The Independent Pharmacy Alliance Podcast

This week Anthony is joined by a special guest Stéphane Bancel, the CEO of Moderna Therapeutics. They discuss independent pharmacies' role in the vaccination effort and touch on Moderna's current innovations. Stéphane also offers business tips to independent pharmacy owners across the nation.

Many discount card programs are scams.  Independent pharmacists can get burned when patients use these cards because they lose money. Al Branca works with Axe Rx and says that this program is different. This week Anthony talks with Al and he explains what makes Axe Rx different, how it can help you avoid audits, and why it's worth at least trying. 

Loretta Boesing's son, a transplant survivor reliant on medication every 12 hours, faced a scary situation with a mail-order pharmacy, an experience that could have been fatal. Determined not to be defeated, Loretta mobilized dozens of protestors outside Express Scripts and planned to confront other PBMs that mandate mail-order systems. This week, Anthony discussed with Loretta the critical role of independent pharmacies in her son's health, her organization, Unite for Safe Medication, aims to support these pharmacies and learn how you can contribute to her cause.

In the Mr. Smith sequel no one expected, Anthony, just came back from the National Community Pharmacists Association Government Affairs Conference in D.C. and has news about the PBM Package. This week he shares what was learned at the conference, and what legislators are saying behind closed doors.  And how you can help get this package approved before the 2024 election.

A lot of news came out in the pharmacy industry recently.  Mark Cuban was at a White House round table speaking his truth about PBMs, and then there was the data hack of Change Healthcare affecting thousands of people, which led us to discuss best practices when protecting the data for your small business.

2024 could be a crazy year for the independent pharmacist. While we are optimistic about new legislation that could help the fight against PBMs we are also looking at rising labor challenges. With so many big retailers shutting their doors can we take advantage? This week Anthony looks at the biggest trends in retail pharmacy at the beginning of the new year. 

There was an article put out by CBS News that caught our eye with the same headline as the podcast. It speaks to The Biden administration's first major step toward imposing limits on the pharmacy benefit managers and how some pharmacists say it's adding to the woes of the independent drugstores it was partly designed to help. So, is it? This week Anthony speaks to the article, whether it's a salacious headline, and what independent pharmacists can do, instead of panicking. 

This week we dive into SaveNJRx, a groundbreaking movement that's shaking up the independent pharmacy landscape in New Jersey!  Meet Brian Oliveira, Executive Director of Garden State Pharmacy Owners, and Svet Milic of Colonia Natural Pharmacy. They're at the forefront of a movement to unite Independent New Jersey Pharmacists, reinstate Medicaid fee-for-service, and secure millions in prescription drug savings for patients and taxpayers.  Learn how you can be a catalyst for this transformation and become a part of this vital cause!

Need help to file appeals for reimbursement? Enrolling in Medicare? How about PBM Audits? We have the person for you. This week we speak to Heather Rodgers, IPA’s Senior Member Services Administrator. She will speak about how she can help you, the cost of filing the paperwork, and the cost of not taking advantage of these services.    

It's a mailbag episode. This week we talk about a slew of different topics including the most important PBM-related news in 2023, how the new debt limit deal affects independent pharmacists, and the best rides in Disney World.