Benzo the Office Cat: Rx for Rat Problems

We got an office cat and named him ‘Benzo’.

PSA: Our office had a rat problem, and we sought a solution. We decided to partner with Austin Animal Center and foster a cat as a way to keep the rats away. given our pharmacy roots, and his shelter name of ‘Mellow’, Animal ID: A1915523, we gave him the name Benzodiazepine. Benzo for short! He is awesome. And if you’re interested in adopting him, you can reach out to Austin Animal Center. but until then, we’re fostering him here at our office, and he’s living his best life.

Welcome to this weeks edition of the weekly fill — we’re trying something new and shaking it up a bit to give some fun ShiftRx updates.

If you really enjoyed reading about Benzo, let us know in the comments on LI or reply to this email and we’ll include weekly updates about him. But be forewarned, we might just end up doing that anyway.

Quick highlight: The weekly fill is for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy owners, operators, managers, and leaders. Basically, everyone that works in pharmacy in any way. So tell 10 pharmacy peeps about us and our newsletter or bad luck for 5 years 😪

💊 The big fill this week: The crazy markup on drugs by PBMs generated them $7.3B in revenue between 2017 and 2022.

What's happening?

This PBM reform issue continues this year and has been all over the headlines recently. PBMs used to just be middlemen for drugs, but they’ve since merged into the big 3 companies, and the bi-partisan senator effort is putting pressure on the FTC to release a second report.

Quick doses:

• The big 3 PBMs we referred to — actually controlled 95% of all Rx filling 🤯

• The January 14 FTC meeting just means the report is “considered” rn—no promise it drops immediately.

• 2025 might finally be the year the FTC calls them out for overcharging taxpayers, strong-arming independent pharmacies, and channeling profits

• Take for example: Tadalafil (generic adcirca), pharmacies snagged it for about $27 in 2022, but according to the publication, the big three PBMs marked it up by $2,079 and ultimately dished out $2,106 to their own pharmacies for a 30-day supply on commercial claims. That’s an utterly EYE-POPPING 7,736% markup.

What this means for you: They basically want the second report to continue exposing how PBMs “rip off” patients and hamper competition (i.e, independent pharmacies).

The hope? That lawmakers and the public will finally have enough ammo to pass real reform.

If you want to learn more: Read here

Pharmacy trends

At least 1/3 of hospitals in the US now have a central pharmacy

Health systems rn are turning to Central Pharmacy Service Centers (CPSCs) to unify everything from med procurement to dispensing under one roof. It's all about cutting duplication, trimming costs, and letting clinical pharmacists focus on patient care instead of admin tasks.

Quick doses:

• Baptist Health: Just opened a $40m, 102,000-square-foot center in la grange, ky, filling 14k scripts daily and serving 9 hospitals + 450 clinics.

• Henry Ford Health: Their 45,000-square-foot site automates over 1,000 orders daily and is expected to save $30m over five years.

• RWJBarnabas Health: Their centralized warehouse saved $2m+ in 2023 alone and tackled vaccine distribution (53k flu doses).

Why it matters?

CPSCs can cut wasted meds, streamline inventory, and handle those gnarly capacity issues—making pharmacy ops more efficient and letting the real experts (aka pharmacists) do what they do best.

Want to learn more about this? Read here

ShiftRx announcement

We have moved into full-time roles in addition to the PRN marketplace and are helping you build out a reliable float pool. We have a careers hub featuring a job board, so if you’re a pharmacist or tech looking for your next career move — this is a must to check out. Get started here: https://www.shiftrx.io/pharmacy-professionals 

And if you’re managing pharmacy operations: post your open roles on our job board and get direct access to only pharmacists and technicians instead of spending time on Indeed or LinkedIn, and sifting through tons of resumes. Get started building your pharmacy dream team here: https://www.shiftrx.io/healthcare-facilities

🗞 Quick Scripts: Other Industry News

• Ozempic was the star at this year's Golden Globes: Just eight seconds into the start of the 2025 award show season, Nikki Glaser, the female comedian and this year's host of the 82nd Golden Globes, named the show “Ozempic’s biggest night.” Read more

• US sees surge in covid-19, flu, norovirus, and other respiratory illnesses: The CDC is warning Americans in surge states and beyond that hospitals in certain areas are becoming overwhelmed with the amount of patients that are being affected by viral illnesses. Check to see if your area is being affected, and how you can take precautions to stay safe. Read more

• CFPB finalizes rule to remove medical bills from credit reports: This new mandate effectively removes around $49 billion in medical bills from the credit reports of some 15 million Americans. It also bans lenders from using medical info in their lending decisions. Read more

🌟Pharma Stars

Pharma Stars is our new weekly spotlight for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techs! Each week we will be shining a light on pharmacy professionals and industry leaders who inspire us.

Clare Chen, PharmD, is a PGY2 Pharmacy Informatics Resident at the Aurora Health Care Metro, Inc. PGY1/2 Pharmacy Informatics Residency Program. She graduated with a Doctorate of Pharmacy and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Chen is a member of the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology Advisory Group on Data Analytics, and she has interests in the use of clinical decision support and artificial intelligence in pharmacy workflows.

Can you share your journey into pharmacy informatics and what motivated you to pursue a residency in this specialty?

“I heard about pharmacy informatics from upper class pharmacy students during the first couple years in pharmacy school, but I did not seriously consider the career path until the end of P3 year when choosing APPEs. I was fortunate to get a pharmacy informatics APPE rotation. However, the rotation was scheduled after Midyear and the residency application period. Therefore, during my early rotations, I voiced interest in pharmacy informatics to my preceptors to see if there were any opportunities for me to get involved in informatics projects or connect with informatics pharmacists. After a shadowing experience during my first APPE rotation, I realized how much I enjoy having project-based work that can have system-wide impact. I also can leverage the knowledge I gained from my MIS degree to tackle both technical and clinical problems.”

What types of projects or initiatives are you currently working on as a PGY2 Pharmacy Informatics Resident and how do these projects contribute to improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes?

“A large project I am working on is the optimization and standardization of sterile compounding workflows within my organization's EHR by implementing a couple of new functionalities. Due to the size of Advocate Health, having standards for compounding products is crucial for product integrity and ultimately, patient safety. Whenever possible, incorporating new functionalities within the EHR can provide different efficiencies and safety measures that can catch errors and prevent downstream implications. Another project I am working on is developing a continuing education lecture for the role of informatics in pharmacoepidemiology. This topic dives into EHR data analysis and how informaticists can facilitate in identifying the impact of drugs at a national level.”

What advice would you give a pharmacy student or professional interested in transitioning into pharmacy informatics?

“My advice for anyone interested in pharmacy informatics is to be curious and connect with people in the field to learn more about the role. Having all the technical skills is not as important when starting off in this career because these skills can be developed over time. What is more important is having the drive to explore different ways technology can be used to improve patient safety or enhance workflows. Cultivating an analytical and problem-solving mindset can take you far in this career.”

That’s it for today’s fill!

Stay tuned for next week’s issue. If you enjoyed this, please share it with your pharmacy friends. until then, keep filling those scripts 🫡

Doses and mimosas, shiftrx team

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