Introduction
Host Sonja Pagniano, Executive Director of the NCPA Foundation, interviews guest Dr. Diana Arouchanova, PharmD, APh, Owner of Clinicare Pharmacy and APP Care Center in Northridge, California. The episode celebrates Diana's 20-year journey in pharmacy ownership, exploring how she transformed a small neighborhood pharmacy into an innovative advanced practice care center. Diana shares her patient-centered approach that goes beyond traditional dispensing, discusses her pharmacy residency program partnership with USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and reveals how community pharmacies serve as essential healthcare lifelines during and after emergencies. Her story demonstrates the evolving role of independent pharmacy in integrated healthcare delivery and offers insights on training the next generation of pharmacists.
Interview
Sonja: Hi, this is your host for the Script Your Future podcast, Sonja Pagniano, the Executive Director of the NCPA Foundation. I am so excited to bring today's guest, Diana Arouchanova. She is coming to us from California. Diana, how are you?
Diana: Thank you. How are you?
Sonja: I'm good, thanks. So, tell us a little bit about your pharmacy and where you're located.
Diana: Thanks for having me, first of all. It's such a pleasure and fun to be here. And thank you for the warm introduction. So… I am… an advanced practice pharmacist. I practice in the state of California, and I own and operate Clinicare Pharmacy, an advanced practice pharmacy care center. Since actually 2005.
Sonja: So, we're coming up on your 20 year anniversary in December, right?
Diana: Exactly.
Sonja: That's incredible. Congratulations on 20 years of pharmacy ownership this year. Can you tell us a little bit about what advanced practice means, especially for me as someone with no pharmacy background at all? …I'd love to learn more.
Diana: Sure. So advanced practice pharmacy is relatively a new term, not that new, but relatively new term in the practice of pharmacy.
And in California specifically, we actually have a separate licensure category right now for pharmacists with advanced training who can take certain classes and pass certain examinations, post-residency and whatnot, and actually be also licensed as advanced practice pharmacists. These are people with advanced training who actually do things outside of traditional dispensing practice. Before even advanced practice pharmacy was a thing, um, in, within our profession, um, couple of decades ago, there was something that I thought, um, was important for me to do.
So, I have, introduced that in my practice when I founded Clinicare. So, I was not just seeing patients for traditional pharmacy prescriptions you know prescriptions would come in 20 years ago people would walk in that doesn't happen much anymore because everything is e-prescribed nowadays every single prescription for me was an opportunity to actually interact with the patients and see beyond that prescription, look at the patient as a whole.
…I started doing that. I realized that that's the only and the best way to connect with the patients. So, I also started collecting a lot of data to see how are these interactions, my interactions with patients beyond that prescription on those prescriptions were actually affecting the patients too.
It was looking at their overall health and outcomes.
…Even before we started working under our many now collaborative practice agreements and before I got licensed as an advanced practice pharmacist many years ago, I was already practicing in that realm because I think that's the only way any pharmacist can actually have that really fulfilling experience. profession and practice at the top of their license is being part of that integrative team.
Advanced practice pharmacy isn't just a term. I know a lot of people look at it as a fancy term, but I think that's how every pharmacist should be working and practicing, irrespective of the setting they're in.
Sonja: Very very cool…I know it's becoming more common now, especially for students wanting to pursue pharmacy in that way, making sure that they're really serving the whole patient and not just dispensing medications. And some of them don't realize that you can do that through pharmacy ownership. So it's really great to hear that perspective that you've had, especially over so many years, like already doing that work. And it really just now starting to become recognized more in the profession. I think it's very exciting. And I think it really shows how important these pharmacies are for community-based health care access.
I'd love to hear from you…Speaking of students, I understand you guys have a residency program. I'd love to hear how you got that started. What inspires you to continue doing it? Because I know it's a lot of extra work, right? Also, on the pharmacy owner. But I'd love to hear how you developed it and kind of what makes it keep going all these years.
Diana: Great question. I actually love that part of my day-to-day and part of my…work with the students.
It is a lot of work.
So, it's not just a lot of work. It's a lot of learning as a preceptor, as a pharmacist.
It's a lot of giving and taking. So, our residency program is affiliated with USC Mann School of Pharmacy. The partnership started in 2011. So, I have trained many, many residents already. Some years we had two that I have supported, but usually we have one resident every year. And obviously it's an ASHP accredited program.
