When it comes to selecting a Medicare Part D plan, the process can leave your patients feeling like they’re lost in a maze.
Medicare patients receive endless advice from countless sources, and conflicting or confusing information can lead patients down a path with one wrong turn after another. That’s where you come in. As their pharmacist, you likely know your patients’ health care needs better than most. Plus, you know the language and landscape of the health care industry, so you’re better able to guide patients through the maze of decisions better than their friends or family members.
All of these factors combined mean one thing—pharmacists are well qualified to become health care navigators for their Medicare Part D patients.
Pharmacists make ideal health care navigators because they combine the health care expertise of an insurance broker, with the personal, caring touch of a family member, according to a recent edition of the Refill Report from iMedicare, a company that offers an online tool created specifically to make Medicare Part D plan comparisons drastically quicker and simpler for independent community pharmacies.
Here are seven reasons to consider becoming a health care navigator for your Medicare Part D patients.
1. Decisions can be confusing
Selecting a Medicare Part D plan can be difficult and confusing for patients.
There’s a wide range of information and advice available, and some tools can leave patients more confused than when they started. That’s why patients need an ally when making these difficult and important decisions for their health.
Make yourself available to simplify the process for patients, and help them select a plan that best meets their needs. Conduct an analysis with them in your pharmacy and highlight important qualities from the different plans available. When you take the time to help patients understand their needs, and which plans meet them, they’ll appreciate how much you care.
2. You have the health care expertise
While a patient’s friends or family members might offer to help him select a Medicare Part D plan, they can’t provide the health care expertise you have to offer.
If patients try to navigate the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Plan Finder without the help of a health care professional, they might be confused by the terminology, information and abbreviations, and end up selecting a plan that doesn’t cover everything they need.
Put your expertise to work by conducting in-person consultations with patients, and explaining which plans best suit all of their needs.
3. You have the tools and resources
Thanks to iMedicare, your independent community pharmacy has the tools and resources it needs to make Medicare Part D plan comparisons quick and easy.
iMedicare eliminates the need to enter data patient-by-patient because it integrates with virtually every pharmacy computer system. By simply importing your patients’ information and medications right from your computer system, you’ll be able to directly compare the features of various plan options based on that specific patient’s needs.
This year-round tool allows you to identify the plans available to patients for their pharmacy of choice, and to estimate how much each plan will cost. Plus, you can use iMedicare on your own desktop computer, laptop or tablet.
4. You’re a trusted partner
In the most recent edition of Gallup’s Honesty and Integrity survey from Dec. 21, 2015, pharmacists scored as the second most-trusted profession, marking the thirteenth year that pharmacists have placed within the top three slots in the survey.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they believed pharmacists’ honesty and ethical standards to be “very high” or “high,” This high level of trust makes you the ideal candidate to provide advice about Medicare Part D plans.
5. It helps your business
Keeping Medicare and Medicare Part D patients in your pharmacy is key to maintaining a healthy bottom line.
In 2014, Medicare and Medicare Part D covered 51 percent of prescriptions dispensed in independent community pharmacies, according to the 2015 NCPA Digest, a yearly publication that details facts, figures and profiles about independent community pharmacies, and is produced by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).
Becoming a health care navigator and leading patients through difficult Medicare Part D decisions can help ensure that patients have access to their pharmacy of choice. Plus, it builds trust between you and your patients, so they’ll be more comfortable relying on you for information, advice and other health care services in the future.
6. You have your patients’ best interests at heart
Your relationship with your patients means that you know, and care, about their best interests.
You already serve as an advocate for your patients, so you’re used to looking out for their interests when recommending over-the-counter (OTC) products, or when working with their prescriber to find lower-cost or generic alternatives.
Use your empathy as a health care navigator to help balance a patient’s concerns about access, cost and coverage, and to find the best Medicare Part D plan for their needs.
7. You know your patients’ needs
No one knows a patient’s needs like you do.
Conducting an analysis and deciphering which plan options will meet a patient’s needs will be much simpler for you than for a family member who is unfamiliar with the patient’s specific medical history and medication regimen.
Your knowledge and expertise about your patients makes you the ideal professional to help patients navigate the difficult Medicare Part D decision.
Learn more about why iMedicare is a must-have tool that can help keep Medicare Part D patients coming to your pharmacy.
