Q&A: How CityMD enables access
CityMD was founded was founded in 2010 by a group of emergency medicine physicians with the goal of offering high-quality care and convenient access. Since then, the company has grown to operate more than 85 locations in the greater New York City area and Seattle, and has treated more than 5 million patients. Drug Store News caught up with CityMD executive vice president David Shih, a physician by training, to talk about the company’s growth and how it partners with the retail pharmacy community to provide patients with the care they need.
Drug Store News: How is CityMD helping retail pharmacies serve their patients?
David Shih: CityMD is committed to collaborating with all of our valued partners, including primary care physicians, health systems, insurance companies and retailers, to deliver an optimized continuum of care for our patients.
For our retail pharmacy partners, CityMD’s Aftercare, a centralized clinical call center, helps pharmacists by providing important information and answering any questions about a patient’s prescription, even when the treating physician is not available. We also institute automatic primary care physician notification, so every patient’s visit summary and medication journal can be reviewed by their PCPs to ensure accurate dosage and compliance, which saves time and avoids redundancy for the pharmacists. CityMD offers a special provider access line, which is available for pharmacy providers to receive triage advice, to seamlessly send patients to CityMD, or to ensure that clinical concerns are properly communicated.
DSN: How does the retail pharmacy benefit from working with CityMD?
[caption id="attachment_586010" align="alignright" width="150"]
David Shih, executive vice president of strategy, health and innovation, CityMD[/caption]
DS: A retail pharmacist may be the first person to see someone with undiagnosed symptoms and conditions ranging from colds, flu and allergies to severe headaches and skin rashes. When approached by patients about over-the-counter medications for their symptoms or when too frequently refilling prescriptions, these pharmacists can refer patients to a trusted provider for the next level of care that is outside the typical scope of retail practice. This includes higher-acuity diagnoses, treatments and procedures (i.e. IV hydration, migraines, asthma management, laceration repair, X-rays, EKGs and a multitude of onsite lab testing) by board certified physicians. Because these services are offered at every site, wait times are less than 10 minutes on average, and patients are in and out very quickly.
Additionally, CityMD’s connections to many top laboratory and advanced imaging partners in the neighborhood enable patients, who require additional testing as part of their evaluation — Lyme disease testing for tick bites, suspected Zika testing, CT scans for abdominal pain or head injury, etc. — to be treated at CityMD.
Retail pharmacists and other providers working at a retail pharmacy who are partnered with CityMD can send their patients to us as an alternative to the emergency room, knowing the high-quality care, resources and referrals available to them. Prevention of unnecessary ER visits leads to significant cost savings to the healthcare system, while tremendously improving the patient experience. When patients are guided on their healthcare journeys to the right providers and have great experiences, we all benefit.
DSN: Tell us about the future — what new CityMD products or capabilities can help the retail pharmacy?
DS: To ensure accurate medical history and medication summary documentation for all our patients and partners, CityMD plans to integrate with local and national Health Information Exchanges. These shared electronic records can be reviewed by all the patient’s providers, which will help avoid any medication dosage confusion. By having an urgent care provider who believes in care coordination, loop closure, primary care notification and transparency, retailers have a trusted medical partner.
CityMD’s plans also include growing our presence in underserved communities within the New York metro area. The increased locations and expanded hours near retail pharmacies will be even more convenient for our shared patients. Our vision to build healthier, kinder communities can only be achieved by working closely with retail pharmacies and all our partners in the healthcare ecosystem.
Drug Store News: How is CityMD helping retail pharmacies serve their patients?
David Shih: CityMD is committed to collaborating with all of our valued partners, including primary care physicians, health systems, insurance companies and retailers, to deliver an optimized continuum of care for our patients.
For our retail pharmacy partners, CityMD’s Aftercare, a centralized clinical call center, helps pharmacists by providing important information and answering any questions about a patient’s prescription, even when the treating physician is not available. We also institute automatic primary care physician notification, so every patient’s visit summary and medication journal can be reviewed by their PCPs to ensure accurate dosage and compliance, which saves time and avoids redundancy for the pharmacists. CityMD offers a special provider access line, which is available for pharmacy providers to receive triage advice, to seamlessly send patients to CityMD, or to ensure that clinical concerns are properly communicated.
DSN: How does the retail pharmacy benefit from working with CityMD?
[caption id="attachment_586010" align="alignright" width="150"]
David Shih, executive vice president of strategy, health and innovation, CityMD[/caption]DS: A retail pharmacist may be the first person to see someone with undiagnosed symptoms and conditions ranging from colds, flu and allergies to severe headaches and skin rashes. When approached by patients about over-the-counter medications for their symptoms or when too frequently refilling prescriptions, these pharmacists can refer patients to a trusted provider for the next level of care that is outside the typical scope of retail practice. This includes higher-acuity diagnoses, treatments and procedures (i.e. IV hydration, migraines, asthma management, laceration repair, X-rays, EKGs and a multitude of onsite lab testing) by board certified physicians. Because these services are offered at every site, wait times are less than 10 minutes on average, and patients are in and out very quickly.
Additionally, CityMD’s connections to many top laboratory and advanced imaging partners in the neighborhood enable patients, who require additional testing as part of their evaluation — Lyme disease testing for tick bites, suspected Zika testing, CT scans for abdominal pain or head injury, etc. — to be treated at CityMD.
Retail pharmacists and other providers working at a retail pharmacy who are partnered with CityMD can send their patients to us as an alternative to the emergency room, knowing the high-quality care, resources and referrals available to them. Prevention of unnecessary ER visits leads to significant cost savings to the healthcare system, while tremendously improving the patient experience. When patients are guided on their healthcare journeys to the right providers and have great experiences, we all benefit.
DSN: Tell us about the future — what new CityMD products or capabilities can help the retail pharmacy?
DS: To ensure accurate medical history and medication summary documentation for all our patients and partners, CityMD plans to integrate with local and national Health Information Exchanges. These shared electronic records can be reviewed by all the patient’s providers, which will help avoid any medication dosage confusion. By having an urgent care provider who believes in care coordination, loop closure, primary care notification and transparency, retailers have a trusted medical partner.
CityMD’s plans also include growing our presence in underserved communities within the New York metro area. The increased locations and expanded hours near retail pharmacies will be even more convenient for our shared patients. Our vision to build healthier, kinder communities can only be achieved by working closely with retail pharmacies and all our partners in the healthcare ecosystem.