
Services
Our services are person-centered, provided by pharmacists who specialize in older adults. We get to know the client and learn their individual struggles and preferences to provide pharmaceutical care that best suits each person.
Full Pharmacist Consultation
In-depth analysis of your medication experience, medical history and laboratory results, while considering what matters most to you.
Evaluate for medication problems
Report of findings and discussion
Collaborate and report to medical providers (with your consent) as needed
Help clients understand medications and suggest strategies for safety and effectiveness
Follow-up and evaluate recommendations, and answer subsequent questions
Follow-up and Maintenance Consultation
A follow-up consultation to continue to work towards your goal or to maintain that your medication regimen continues to be the most appropriate for you during the changes in your life.
Visit about any changes or concerns since previous consultation to address problems
Review new medical history, laboratory results and medications for safety and effectiveness
Provide report of findings and discuss with client, communicate with providers as necessary
How We Can Help
In-person Visits
If you live in the Bozeman, Montana area, Dr. Paugh can visit with you in-person to help you with your medication issues and provide recommendations to maximize both your quality of life and quality of care.
Telehealth
Dr. Paugh is a licensed pharmacist in Montana, Washington, Oregon and Idaho and both qualified and able to perform medication management through phone calls and easy-to-use video chats.
Work with Pharmacist 360
Contact us to schedule an appointment or to discuss your needs and how we can help.
Take this survey to discover if our services are for you. You can schedule a complimentary call.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cost of your service?
Contact us to find out about the cost of our services and how they can fit your needs. To contact us, click here.
Can you bill insurance?
No. In order to make these services available, insurance cannot be billed at this time.
What exactly does your pharmaceutical service DO?
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.
What does your service NOT do?
Our pharmacist service is an independent, pharmaceutical consultation service. It does not include selling, delivering, supplying, packaging or billing of medications or medical equipment.
Why is a pharmacist consultation important?
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.
How is medication management different than an appointment with my provider?
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.
Why are prescription recommendations different as we age?
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.
Isn't this something my doctor or pharmacist should already be doing?
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.
Is it safe to stop medications that have been prescribed?
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.
In which cities and states can you provide your services?
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.
Don't pharmacies look at everything before I pick up my medications?
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.