Telehealth to lessen burden on doctors

It’s no secret that with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act set to take full effect in the next couple of years, with an estimated 30 million new patients gaining health insurance, the nation faces a shortage of providers.

One solution is telehealth, in which health professionals consult with patients electronically, even offering diagnoses and writing prescriptions. A related service is telepharmacy, which was the topic of a panel at the NACDS Total Store Expo on Monday.

From left to right: Kevin Combs, VP sales of ScriptPro; Mark Cullen, CEO of Mscripts; Aaron Jennissen, director of pharmacy operations at Thrifty White Pharmacy; and Robert Thompson, EVP pharmacy for Rite Aid discuss telepharmacy’s use in remote areas.

The session, “Telehealth: Changing the Way Patient Care is Delivered,” included ScriptPro VP sales Kevin Combs, Mscripts CEO Mark Cullen and Thrifty White Pharmacy director of pharmacy operations Aaron Jennissen, with Rite Aid EVP pharmacy Robert Thompson as moderator.

The panelists discussed telepharmacy’s use in remote, rural areas, particularly using ScriptPro’s system, as well as Thrifty White’s bringing pharmacy services to underserved areas of North Dakota. Meanwhile, Cullen discussed the ways mobile technology is changing health care, noting that his firm processes more than 3 million messages and reminders per month.