No. In order to make these services available, insurance cannot be billed at this time.

The pharmacist will meet with you (virtually or in person) and discuss key components of the client’s health and daily life, learning the concerns, struggles and what matters most.  The pharmacist will anaylize this information along with the medical records, and provide recommendations that makes sure the medication regimen altogether is properly indicated, safe, effective and easy enough for the client to take.  This often includes deprescribing and addressing medications prescribed due to a side effect of another medication.  It also makes sure the prescriptions from specialty offices are suitible for the person as a whole considering what it does outside of the specialty and with the other medications.

The Pharmacist 360 pharmacist will also communicate with the prescribers informing them of the pharmacotherapy review and recommendations, working together with the prescriber.  The prescriber will likely request an appointment to address these recommendations.

Since it is important that the client and loved ones are confident in the medications and how they should be taken, the pharmacist will assist with these questions as well.  

Later, there will be a follow-up in a recommended amount of time.

Our pharmacist service is an independent, pharmaceutical consultation service.  It does not include selling, delivering, supplying, packaging or billing of medications or medical equipment.

A medication assessment and evaluation is important to make sure that with everything occurring with the person’s healthcare (seeing multiple specialists and prescribers, treating multiple conditions), the medication regimen is looked at as a whole, considering its fit in the patient’s life, and what matters most to the person.

Medication issues can come about in many ways.  Sometimes additional medications are added without discontinuing other ineffective or unnecessary medication.  Sometimes a prescribing a cascade can occur where medications are prescribed to help with side effects of other medications.  A common area for problems to occur is when someone transitions in and out of a hospital or care facility.  While someone sees multiple providers and specialists, there can be a greater need of patient-centered communication. These are just examples that can result in confusion, an inappropriate medication regimen, and difficulty taking the medication as recommended.  A pharmacist consultation aims to address these problems.

Our pharmacist spends time looking over your prescribing and health history, learning what means the most to you, and identifies medication side effects, prescribing cascades, other medication-related problems, and helps you find a way to take them safely and effectively.  In addition to communicating recommendations to the prescribers, the pharmacist will also give explanations so you can better understand and participate in your own healthcare.

Everyone’s absorbsion, distribution, metabolism and excretion of medications change over time.  Our resilience to withstand medication side effects decreases.  No, our bodies don’t just get used to medication just because we’ve been taking it for years. In fact, they should be reassessed to make sure a side effect hasn’t gradually occured, that the medication is still necessary and is safely doing its job.

Additionally, most drug studies involve younger demographics (for ethical reasons, very few drug studies are performed on the less resilient – the young, the elderly or the frail) and therefore, dosing and guidelines are based on this population.  There are many medications used in a younger population that are inappropriate for older adults, while others may be used, but with different dosing.  A lot of these medication nuances can be overlooked.

While each may be doing their job well, there can still be major gaps in the healthcare process, confusion and unanswered questions. Patients can still be left unsure of what is going on, what they should be doing, and if something was missed.

Do not stop taking a medication without expressing your concerns first with your doctor and without the recommendations of a licensed professional.  The improper discontinuation of some medications may have unwanted physical or psychological effects that may even be dangerous. If recommended, discontinuation would be through careful consideration and communication with your primary care physician.

Through telehealth, the services can be provided in Montana, Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  Outside of these states the service still may be available, depending on the state.  Please ask!

If located in the Gallatin Valley area near Bozeman, Montana, a home visit is possible.

While these retail pharmacies take a lot of steps to make sure each prescription is correct, they can only perform a medication-based review and interaction check due to the limited prescription information to which they have access.  To best help clients or loved ones concerned about aging well at home and addressing concerns, a Pharmacist 360 analysis is necessary.  This involves an appointment so the pharmacist can visit with the patient, an analysis of the medical history and laboratory results, and a follow-up.