In just over 4 years, Encompass Rx has seen major growth.
What started as a regional specialty pharmacy focused on the greater Atlanta area is now a fully URAC-accredited, <50 person company licensed in over 30 states. The three owners have more than 25 years combined experience in specialty pharmacy.
In late 2014, co-Founder of encompass RX & MS-Rx John Olsen said: "A perfect example of how best practices can truly help us take better care of our patients is how we faced the challenge of Georgia Rule 480-48 in 2014.
"The Georgia State Board of Pharmacy issued the rule requiring pharmacies to ensure that any drug requiring storage at anything other than room temperature that is being delivered or mailed have packaging with a USP-recognised method by which the patient can easily detect improper storage or temperature variations.
"We knew we had to make some changes in how we operated."
This new regulation came only two years into the young company’s founding, but Encompass Rx faced the challenge head on as an opportunity.
About Encompass Rx
Encompass Rx is a locally owned and operated independent specialty pharmacy based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded by the owners, John Olsen, Maney Mazloom, and Dee Renade, it focuses on patient care for individuals with chronic diseases, believing that its role as clinical pharmacist does not begin or end with the dispensing of a prescription.
The Encompass care model includes everything from formulary support and prior authorisation management to injection training and financial assistance.
Finding opportunity in the solution
With the introduction of the new regulation, Encompass Rx began to seek out an appropriate temperature indicator. They evaluated several visual temperature indicators and made a decision to use Temptime’s LIMITmarker®.
John Olsen said: "We had not previously investigated temperature indicators, simply because we thought they’d be cost-prohibitive.
"But at the same time, our patients are our number one priority and the last thing we want is to have a patient concerned about their medication."
After investigation, Encompass Rx felt even more strongly that implementing a temperature indicator was the right thing to do, regardless of the regulation.
Olsen said: "We loved the idea, and wanted to make it happen.
"We work hard to make sure our patient’s medications are carefully delivered, in a timely manner and peace of mind is important to us. It was almost serendipitous that the rule and our desire to do this happened at the same time."
Implementing Change
During the evaluation phase of temperature indicators, Encompass Rx focused on minimising steps.
Olsen said: "We have specific protocols and a fine-tuned shipping process.
"When testing the various indicators, we quickly determined that implementing use of the LIMITmarker indicator added one simple step of sticking the indicator on the product bag before it goes into the cooler."
Other products required extra steps like pulling a tab for activation. In the end, the company determined LIMITmarker was more user-friendly and it was more confident about implementing it into its processes.
Olsen added: "Implementation went smoothly for us.
"The Temptime team was great to work with, they helped us understand how the indicators work and where to place them. We had no hiccups at all."
Addressing Fears
Encompass Rx’s primary fear of the unknown was that incorporating temperature indicators could have a negative impact on its business. Instead of improving reliability and shipment integrity, what if there were false indications causing customer complaints and costly reshipments that would negatively affect the bottom line?
Olsen said: "we were honestly concerned that false positives might result in a negative return on interest (ROI), so we did a range of internal tests of our own.
"Plus, Temptime provided us with white papers and product quality details and in the end, we figured out that LIMITmarker was a safe bet, a good product."