Specialty Pharmacist

Job Description

General Purpose of Job:

The Specialty Pharmacy Pharmacist provides oversight and support for the development and optimization of specialty pharmacy services in both clinic and outpatient pharmacy environments. The Specialty Pharmacy Pharmacist ensures compliance with all federal, state and local laws pertaining to drug dispensing and leads clinical initiatives to drive positive patient outcomes.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

GENERAL:

• Adheres to all federal, state, and local laws pertaining to drug dispensing and patient information.
• Adheres to health system, pharmacy and accreditation policies and procedures.
• Maintains utmost level of confidentiality at all times.
• Demonstrates business practices and personal actions that are ethical and adhere to corporate compliance and integrity guidelines.
• Works closely with pharmacy personnel and other healthcare providers to assure safe and efficient delivery of patient care.
• Ensures appropriateness of all medication doses in reference to the patient’s diagnosis, weight/body surface area, age, allergies, and drug interactions.
• Engages with patients and caregivers to assure optimal therapeutic outcomes.
• Identifies and intervenes when problems involving drug therapy arise.
• Demonstrates ability to adjust to frequent changes in priorities, activities, schedule and work volume to meet the needs of the pharmacy and its patients.
• Communicates with patients and caregivers, pharmacy staff, healthcare providers, payers and health system employees in an effective and courteous manner. This includes both verbal and written communication forms.
• Maintains proficiency in pharmacy dispensing system, specialty pharmacy management system and electronic medical record.
• Maintains prescription files, documents and records according to federal, state and department standards.
• Contributes to quality improvement and patient safety by documenting all errors, near-misses and complaints. Works to identify new processes to address and mitigate future errors and complaints.
• Assists specialty pharmacy leadership in the development and maintenance of productivity and quality metrics and utilizes this data to monitor current state and recommend process improvements as necessary.
• Attends and participates in staff meetings, patient care meetings, in-service education or ongoing education training.
• Participates in departmental data collection and reporting of Drug Use Evaluation (DUE), Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement activities.
• Participates in the education and training of new pharmacy employees, pharmacy students, and pharmacy interns.
• Performs other duties or special projects as assigned.

OUTPATIENT PHARMACY

• Responsible for oversight and supervision of prescription dispensing and distribution in accordance with federal, state and local laws and regulations.
• Supervises pharmacy technicians and support staff to ensure accurate drug dispensing and efficient daily workflow. Able to perform all duties of a pharmacy technician.
• Accurately and efficiently completes all components of processing, verifying and dispensing of prescription orders. Communicates with providers to clarify and resolve prescription discrepancies. Monitors medication therapy and makes recommendations to therapy when appropriate.
• Ensures safe and accurate dispensing of controlled substances. Accurately completes controlled substance inventory records when receiving and dispensing controlled substances. Completes required controlled substance inventories as assigned and corrects problems identified.
• Models exceptional customer service and provides evidence-based medication counseling and over-the-counter drug recommendations.
• Compounds non-sterile medications according to established policies and procedures. Verifies accuracy and quality of prepared compounds.
• Demonstrates proficiency with prescription shipping/delivery processes. Ensures medications are packaged appropriately per manufacturer guidelines and established cold chain procedures. Addresses questions and concerns related to shipping/delivery and works to resolve any identified issues.
• Maintains pharmacy inventory by ensuring medications are stored and rotated properly, received and dispensed accurately, and unacceptable medications are promptly removed from stock.
• Ensures maintenance of all prescription documents and records according to federal, state and department standards.
• Provides oversight of point-of-sale activities to ensure accuracy and compliance with HIPAA and PCI requirements.
• Navigates drug wholesaler and 340B vendor systems as appropriate. Facilitates daily ordering of medications and supplies.

CLINIC

• Responsible for oversight of clinical decision-making aspects of the specialty pharmacy program and provides guidance for all clinical operations.
• Works as an active member of multidisciplinary team and collaborates with healthcare providers within decentralized patient care areas. Serves as a resource for nurses, physicians and other health care professionals regarding specialty medication information and education. Makes appropriate evidence-based, patient-centered medication recommendations.
• Develops, implements and oversees the specialty pharmacy patient management program.
• Designs and implements specific disease state protocols and medication order panels for the specialty pharmacy patient populations.
• Assists patients in meeting their therapy goals and improving their quality of life. Provides extensive and recurring education and counseling, both in person and by telephone, to improve patient understanding of specialty therapy regimens. Monitors and provides tools to improve patient medication adherence. Identifies resources for additional financial and emotional support when appropriate.
• Completes critical patient monitoring and reviews patient profile/chart to identify, prevent, or mitigate drug-related problems, improper drug or dose selection, sub therapeutic dosage, over dosage, adverse drug reactions, drug interactions, failure to receive drugs, untreated indications, medication use without an indication, and treatment failures.
• Identifies high-risk patients and implements interventions to improve quality and safety.
• Improves medication access by providing appropriate information and interventions for insurance appeals and peer-to-peer reviews.
• Assists in preparation for specialty pharmacy accreditation and ensures continuous compliance with accreditation standards.
• Ensures compliance with REMS and limited distribution drug programs.
• Facilitates clinical research projects, quality improvement initiatives and healthcare provider education as needed to advance practice.
• Serves as a preceptor for College of Pharmacy students on rotations at Driscoll Children's Hospital.
• Identifies opportunities and strategies to improve and expand specialty pharmacy services.
• Maintains professional competency and specialty pharmacy knowledge by obtaining relevant continuing education, completing disease state overviews and staying abreast of pipeline specialty medications.

Education and/or Experience:

• Graduation from an accredited College of Pharmacy with a B.S or PharmD degree.
• Completion of an ASHP Accredited Residency; or one to five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Pediatric and specialty pharmacy experience is strongly preferred.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations:

• Active, unrestricted Texas Pharmacist License required.
• Certified Specialty Pharmacist (CSP) certification required within three years of hire.