So we go through the whole, you know, the process of matching and training and rotations. And I'll go in more detail about exactly what the resident does here at Clinicare. But this was a few years after founding Clinicare where I after working with some of the students, mostly fourth-year students through their APPE rotations, I realized that we get an incredible education at school. I'm myself a USC alum. So we get really great education.
But there was a component that was missing, was really the practical component where the students would come to their APPE rotations And, you know, as soon as you graduate, you're ready to practice as soon as you pass your license. I mean, you pass your boards once you're licensed. But a lot of them did not have the practical experience on mostly being alone. So you graduate your license, then what?
So I thought, again, this doesn't mean everybody has to do residency, but I think everybody should do residency…unless they had really incredible working experience throughout their four years of pharmacy school and they have been exposed to a lot of practice settings, which in pharmacy, they're actually countless. It's not just patient and ambulatory care, right? So I've realized that a residency program where a resident will come in and actually practice whilst somewhat being under the supervision of an experienced and licensed pharmacist would be a really good way to train future generations of pharmacists.
So I really wanted to also change that mentality that once you graduate, you're stuck in community, you're stuck in inpatient, you're it's… Even if you're stuck, which in reality you're not, you can do so much within your practice setting. I really wanted to basically open up some minds and show them that the possibilities are really endless.
It wasn't difficult because, like I said, I'm an alumni of USC. I was already training students. I met with then my professors, now colleagues, now friends, and we decided to actually serve as a residency site. And the rest is history.
So we had our first resident. Most of my residents, not most- I want to say all of my residents, practice in the settings where they've intended to practice, you know, even before the residency. You know, a lot of them are in academia. Many of them are in M Care settings, pharmacy ownerships...It's really across the board. What was really, really great in having the residents here on site was them really seeing everything real time. It's everything was, you know, you know, patient interactions, whether it was clinical appointments or in the outpatient pharmacy, they would really see the true patient cases, not textbook, not on the rotations. It was longitudinal. You know, a lot of times when you have APPE students on rotations, it's only six weeks blocks.
It's very exciting when they start, but by the time they've connected with patients, The rotation is up and they have to move on to their next site.
With residency, it's different.
They get to actually manage patients. They get to connect with these people and really...manage their diseases. So that was one of the main things I wanted to do, precepting and residency. And for me personally, it's also a never-ending learning, which I absolutely love.
It really keeps me on my toes. I get to sit down with my residents and discuss, you know…future of the pharmacy and just learn with them.
Sonja: That is so incredible that you have really taken your passion for the profession and figured out a way to continue to make sure that the next generation kind of carries that on. And even if they don't end up in ownership, right, even if they end up in a different part of pharmacy practice, like you said, it's so versatile. And just because they're doing something else right now doesn't mean that pharmacy ownership isn't at all in their future. And now they have a better understanding of what is possible, too, within pharmacy ownership.
So, I think that is so key for like a well-rounded student experience to have those opportunities. And it makes me really happy that those are available in your area.
I know you mentioned your outpatient pharmacy. I'm curious. I understand it's part of the HealthMart franchise.
I'm wondering for new pharmacy owners, like what what are maybe some of the benefits of being part of a franchise like the HealthMart or a Good Neighbor Pharmacy or those kinds of things? And how has that helped your pharmacy growth?
Diana: So my outpatient pharmacy is how Clinicare started.
It was a small neighborhood pharmacy in a small, very small location. which was me, myself, and my patients. So it's my little baby, will always be.
And it's very dear to my heart. And everything really started in, I call it outpatient, but it's really a community-based pharmacy. It's really that community pharmacy that invited people that, in all honesty, were tired of not having community pharmacies, you know, In 2005, this was a year after I graduated pharmacy school, when I founded Clinicare, people were actually looking for community-based pharmacies because there were few pharmacies in our area that have closed.
And, you know, bringing a new pharmacy with a young pharmacist at a time was something really fresh and important.
And they were actually my best...advertisers that people would come in and go bring their neighbors, bring their families.
That's exactly how it truly was and is a community-based pharmacy.
So it started small. Obviously, we grew. But in the process of the growth, I think I found it was important to be part of, we started as a good neighbor pharmacy. And then a few years after that, we have switched wholesalers, which as you know, both of those entities are part of wholesalers. Healthmart is part of McKesson Corporation.
So I want to talk a little more about Healthmart only because we are part of Healthmart right now.
And I think for new pharmacies who are opening up, new pharmacists who are actually opening up pharmacies, it is important to join these entities only because of the resources that they provide. As pharmacists, we're very resourceful. We can find a lot of things. We can find a lot of information.
