Talk to Your Pharmacist

In this episode, Our guest is MARC RYAN, who has extensive leadership experience across the healthcare industry. Most recently, he was a founding executive and President of MedHOK (MHK, acquired by Hearst Health). He has launched and operated multiple health plans. Marc served in senior policy roles in state and federal government, including as state management secretary of Connecticut and helping build Medicare Part D’s relationship with state drug assistance programs in 2006. He created Connecticut’s Medicaid and children’s health managed care programs and its long-term care continuum. Marc is the author of The Healthcare Labyrinth: A Guide To Navigating Health Plans and Fixing American Health Insurance and the host of the Healthcare Labyrinth Podcast.Topics covered:(1) What are the trends in drug spending and the impact on all types of insurance products -- Medicare, Medicaid, commercial/employer -- cost trends for medical and retail(2) What is driving the major increases in drug costs/spending?(3) How are

In this episode, our guest is Laurie Lee Smith, who is the CEO of Laurie Lee Leadership and a seasoned executive coach with over threedecades of healthcare expertise, certified by the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Laurie’s international coaching and leadership engagements have spanned continents, including North America, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, with a focus on enhancing the influence of healthcare leadership on a global scale. Her coaching philosophy is anchored in the cultivation of high-trust leaders who support teams capable of achieving peak interdependence. Laurie holds a Master of Science in Nursing Administration from the University of Mary and a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She also holds a Green Belt certification in LEAN Six Sigma, a certificate in Brain-Based Coaching, and Board Certification through the ANCC in advanced Nursing Administration. Laurie received her formal training in executive coaching at the Hudson Institute of Coachin

In this episode, our guest, Tamar (Tay-mar) Thompson with us, the Head of Corporate Affairs at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare, Tamar leads global corporate efforts in policy and advocacy. She recently has been showcasing Alexion’s new short film, Rare Connections in NMOSD where she underscores the need to raise awareness of NMOSD, a rare neurological disease, to help reduce the time to diagnosis and advance care. A dedicated advocate for health equity, Tamar continues to highlight the unmet needs of the rare disease community.TopicsNeuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD): diagnosis, prevalence/incidence, overview of symptoms, and why it’s so important to raise awareness of rare diseasesRare Connections in NMOSD and why Alexion created this first-of-its-kind short filmWhat Alexion is doing to help improve equity and health outcomes for people living with rare diseasesUnveiling Connections: The Story Behind Alexion’s Groundbreaking Film on NMOSD• Bridgin

Talk to Your Pharmacist Podcast Interview - Danielle Vizcaino and Hillary BlackburnDanielle Vizcaino, President and CEO of The Assistance Fund (TAF), discussed the organization's role in providing financial assistance to patients facing high medical out-of-pocket costs. TAF, founded in 2009, has helped over 190,000 people, including 40,070 in 2023, with nearly 100 disease-specific programs. Vizcaino highlighted the importance of patient referrals and the unique features of TAF, such as year-long assistance and no cap on annual assistance. She emphasized the need for continued support and awareness, especially for rare diseases like Duchenne muscular dystrophy and hypophosphatasia. Vizcaino also shared her journey from molecular biology to healthcare administration and her commitment to improving healthcare accessibility.Introduction and Background of Danielle VizcainoHillary Blackburn welcomes Danielle Vizcaino and asks her to introduce herself and fill in any gaps in the intro.Danielle Vizcaino confirms her

In this episode, our guest is Dr. Brian Clyne who is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown Universitywhere he has served in numerous clinical, educational, and administrative leadership roles over the past 20 years. As Vice Chair for Education at ACT Leadership, Dr. Clyne develops and supports programs across the continuum of learners from undergraduates to faculty. In addition to medical education, Dr. Clyne’s areas of interest include career development and physician leadership. He founded and directed Leadership in Healthcare, a master’s level course for Alpert Medical School students. He is agraduate of the Brown University Executive Master’s in Healthcare Leadership program and the ACTLeadership and Performance Coaching Certificate program. His coaching practice is focused on mid-career healthcare professionals seeking to expand their leadership capabilities to make a lasting impact.Talk to Your Pharmacist Podcast Interview - Dr. Brian Cyne and Hillary BlackburnHillary B

