Jennifer, a patient who has struggled with her chronic condition for years now, came in for her usual doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago. During the visit, a Patient Liaison came in to speak with her about the hospital specialty pharmacy’s services. Jennifer and the Liaison both quickly realized that they had actually met 3 years before this, when the Liaison called Jennifer to speak to her about the pharmacy. When the Liaison walked into the room during Jennifer’s appointment, she smirked and said, “I remember you…you’re the person that called me several years ago and I told you no!” The Liaison laughed and asked Jennifer about her experience so far at her current national brand name pharmacy. She told her Liaison that, while she hasn’t had any major issues with her current pharmacy, she does struggle with the process of getting her medication refilled. She mentioned that she often receives her refill calls while at work when she can’t answer the phone and when she calls back later on she gets an automated service over the phone that is really frustrating. Jennifer said that her pharmacy often cuts her delivery very close or she’ll even end up missing a dose or two because of the challenges she faces with the refill process at her current pharmacy.

Jennifer and her Liaison spent the next 25 minutes talking about the hospital specialty pharmacy program and how much she could benefit from our personalized, local services. Both Jennifer and her husband were very surprised when they found out that the hospital specialty pharmacy was in the same building and that the Liaison actually sits right in the clinic. Jennifer began to realize how valuable these services would be for her and apologized for not giving the Liaison a chance all those years ago. She pictured a room full of people, somewhere across the country, trying to get people to use their pharmacy and didn’t think she would receive good care.

As Jennifer and her Liaison started to talk about how transferring her care over to the hospital specialty pharmacy would work, she mentioned that she could not afford her very high copay for her medication right now. Her Liaison reassured her that her copay would not go up if she filled with the hospital pharmacy and that she could also get her copay to under $10 with their financial assistance program. Jennifer and her husband were, once again, completely floored and her husband jokingly kept asking her why she said had said no to these services the first time around.

The Liaison left Jennifer and her husband to think it over and continue their visit with the doctor, telling them to stop by to see her on their way out. When they finally came out of the exam room, Jennifer had a big smile on her face and headed directly over to see the Liaison. She told her that she wanted to start using the hospital specialty pharmacy’s services right away. Her husband said that a service like this belongs in every hospital and he could not get over the “patient first” approach that he had witnessed today. They both thanked their new Patient Liaison repeatedly and said they were excited to see what more she has in store for them.