And CPHA is a great resource, too.
As a member, I can say that throughout the years, and NCPA also provided a lot of invaluable resources to me as a member. And some of the things that you just need to look up, they're available to you as members.
So these are basically resources and you don't have to use one or the other. You can pretty much use all of them because that's what's going to help you grow. And it's networking. It's really opening up more ways to network with other pharmacists, other pharmacy owners, other pharmacy administrators. Like I said, pharmacists are such a versatile profession that you can really... You can do a lot of things with the education and the license that we have. And with these entities, you just pretty much network. Yes, they offer resources [and] training. They help you kind of navigate the very challenging health care system specifically as it applies to pharmacies these days. But to me, it was about networking, learning from others and resources.
Sonja: So, thinking back to when you were first starting out like 20 years ago, what do you remember were like the most challenging aspects of starting your pharmacy?
Diana: So, for me personally, I was part of a managed care health system network.
That's where I went. I was an interaction within Kaiser Permanente system…for four years, I've seen pretty much everything within the closed network of Kaiser. And then as soon as I graduated, they promoted me. They put me in charge of one of their largest pharmacies. And it was fun. It was a lot of fun for about a year managing a pharmacy that had 75 employees, 2,000 scripts a day. It was chaotic fun, something that I thrive in.
Um, but then I realized patient care was kind of disappearing. So it was, you know, I was too caught up in the operations, which is also, I love. So I was like, okay, how do I stay with patients, but also around operations? So the idea of Clinicare, um, you know, was born when I first started looking into opening up, uh, a private practice, it was terrifying because I had no idea what I was doing. So I went with the process. I did it all by myself. Um, and it was the process of, you know, trying to understand the laws, the regulations, the contracts.…I think for me, the contracts were the scary part because at that point you had to decide, do you join this large insurance companies? And… PBMs were just, you know, rising up during those times.
Again, this was 20 years ago…
Do you join them alone?
Do you join them as a part of a PSAO, pharmacy services administration organization, which actually is what HealthMart is?
You know, their app in the HealthMart Atlas is our PSAO. So for some, we have to do separate contracts because it made sense operation wise. For some, most we have to go through a PSAO.
So, to me, I think it was the insurance world. That was the most terrifying one. But then that really becomes secondary when these people start to walk into your pharmacy, and they really need help. Because you realize that they're far more confused than you are. So, you kind of put all of that aside and you really concentrate on helping the patient first. Then those things come up. And of course, were there challenges where, you know, people needed something, but the insurance wouldn't allow? Yes, many, many.
I mean, now it's far worse, to be honest with you, than it was before. But, it was really, I was able to overcome those challenges by always looking at who and why I'm coming to work every day.
Sonja: Do you feel like that transfers to now, like in present time? Cause I'm sure you're still facing challenges as a pharmacy owner, as is probably like the whole nation still. But I'm wondering if that, that passion for patient care still kind of carries you through.
Diana: …you know, no matter what, like I'm going to stick through this and I'm going to try to make this happen in whatever way I can for my patients. So in all honesty, yes, if it wasn't for really the community and the patients, it's very difficult to own and operate a community-based pharmacy these days.
I mean, this is a subject for another podcast probably, and I can talk for hours and hours and hours about all the problems pharmacists and pharmacies are facing these days. In 2010, 2011, almost 10 years ago, I've already sensed the direction the profession was going into payment-wise, payment system-wise. So I was like, what do we do to stay in business and continue caring for our patients?
And that's how the whole idea of clinical services, advanced services, and integrative practice was born. So I kind of switched gears while still maintaining and hopefully will continue to maintain for many years to come our community pharmacy. The integrative part is what really helped me overcome some of the challenges that we have today.
I mean, nowadays, we still have to make a very tough decision operation wise and patient care wise. Obviously, we take care of every single patient. We find other ways for them to get the care they need. But sometimes the you know, it's not to our benefit, but as long as it benefits the patients, that's what matters.
Sonja: It kind of breaks my heart a little bit, you know, that we have to make those decisions, especially as business owners in a health care setting between a patient's well-being and the operations of our business. I do wish those things were better integrated, even like on a policy level and systematic level. I think it's definitely something that needs change and needs change soon.