In this episode, Our guest, Martha M. Rumore, PharmD, Esq, MS, LLM, FAPhA is a pharmacist-attorney in Frier Levitt’s Life Sciences Department. Her practice focuses on healthcare law; Food, Drug Cosmetic law; pharmacy law and regulatory issues; PBM issues; as well as pharmaceutical and medical device intellectual property including trademark, copyright, trade secret and all aspects of patent law (due diligence, prosecution, opinion work, litigation, and transactional matters). Dr. Rumore has over 15 years of law firm experience in the area of Food, Drug & Cosmetic Law and pharmaceutical intellectual property, counseling on early market opportunities for pharmaceutical clients particularly in the area of ANDA and 510K applications and all facets of Paragraph IV litigation.Dr. Rumore has also worked in Drug Regulatory Affairs in the pharmaceutical industry and hospital pharmacy, both at the Director level. She taught Pharmacy Law and Drug Regulatory Affairs at Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy

In this episode, our guest is Kyle Turner, who is an Associate Professor (Clinical) at the University of Utah College of Pharmacy and a clinical pharmacist at the Midvale Clinic. He earned his PharmD degree at the University of Utah College of Pharmacy and then completed the Pharmaceutical Care Leadership Residency at the University of Minnesota. Currently, he is directing the Utah Pharmacist Payer Provider Patient (UP4) Alliance dedicated to creating partnership between health care stakeholders to improve outcomes, lower cost and improve the patient experience. His scholarly and teaching interests center on fostering leadership, interprofessional education, team-based practice development, and health care innovation.He is also a consultant and national trainer for Intend Health Strategies, a non-profit dedicated to leadership development in the health care industry. Through Intend, Kyle shares the Relational Leadership framework with a diverse set of professionals across stages of training and practice with

In this episode, our guest is Sarah Arington Leach, who currently serves as VP of Strategic Commercialization at Prasco. Her primary objective is to provide pharmaceutical manufacturers with solutions that break down barriers of entry and create access for needed and innovative therapies for patients and caregivers. Prior to Prasco, she worked at OhioHealth implementing 340B and Own-Use programs. Her passion was ignited for serving patients during her time spent in both the inpatient and ambulatory pharmacy settings. She is the granddaughter of Prasco’s Founder & Chairman, E. Thomas Arington and the daughter of Christopher H. Arington, the company’s Vice-Chairman & CEO. Prasco is committed to honoring God and His greatest commandment summarized by the phrase “love God and love people”.Sarah completed her undergraduate degrees in Economics and Spanish at Emory University and received her MBA from Xavier University. Interview topics: Prasco (who we are, what we do, our culture)Pharmaceutical Research Sc

In this episode, our guest is Patrick Alonso,  a licensed pharmacist and host of the Men's Health Unscripted podcast, isn't your typical healthcare expert. He works as an advocate for men’s health similar to how a financial advisor works as an advocate for monetary gains.Patrick was recently interviewed on WFTS ABC News for his work with Your Tampa Healthcare Advocate, where he helps men and women navigate the complex healthcare system to achieve concrete health improvements through a holistic approach. His track record of reducing medications and improving A1c levels in diabetic patients speaks volumes about his experience. By educating and empowering his clients regarding their health, Patrick was able to provide support, and assistance and alleviate the burdens that many experience in the healthcare system when battling a metabolic disease.  These 3 clients were able to begin reversing their diseases eventually reducing their medication burden to a point where it was no longer needed or significantly decre

In this episode, our guest is James Wong, a pharmacist and founder of NiHowdy, pioneered the first platform offering customers drug rebates in Bitcoin on prescription refills. With experience in owning and operating pharmacies and skilled nursing facilities, he's a proud University of the Pacific graduate. Advocating blood donation, he highlights its potential to save lives, with each donation potentially aiding up to three individuals. Additionally, he emphasizes the personal benefits, citing a 50% reduction in cardiovascular incident risk and lowered cancer risk. Clearly passionate about Bitcoin and freedom technology, James is a staunch advocate.  Interview topics What the heck is Bitcoin?!What is NiHowdy?What do we do?Why is this important?How does Bitcoin disrupt the Pharmaceutical industry?Will the Inflation Reduction Act lower drug prices or backfire?Guest - James Wong, PharmD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesdanielwong/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nihowdy/Instagram: https://www

