Ever since the late nineteenth century when doctors began treating mental health, mental healthcare has carried with it a stigma. The general public often labels people seeking help as “crazy” or “looney.” And the drugs provided by physicians have only helped them for a short time. Sadly, adherence to any drug is quite challenging for someone with a debilitating mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. By the time the negative symptoms seem to be going away, their bodies adapt to the drug. Or in some cases, patients do not take enough of it and they suffer a relapse in symptoms.
There is a unique pharmacy chain that has 300 pharmacies in 42 states headquartered in Seattle, WA that is revolutionizing how pharmacy can impact these patients. Genoa Healthcareis trying to make the lives of mental healthcare patients a little easier. They are the largest mental healthcare pharmacy provider on the market, providing specialized attention and treatment only to the mental health population. They want to make sure that patients gain access to their prescriptions and take them regularly. Genoa Healthcare is providing the mental health community with:
- On-Site Services
- Convenient Adherence Packaging
- More Individually Appropriate Dispensing Frequency
- Personalized Refill Reminder Calls
- Education
- Enhanced Communication
- Medication and Refill Synchronization
- Assistance with Patient Assistance Programs (PAP)
- Prior Authorization Assistance
Another goal of the innovative company is to become a part of the patient’s healthcare team. Their online MedAnalyzer tool, utilizes adherence data to intervene at the point of care to help manage, improve, and track adherence and thus improve the outcomes of their patients. The results so far have been amazing, keeping all their consumers on their meds over 92% of the time, when other pharmacies have an adherence rate of less than 50%! Genoa has a proven track record of keeping people out of the emergency room, out of the hospital, away from crime, and save the entire healthcare system a lot of money because their patients stay on their meds!
In today’s world, customer service and patient care are oftentimes treated as a joke. Many of us call a business only to be put on hold or given a machine to talk to until we’re blue in the face. If patients have any questions regarding side effects they have to learn about it via a commercial. Genoa defies that stereotype by providing their mental healthcare patients with pharmacists who provide educational services on the medication they just purchased. Their staff educates each patient on an individual basis about their care and treatments. Giving prior authorization to mental health patients is a huge plus when it comes to effective treatment.
Genoa has developed services to ensure that patients receive appropriate care in accordance with all payer rules. In the commercial setting it is unclear who is responsible to seek prior authorization when required by the payer. In some cases the patient, the doctor or the pharmacy may be required to take that action. Due to the special circumstances presented with mental health patients, Genoa accepts this responsibility on behalf of all parties involved. Providing this effort for care reduces the confusion and communication challenges created by the Prior Authorization process used by payers.
We live in an era where people aren’t so scared to seek treatment for what ills them. Now more than ever it is important for patients to seek the right kind of care, and Genoa Healthcare offers them just that.
Cover image from Genoa Healthcare website.