But I I'm constantly the eternal optimist to a fault. So I will continue to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
But okay, speaking about, you know, kind of the things pharmacies endure and go through, we've done disaster relief grant making since our founding in 1953. And we know there were the fires in California, not too long ago, really. And fires every year really in California are a consistent issue. I'm wondering for like emergency planning for your pharmacy, like what are some things that you've maybe done or considered and then like how do disasters like that impact your pharmacy?
Diana 19:23: So as healthcare professionals, we have to be here for our patients. So, you know, it's whether there is a fire or not, we are at work, we're helping people. Disasters on a smaller scale happen almost every day. People have, you know, small problems and they come to pharmacy because, you know, they need the care. And this is the first place a lot of people come, which is why I feel that it's almost essential for community pharmacies, true community-based pharmacies to exist, right?
…We were interestingly, what happened, the way we were able to help our community is during the buyers earlier this year, we had more patients needing non-traditional services than just, we had people who had to come in and get their emergency supplies because they had to leave their homes and they didn't have enough medications or they lost medications in transitions of care.
But we also had a lot of people who couldn't get, it was right before schools were restarted for the second semester. So a lot of students and a lot of children needed vaccinations. You know, their pediatrician's offices were closed there or they didn’t have…couldn't order things in time because of the supply chain issues. And, you know, we are a full vaccination. We have an international travel clinic and a full vaccination site pharmacy.
We actually were able to help community and kids go back to school with some of the missing vaccinations and things like that. So there is always something that we come through with. And it feels great when people come in and, you know, it's not just the medications that you're giving them or a lot of people would come in and they didn't have anything. This happens often also when there is…I remember 2020 during the pandemic, the way we operated, it was never stopping operations. It was very challenging, but at the same time, very rewarding. And there are always problems. You're helping them, but a lot of times you have to go through so many loops.
Uh, they come in, they, all they know is their medication and the dose. They have no idea. They can't remember where they were getting it. So you have to try to get hold of their doctor's offices, which a lot of times, you know, they're closed. So there's so much behind the scene work that goes on, um, that you do. Um, but again, it's to help the people, to help the community.
Sonja: And see, I think these are all things that if you're not there, you don't know it's happening. And so, or like if, if you don't need it, you don't know it's something right. That someone in your community help provide for you.
And so it is so important.
I think that we as everyday people. So like speaking of people like myself who aren't in the pharmacy industry, that we remember that community pharmacy, especially these small business pharmacies in these communities, play such an important role. And if they're not there, who are we going to be able to go to in times of crisis? Because like you said, they are the most accessible health care provider. They're the easiest to get to a lot of times. A lot of them do have these clinical services now,
So, they can do a lot more aside from the usual things. And I know for when my kids enter school, vaccines are going to be so crucial. And if I can't get into a pediatrician's office because there is some kind of a tornado or something in my area, I would hope that I can go to a pharmacy.
So, I think it's so incredible that over these 20 years, you’ve experienced just about every facet, I think, of what a pharmacy owner can experience. I am also curious, though, professional development wise, we don't always have time. Especially like as a leader in your field; being able to take time for professional development, maybe part of like State Pharmacy Association and things like that.
[What] are some ways that you stay involved as a professional in your field? And what advice do you have for people who are maybe struggling to make time for it?
Diana: So the time will always be the struggle. I am a mom. I have two kids. I'm very involved in their school. You know, I've been a homeroom mom at their school for as long as I can remember, probably a decade. I do a lot of things in the 24 hours that I have, sometimes, you know, at the expense of not sleeping. And the time is...struggle, but you can always make time if you want to. So as far as professional development, two things are very important. Staying connected in your local associations, I think, is very important. I am an active member of California Pharmacists Association (CPHA). I serve on a couple of boards within CPHA.
I have been awarded the, you know, last year with the Innovators Award, and it was, you know, it's…It's you really have to make time for these things.
You know, when you are really passionate about the work that you do, you can always find time and then you can always do things as a team. You can delegate within your team if you have a really good team of pharmacists and technicians who actually believe in the work that you do, who see the same thing you see. And, you know, the vision is the same. It's the common vision. It's not that difficult to actually find the time for things. So being involved is very important. Networking also is very important. And, you know, networking a lot of times helps with, you know, we're unable to do certain things…Like we offer...consultation services so for new start pharmacies um you know sometimes people think it's just filling out an application sending to California Board of Pharmacy and you know sitting and waiting right there's so much that goes with that so you know finding people who know what they're doing you know, taking advice from people who have been through this and know how to get through red tape, if there is any, being open to new ideas. A lot of times as pharmacists, we, especially nowadays, when we complain about the difficulties in the profession and the struggles, we always talk about the change, right?
