The modern pharmacy landscape is in a perpetual state of change. Government regulations shift, patient expectations evolve, and new technologies multiply. And while this opens new avenues of opportunity, many pharmacies struggle to balance the operational challenge of increasing volumes with the need to reduce barriers of access to keep patients healthy.

Pharmacists are often on the front lines of healthcare accessibility, as patients interact with them up to 10 times more often than with their primary care physicians.¹ That puts pharmacists in a unique and important role, with effective interactions between pharmacy and patient being clearly linked to improvements in medication adherence, quality of medication use,
and influence on the decisions and choices of patients in self-care and self-medication.²

One of the most significant ways Pharmacies have found to expand patient engagement is through direct-to-patient medication delivery. 84% of pharmacists reported that home delivery increases the efficiency of their pharmacy’s services, identifying continuation of life-saving medical treatment; the ability to serve sick, elderly, and disabled patients; and decreased congestion at health facilities as the most substantial benefits.³
 

The challenge

The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) is a premier academic hospital and research center with deep roots in the Knoxville community dating back to its founding in 1956. It serves as a primary referral center for Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina as a Magnet® recognized hospital and Level I Trauma Center.

To extend their ability to care for patients throughout East Tennessee, they opened a new hospital pharmacy in nearby Sevierville. A proud, longterm partner with UTMC, we were already working to implement a courier solution with the broader medical center,
and were brought in early on the Sevierville project.

While the retail pharmacy was ideally situated for serving hospital patients, at-home delivery was a key component of their strategy for providing ongoing care and growing pharmacy operations into the community. The pharmacy launched with their own carrier arrangement.

Then the snow started falling.

Tennessee is no stranger to adverse weather events, but when a massive blizzard tore through the state in February 2024, their shipping partner was unable to reliably deliver essential medication to pateints who were depending on it. They needed a partner with the expertise and established relationships to avert a major crisis.
 

The Triose solution

We set to work immediately with all hands on deck and managed to launch a temporary but functional ordering platform in just 24 hours to make sure patients wouldn’t suffer from the service outage. At the same time, we leveraged our strategic partnership with UPS to establish an expedited service agreement. We called on our UPS contacts to prioritize pickup service to the location, and, due to our team’s deep industry knowledge, were able to provide emergency training for pharmacy staff so they could manage the platform.

“The Triose implementation far surpassed our expectations, proving to be a resounding success for both our team and our patients,” said Dr. Matthew Sternthal, manager of the Sevierville pharmacy.

With provisional shipping service restored and an interim ordering platform up and running, we worked closely with Dr. Sternthal and his team to help navigate the weather crisis without serious service disruptions for patients.

We continued working through the storm to ready a more permanent solution, which was implemented shortly after. Our platorm could seamlessly manage larger shipping volumes without overburdening pharmacy staff by automating tasks like label-creation.
Our solution also addressed other key challenges the pharmacy had identified since opening. With Triose’s real time tracking (RTT) solution, pharmacy leadership can make decisions informed by live data from an analytics dashboard that is live-updated for enhanced visbility into shipment progress. Our proof of delivery (POD) solution allows the pharmacy to see when a package is delivered, and simplifies pharmacy reporting requirements. Finally, our TRIship solution spares pharmacy staff the burden of manually tracking.

We also restructured UTMC’s existing carrier arrangement, developing on the emergency agreement we set up with UPS, and incorporating USPS for more flexible last-mile delivery services. “Prior to our launch, the Triose team attentively listened to our needs and developed tailored solutions for the challenges we were facing,” said Dr. Sternthal, adding that “throughout the implementation process, they provided continuous support, promptly addressing our requests to refine our shipping solutions.”

The outcome

With Triose’s shipping program, UTMC has been able to dramatically improve efficiency and productivity, relieving staff of the burden of manual, unpredictable processes while ensuring essential medications are delivered to patients — no matter the weather conditions. According to Dr. Sternthal, “even after the launch, Triose remains responsive to our feedback, continually improving our shipping processes.”
The real time tracking and responsive support have been instrumental in handling package issues as they arise. As UTMC looks to expand its services, Triose remains a trusted partner, committed to adapting to UTMC’s evolving needs and supporting their mission to provide quality patient care.

References:

¹ Pharmacy Times. Future Pharmacy Experience: How Pharmacists Can Better Meet Patient Needs. 3 April 2023. Accessed 10 December 2024. Available online at Future Pharmacy Experience: How Pharmacists Can Better Meet Patient Needs.
² Rajiah K, Sivarasa S, Maharajan MK. Impact of Pharmacists’ Interventions and Patients’ Decision on Health Outcomes in Terms of Medication Adherence and Quality Use of Medicines among Patients Attending Community Pharmacies: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 21 April 2021. Accessed on 10 December 2024.
Available online at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8122322/
³ Abu-Farha R, Alzoubi KH, Alkhawaldeh R, Itani R, Karout S, Mukattash T, Alefishat E. Home delivery of medications: Community pharmacists’ perspectives on the pros and cons of the service. Front Public Health. 24 August 2022. Accessed on 10 December 2024. Available online at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9449461/