In this episode, we have two guests:Harini BupathiHarini's practice focuses on counseling several different types of pharmacy providers on their relationships with PBMs and other similar payors. She advises clients in a wide range of PBM-related matters including network access, audits, termination, wrongful recoupment actions, and fraud, waste, and abuse investigations. Harini utilizes her knowledge and experience to counsel on strategies and best practices to avoid any adverse action from payors and PBMs. Lucas MorganLucas is a skilled and assertive litigator in Frier Levitt’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Litigation groups, where he represents healthcare and life sciences professionals in a variety of complex matters. With a focus on advocating for the rights of pharmacies and other healthcare providers, Lucas handles various types of disputes involving PBMs and also regularly navigates BOP matters in various legal issues, advising and representing clients in BOP inspections, investigations, enforcement act

In this episode, our guest is Lisa Blue MHI, BSN, RN. Lisa is the Chief Clinical Innovation Officer with Providertech, which offers technologysolutions to address the complexity of scaling patient engagement while improving operational efficiencies. She is an enthusiastic population health leader who believes that doing healthcare differently, and better, is possible. She is a registered nurse with clinical experience from acutecare to FQHCs, giving her the ability to effectively translate and enhance healthcare workflows. She earned her Diploma of Nursing from St Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Grand Canyon University, and her Master of HealthcareInnovation from Arizona State University, where she also was adjunct faculty from that program.Interview topics Motivation to step into this role/companyChallenges and opportunities of patient engagement. How does SDOH further complicate patient engagement?Most promising things emerging in healthcare ITOpportunities i

In this episode, we hear about DR. JAMES CIMA’s journey to becoming a Doctor of Chiropractic started when he suffered a back injury at the age of 15 and spent years enduring back pain. When he graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor ofScience, someone suggested he visit a chiropractor. The combination of being amazed by the results and his desire to be in the health field, he decided to enroll at New York Chiropractic College, graduating with honors and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. When he was in his last year of school, he saw a quote from Thomas Edison about a doctor who did not even exist. Mr. Edison stated that: “The Doctor Of The Future Will Give No Medication But Will Interest His Patients In Diet, Care Of The Human Frame, And The Cause And Prevention Of Disease.”Dr. Cima has spent forty years of his life devoted to Mr. Edison’s definition of health and wellness, creating a health and wellness program that lives up to Mr. Edison’s vision of the doctor of the future. Over the years, he has

In this episode, we hear from two guests sharing how a new discount works at the pharmacy to help lower prescription prices.Margie Hocker, Pharmacy Manager and Certified Pharmacy Technician at Kerrville Drug Co. has been at the pharmacy for almost 30 years. She started working there out of high school delivering prescriptions. When it became a requirement that pharmacy technicians had to be certified, she studied on her own and passed the certification. Margie is deeply dedicated to Kerrville Drug Co and keeping it, as well as other independent pharmacies’, doors open.Miranda Rochol, SVP Provider Solutions at Prescryptive, leads the product strategy and sales team for Prescryptive’s mobile-first platform that empowers the healthcare consumer with the ability to take ownership of their prescription and provides AI pricing solutions for pharmacies. Rochol has worked in the healthcare and pharmacy industry for 20 years, holding leadership positions at Healthcare Data Solutions and Walgreens and serving as a boar

In this episode, our guest is Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, Chief Medical Officer, DrFirst. Colin Banas is an Internal Medicine Hospitalist and the former Chief Medical Information Officer for VCU Health System in Richmond, VA prior to stepping down after 15 fulfilling years to pursue consulting. He is proud to have testified before the U.S. Senate and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) on the topic of Health IT and the Meaningful Use Program and is a former Health IT Fellow for the ONC. His interests center the role of big-data and analytics on patient outcomes and on novel forms of Clinical Decision Support, those that are outside of the realm of traditional rules and alerts, and include real-time dashboarding and intuitive usability designs. He also helped spearhead the VCU effort to participate in the Open Notes initiative, where patients have access to their clinical documentation in real time. In 2017 Dr. Banas was humbled to receive the HIMSS-AMDIS award for Physician Executive of the Year from his

