Become a trusted advisor to your patients

Transcription

1 Become a trusted advisor to your patients Kizer Pharmacy s four steps to success during Medicare Open Enrollment Pharmacy best practice Kizer Pharmacy

2 Six out of ten Medicare patients don t review their health plans annually.

3 Jason Kizer of Kizer Pharmacy provided his Medicare insights to help 25 % of his Medicare eligible patients review alternative health plans to better fit their needs in Are you missing out on an opportunity to connect with your patients? 1 1 To Switch or Not to Switch: Are Medicare Beneficiaries Switching Drug Plans To Save Money? (n.d.). Retrieved August 09, 2016, from 1

4 Jason s steps to OPEN ENROLLMENT SUCCESS 1 1 Identify eligible Medicare patients 2 Notify your patients that you can help 3 Educate your community and promote your expertise 4 Continue to engage your patients throughout the year 2

5 Identify eligible Medicare patients STEP 1 Using your pharmacy management system, run a report of all Medicare plans you will not be preferred in next year (include BINs, PCNs, and Groups) and the patients who currently fill at your pharmacy under those plans. TIP Use this list for LeaderNET/MSInterNet non-preferred plans. Other ways to identify eligible Medicare patients: Reimbursement Consulting Services (RCS) Med D Open Enrollment report If you have been a RCS customer since at least June 2017, you will receive a report of patients currently enrolled in a plan you will not have preferred status for While you will still be able to fill for those patients next year, it will be important to have conversations with your patients to let them know of these changes. imedicare If you subscribe to imedicare, you can pull a similar report to identify eligible Medicare patients in your non-preferred plans for

6 Notify your patients that you 3 can help Send a letter to the patients who will be impacted, informing them your pharmacy will not be preferred next year and offering assistance in reviewing all of their Medicare Part D plan options. 40 % Percentage of patients who called Kizer Pharmacy to set up a Medicare Part D consultation after receiving a letter from them. TIP Use Jason s letter as a template for your pharmacy. STEP 2 4

7 Educate your community and promote your expertise Educate your community on Medicare Part D to build your credibility and promote your expertise by offering Medicare Open Enrollment plan consultations. STEP 3 15 % Kizer Pharmacy s consultations in 2015 were from new patients. See the next page for Jason s tips to promote your expertise. 5

8 Tips to educate and promote your expertise: STEP 3 TIPS Facebook Post Open Enrollment dates and invite your patients to come in and talk about their options. Read Kizer Pharmacy s Facebook post on Open Enrollment in On-hold messaging Leverage the time a patient is waiting by changing your script to Did you know you can review and change your Medicare prescription drug plans every year during Open Enrollment to ensure you are on the best plan for your needs? Medicare Open Enrollment is from October 15 December 7 every year. Ask about how we can help you navigate through the plans to find the best one for you! Radio ads Inform listeners of Medicare Open Enrollment dates and invite them to schedule a consultation at your pharmacy. Newspaper ads Give helpful tips over a number of installments, inviting readers to schedule a consultation at your pharmacy. Billboard Feature your pharmacy name and logo, inviting readers to schedule a consultation with one of your Part D experts. In-store signage Make sure customers know your team can help them with plan options October 15 December 7. Don t have time to implement all of these promotions? Try one or two ideas this year to reach your community so that by the time your patients (and future patients) come in to discuss their plan options, they are already at ease with your Medicare plan knowledge. 4 6

9 Continue to engage your patients throughout the year STEP 4 Your job as a Medicare expert isn t over at the end of Medicare Open Enrollment. Include notes in each patient s file alerting your team of when the patient needs to discuss their plan options. 10,000 patients age into Medicare daily Source: Pew Research Center, Baby Boomers Retire, December 29, 2010, With so many people aging into Medicare daily, make sure you remind your patients that your pharmacy is the place to get the best Medicare Part D information any time of the year. 7

10 Jason s ADVICE to other pharmacies Track your success Use an Excel spreadsheet and track how many patients you have met with, what plans they were on, which plans you recommended and what the patient ultimately decided to do. Use this as a starting point for your Open Enrollment contact list next year. Educate yourself Medicare plans continue to change and become more complex. Make sure you understand what Direct and Indirect Remuneration (DIR) is and take advantage of all of the information Cardinal Health provides you on Medicare Part D. Do not hesitate to call your Managed Care Account Manager at to review your Medicare Part D information with you. 8

11 Frequently asked questions What FAQ if my patient chooses a plan I am not preferred in next year? That s okay with Medicare plans, patients can still fill their prescriptions at any pharmacy, even if they are not preferred. You will need to make sure your patient knows they will pay a higher co-pay to fill at your pharmacy if they choose a plan you are not preferred in next year. If the patient really wants to stay at your pharmacy, you can review their medications and find other cost saving methods so that the co-pay differential may not be as high. Suggestions include ensuring that their infrequent acute care medications are not included in their overall price quote for the upcoming year or talking to their doctor about switching to cheaper generic alternatives, if available. How do I review plan options with my patients once they come in for help? Your patients want to know what plan makes the most sense for them financially. Walk them through their plan options using ehealth, imedicare or Medicare.gov and make sure you frame the discussion by stating that If you want to be a patient at this pharmacy with a lower copay, this is the best option. If they do choose a plan that will take them to a different pharmacy, remind them to come back next year as plans change annually. What is the best way to split the workload for advising patients on their plan options? Kizer Pharmacy has dedicated an area where they can counsel their patients on their plan options. Jason added another full-time pharmacist to his staff so that all of his pharmacists could dedicate more time to direct patient interaction, including Medicare Part D consultations. 9

12 Additional resources: Medicare.gov ehealth.com imedicare.com Maximize this Medicare Open Enrollment season by going to cardinalhealth.com/openenrollment 2017 Cardinal Health. All Rights Reserved. CARDINAL HEALTH, the Cardinal Health LOGO and ESSENTIAL TO CARE are trademarks of Cardinal Health and may be registered in the US and/or in other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Lit. No. 1RI _2 (09/2017) cardinalhealth.com