But that change doesn't happen when we only complain. That change really happens when we become part of that movement and we, we have to become that change. So if I don't like certain things in my home today, I make a change there. The same concept applies within a profession, right? If I don't like certain things at work, I have to really make that change.
You know, I very often meet in our clinics, we have weekly meetings because it's…It's a very fast moving, integrated practice because we work with other health care professionals, medical groups, physicians. So we're constantly meeting to see how do we meet everyone's expectations because we are taking care of their patients, our patients, our mutual patients. Same within our community pharmacy.
I'm very hands on. I am not the main pharmacist who dispenses the medications. But I know every single patient, every single patient today. I know who they are, but the name doesn't sound familiar. I try to go and remember something about the patient so that I know who they are. So really, this is part of professional development, too.
Professional development isn't just staying up to date with your new medications and your guidelines and the standard of care. All of the all of these little things add up and you really are part of the overall professional development. These things are the things that make me stay on top of my clinical knowledge, too, because I …you just have to be very hands on.
Sonja: And I like I like that you said that, too, because I think sometimes we overlook the way that we're developing in our profession because we're in the moment. We're just doing it. But we're not thinking about how that's actually growing our skill set.
And I think it's so poignant that you said that, like, even just knowing every patient of your pharmacy, and if you don't know them, taking the time, making that extra effort to know them and remember them. I think that's incredible and is really, really great advice, especially for new up-and-coming pharmacy owners and even as people in the profession…I think that kind of thing can also help keep you passionate about your work and keep you positive about it. Because it is, it's about these patients. It's about the lives that you're impacting.
I'm curious about…so going back to your partnership with USC Mann, I'm wondering if there are...types of rotations and learning experiences that came from that initial partnership with them that maybe you kind of helped inspire? Or if those were kind of things that you modeled off of things that were already happening or anything like that?
Diana: I love this question. Actually, so when we joined USC Mann's community-based residency program, we were at the time, the only community-based pharmacy, independent pharmacy, partnered with USC, like I said, over a decade ago. In addition to going with the ASHP standards, because you have to follow the standards, students or the pharmacy residents, they have to be licensed within a few months of residency program. They have to go through the minimum requirements of the rotations and the teaching experiences. But what we brought into the program, which is still is very unique and innovative. I guess, hence my excellence in innovation award. It was the fact that we are really truly practicing at an integrated pharmacy owned by an independent pharmacist. Because a lot of times when residents are in a residency program, they're used to being in health systems.
So, for a lot of the students and then residents, they don't realize that the same ambulatory care services where you see the patients after they've seen their physicians and you're managing disease states. For most, at least back then, and even sometimes now, for them, that's only possible if you're part of the healthcare systems, right? They don't really see that this can actually happen in a community pharmacy that's owned and operated by a pharmacist.
So that was a very unique perspective and a unique setting that we brought to the residency program. Also, our partnerships with physicians, small and large medical groups, as well as hospitals, was something very unique that residents didn't realize.
Even now, during residency interviews, they ask me, you know, the website lists all these things that you guys do as part of the residency program. So, the resident actually asked transitions of care. And the answer is yes.
So - It's really cool to know that you can do these things, but it's another thing to actually come and do these things… when residents come and they see this as a community-based pharmacy, it's a private practice, but yet you're seeing patients across California and you're managing their diabetes, or people are transitioning care and they're going from hospital to skilled nursing facility or their homes, and you're the person who's managing and reconciling those medications. It's a really cool thing to have in our practice. And that's something that all of our residents are exposed to. So, we have really, I think, closed…I want to say… a lot of the gaps in a community-based residency program. Because when...And I'll be honest with you…20 years ago, to me, community-based residency was community-based pharmacy.
You go, you spend a whole year at a community pharmacy, you see patients, you dispense medications, you do some, you know, maybe basic clinical services, point of care testing, hormonal contraception and whatnot. But it's so much more than that. It's really so much more than that. You can actually...And the fun part is that you see the patients from start to finish. Most of these people will hopefully graduate within a year. Their diabetes is controlled, their blood pressure is controlled, and we graduate them. So, residents become part of that. And I think that's one of the things I am proud to bring into the residency program with USC Mann.
One thing that I will mention is being part of the residency isn't just about having a resident on site. A resident is not an extra staff that you're going to have who's going to help you.