In this episode, our guest Rosalie Audoin is CEO & Founder of FuturEdge Group. Rosalie Audoin is a trusted executive coach and senior leadership consultant, focusing on developing leaders within cross-cultural teams. She has spoken on many stages to help companies unlock their global team's full potential. Rosalie also coaches on three executive leadership programmes at the London School of Economics and has worked with leaders at Gallagher, Sony, Santander, Harper Collins, and Unicef, amongst others. As the CEO of FuturEdge Group, Rosalie assembled an international team of highly skilled leadership development experts; together, they have helped countless companies achieve success, both domestically and across the globe. Rosalie gained her edge when she turned around a client's train-wreck team in 12 weeks. As a fluent speaker of four languages, English, French, Spanish, and Creole, Rosalie brings a unique understanding and perspective to her work, through cultural intelligence, allowing her to enable po

In this episode, our guest, Julia Regan, co-founder and CEO of RxLightning, has over 15 years of experience delivering innovative healthcare solutions that disrupt the status quo and remove friction for patients, providers, payers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. She has been at the forefront of some of the most transformational initiatives in the industry, including the development of real-time benefit check technologies and state-of-the-art tools that streamline medication onboarding. Julia has been recognized with numerous local, regional, and international awards, including being named a winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the East Central region. Since incorporating RxLightning, Julia has raised $20.5 million of capital from top-tier international healthcare investors including LRVHealth, McKesson Ventures, and Novartis Ventures.RxLightning:RxLightning digitizes, automates, and streamlines the historically manual specialty medicationonboarding process. With RxLightning, providers can quickly a

In this episode, our guest is Dr. Dan Blumenthal. Dr. Blumenthal received his MD and MBA degrees from Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School and trained in internal medicine and cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Blumenthal is a past recipient of the American Heart Association’s Laennec Young Clinician Award and an accomplished health services and cardiovascular disease outcomes researcher whose previous work has focused on innovations in payment model design, quality improvement in cardiology, and leadershipdevelopment. He has published over 50 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Blumenthal previously was a member of the founding team at Devoted Health, where he held the roles of Associate Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director for the health plan.Topics:What is happening at a federal policy level and on the ground that is leading to interest in shifting cardiology payment reform towards value-based models?Where are the clinical opportunities to improve quality and r

In this episode, our guest is Dr. Natalie Park who is a pharmacist and a co-founder of Pharmesol. Pharmesol is an AI-enabled pharmacy assistant that automates frequent conversations and tasks 24/7 and scales the digital interactions between pharmacy teams and patients. Previously, Natalie conducted health economics and outcomes research at Novartis and worked on population health initiatives including medication management optimization at Geisinger Health. Natalie received her PharmD from Ohio State University and is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at University of York.Interview topics: Journey to a pharmacy tech entrepreneur Opportunities with AI in Pharmacy and how the profession can use the technology to their advantage Considerations with AI in Pharmacy such as accuracy and reliability Guest - Natalie Park, PharmD-LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/snataliepark/-Website www.pharmesol.comHost - Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, MBA www.hillaryblackburn.com   https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillar

In this episode, our guest is Fady Boctor is the President and Chief Commercial Officer of Petros Pharmaceuticals. He has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, across a wide array of functions including brand and portfolio marketing, sales channel optimization, product portfolio strategy development and new product launches. Mr. Boctor has driven significant revenue growth for specialty biologics, mainstream Men’s Health product lines, rare/orphan disease therapeutics, and substance abuse rescue modalities. Mr. Boctor has worked for companies such as Novartis, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Adapt Pharmaceuticals (Emergent Biosolutions). Mr. Boctor has his BA in International Relations from Hamline University, Masters in Diplomacy from Norwich University and his MBA from the University of Manchester Business School.Talking points: Petros Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PTPI) is a well-funded leader in the emerging prescription to over-the-counter