frail, chronically ill, and can no longer care for themselves. LTC pharmacies provide specialized services to these patients and to the facilities that care for them. These specialized services help to keep patients healthier, safer, and help payers control pharmaceutical costs.
Consultant Pharmacists
LTC pharmacies, unlike retail pharmacies, employ consultant pharmacists who conduct monthly drug regimen reviews (as required by federal law) for each resident at a facility to assess the appropriateness and efficacy of drug therapies. Based on their findings, these consultant pharmacists often recommend alternate therapies or the discontinuation of unnecessary drugs.
Consultant pharmacists also contribute to cost-effective pharmaceutical care by working with physicians on "therapeutic interchange" programs which may entail switching to a different medication known to be equally effective but less expensive than the original drug ordered.
Specialized Drug Packaging
Unit-dose packaging and specialized dispensing systems enable LTC pharmacies to prepare patient-specific medication packages that are easy to administer. Studies show that these systems increase resident safety by reducing errors in drug administration. They are particularly critical in settings like LTC, where most patients are taking multiple drugs. LTC pharmacies also design their dispensing systems with multiple checkpoints to prevent potentially adverse drug interactions or patient reactions, and maintain customized medication administration records for their client facilities.
Drug Formularies
LTC pharmacies save money for payers. For instance, LTC pharmacies develop formularies - lists of preferred drugs - in consultation with pharmacists, physicians and nurses to assure medically appropriate and cost-effective drug use.
These special services ensure safe and optimal drug therapy for patients, reduce overall pharmaceutical costs to the government and are unique to the LTC pharmacy industry.
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