Yes, residents are very helpful…
You know, once they're licensed, they're a licensed pharmacist. So, they're able to do a lot of things independently. But the most important thing about the residency program, which is why I think it's also challenging because it takes up a lot of my time especially in the beginning there's a lot of hand holding there's a lot of training and by the time you're done doing that the residency year is over um so that's the reality, but I think the advice I would uh give is um make sure that if you do commit to this is a huge commitment it's a financial commitment.
Because you're supporting the resident and it's a double financial commitment…because it's… it's your time that you're committing too.
But if you commit to such an adventure, if you will, it is important to remember that you need to train this resident to really believe in the work that you do. So, when your resident is done, they don't just say, okay, I just did it because it looks good or cool on my resume, my CV, right? I want this resident and all of my residents; I keep in touch with every single one of them. About four or five of them still work here because we've retained them.
The residents really need to feel and touch, like really feel that passion that you have and just carry it with them, even if they don't stay at your pharmacy…It's very important that they know why I'm doing this. And, you know, anyone who really wants to support a residency program really needs to do it for the advancement of the profession.
Sonja: I think that is so, so positive, though, too, because I think it speaks to our mission of promoting the sustainability and growth of independent community pharmacists, because I do agree with you, like even if a person that you're cultivating right along this pathway to ownership, even if they go off of it for a little bit, they should know, right, that they have the base knowledge that the network, the skillset, whatever it is they need to be able to come back when they're ready. And so, I think it's so powerful that we have mentors out there like you who are doing this important work and making sure that these young pharmacists are equipped to continue community-based health care for the entirety of their career journey. So really props to you. Congrats on your award that you received.
How can our listeners reach out to you if they want to connect?
Diana: I'm pretty active on Instagram. So that's the only social media I have time for. Definitely, you know, reach out through Instagram. I run the page. It's not run by a third party. It’s me behind the scenes on that account. It's a public account. They can reach out to me through email if they want. It's also listed on the Instagram account. Actually, my contact information is there too.
Community pharmacist work is really irreplaceable.
And sometimes when I hear like even in California, you know, I'm again, I'm very active within our legislative system. Also, it's very challenging. I constantly talk to patients. I educate them. I tell them how important it is to always be in touch with their representatives. I am in touch with them also. The work that we do is really irreplaceable. And because not having the pharmacist who can actually sometimes catch mistakes that happen in the care. Sometimes find that really, really important drug-drug interaction that everyone is busy.
Sometimes we catch things that were not caught in the doctor's office. That doesn't mean that the doctor's offices don't care. They do.
But everyone is extremely busy and is sort of caught up in the chaos of the healthcare system. So, having us as part of the whole patient care team is essential because this is where the dispensing happens, right?
A lot of times when I'm talking to students in our clinic during their MTM rotations or during their ambulatory care rotations, you know, when they talk about pharmacists practicing as part of multidisciplinary teams, I always remind them when a patient, if you are in an end care setting and a patient comes to you, and they don't have the right medications that they are going to bring in a brown bag or their medicine box.
What are you going to manage? Like what, what medications are you going to manage? If they lose their access to care, if they're unable to get their medications timely, then you are affected too. It doesn't matter that you are an advanced practice pharmacist. We have to really look at everything from a patient's perspective.
Sonja: Well, Diana, thank you so much for speaking with me today. It was such a pleasure to get to know more about you and your journey and the things that you're doing at your pharmacy. Congrats again on 20 years of pharmacy ownership this year.
We are so excited for you, and we hope we get to talk to you again soon. Thank you so much.
Diana: Thanks for having me. It was a pleasure.
Contact Information
LinkedIn: Diana Arouchanova, Pharm.D., APhInstagram: Clinicarerx
Episode Summary
In this episode of the NCPA Foundation podcast, host Sonja Pagniano celebrates Dr. Diana Arouchanova's 20-year milestone as owner of Clinicare Pharmacy. Diana shares insights from her decade-long partnership with USC Mann School of Pharmacy, where she created a unique community-based residency program that trains pharmacists in real-world, longitudinal patient management rather than textbook scenarios. The conversation covers practical advice for new pharmacy owners while also revealing how Diana’s pharmacy supported victims of the California wildfires, providing emergency medications and vaccinations when other facilities were unavailable. This episode offers essential insights for current and aspiring pharmacy owners on building sustainable practices through clinical services, community partnerships, and mentorship—all while keeping patients at the center of care.
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