Pill Box Owner Expands Business With Telepharmacy
February 27, 2019 at 5:19 p.m.
Pill Box Owner Expands Business With Telepharmacy
By Mark [email protected]
Now, thanks to a Warsaw entrepreneur, people in Albion can do business with the first telepharmacy in Indiana. While the decision to open was fairly simple, the process to getting the doors opened was anything but easy.
Greg Winn, the second-generation owner of Pill Box, said he was attending a trade show in August 2015 when he first heard the term “telepharmacy.”
“It was one of those things where you heard the word, but you don’t think much of it,” Winn said. “But when I got back, John Morr from the Albion town council reached out to me.
“I’m not really proud to admit it, but even though I grew up in Warsaw, I didn’t know where Albion was,” he smiled. “John said to me, ‘We were wondering if you’d be interested in opening a pharmacy in Albion, and we think you should use telepharmacy to do it.’”
Telepharmacy is a fairly straightforward process. Winn said a photo is taken of each drug as it’s being filled by a trained technician, including the label of the source container and the bottle the customer receives. Then a pharmacist in another location double checks the prescription for accuracy.
Customers who need to talk to a pharmacist can do so over a secure connection with a tablet, and in the case of Pill Box’s Albion location, the tablet can even be handed to a drive-through customer. It essentially allows a pharmacist to be in two places at once.
From that conversation with Morr, Winn began to do his due diligence on the concept. It began a journey down “a longer road than we anticipated.”
First, Winn found out telepharmacy is legal in Indiana. He then began calling various telepharmacies around the country.
“Everyone said they loved it, and there was little to no downside,” he said. “It’s a great way to improve patient care in underserved, remote places.”
Winn found out that while telepharmacy was specifically mentioned by Indiana code as legal, there was no regulations or processes in place within the state.
He worked with Indiana state representatives, the state drug board and many other groups to create the regulations that he and others who wish to operate a telepharmacy will follow moving forward. But virtually nothing that involves government oversight happens quickly; something Winn learned first hand over the last 3-1/2 years.
Then there was the matter of remodeling a former pizza restaurant to be a pharmacy, and all the details that come with opening a business anywhere.
“It has been a long road, but it’s been worth it,” Winn said.
While Winn has gained experience that will serve him well throughout the remainder of his career, what he is most pleased about is how well a telepharmacy fits in with the Pill Box mission.
“Studies have shown, over and over again, that people’s quality of life improves with access to excellent health care, and when patients know what is supposed to happen when they take certain medications, health care improves,” Winn said. “We’ve always been about improving the quality of people’s lives, and opening a telepharmacy allows us to do that in a whole new way.”
Now, thanks to a Warsaw entrepreneur, people in Albion can do business with the first telepharmacy in Indiana. While the decision to open was fairly simple, the process to getting the doors opened was anything but easy.
Greg Winn, the second-generation owner of Pill Box, said he was attending a trade show in August 2015 when he first heard the term “telepharmacy.”
“It was one of those things where you heard the word, but you don’t think much of it,” Winn said. “But when I got back, John Morr from the Albion town council reached out to me.
“I’m not really proud to admit it, but even though I grew up in Warsaw, I didn’t know where Albion was,” he smiled. “John said to me, ‘We were wondering if you’d be interested in opening a pharmacy in Albion, and we think you should use telepharmacy to do it.’”
Telepharmacy is a fairly straightforward process. Winn said a photo is taken of each drug as it’s being filled by a trained technician, including the label of the source container and the bottle the customer receives. Then a pharmacist in another location double checks the prescription for accuracy.
Customers who need to talk to a pharmacist can do so over a secure connection with a tablet, and in the case of Pill Box’s Albion location, the tablet can even be handed to a drive-through customer. It essentially allows a pharmacist to be in two places at once.
From that conversation with Morr, Winn began to do his due diligence on the concept. It began a journey down “a longer road than we anticipated.”
First, Winn found out telepharmacy is legal in Indiana. He then began calling various telepharmacies around the country.
“Everyone said they loved it, and there was little to no downside,” he said. “It’s a great way to improve patient care in underserved, remote places.”
Winn found out that while telepharmacy was specifically mentioned by Indiana code as legal, there was no regulations or processes in place within the state.
He worked with Indiana state representatives, the state drug board and many other groups to create the regulations that he and others who wish to operate a telepharmacy will follow moving forward. But virtually nothing that involves government oversight happens quickly; something Winn learned first hand over the last 3-1/2 years.
Then there was the matter of remodeling a former pizza restaurant to be a pharmacy, and all the details that come with opening a business anywhere.
“It has been a long road, but it’s been worth it,” Winn said.
While Winn has gained experience that will serve him well throughout the remainder of his career, what he is most pleased about is how well a telepharmacy fits in with the Pill Box mission.
“Studies have shown, over and over again, that people’s quality of life improves with access to excellent health care, and when patients know what is supposed to happen when they take certain medications, health care improves,” Winn said. “We’ve always been about improving the quality of people’s lives, and opening a telepharmacy allows us to do that in a whole new way.”
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