Technology in Pharmacy Business with Scott Carpenter

24/7 Pharmacist Advice with the PharmOnline Platform

July 31, 2022

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This episode of the Pharmacy View Podcast features Pharmacist Anna Barwick, Director, PharmOnlineAu, an advisory service that aims to provide Australians with 24/7 remote access to registered, experienced Pharmacists via telehealth consultations. Listen in as host Scott Carpenter, EVBC talks to Anna about taking the Dispensary online and what possibilities it holds in the near future.

Anna calls herself a fairly complex character. And rightfully so! She is a Pharmacist by trade, a PhD candidate at UQ on the topic of medication rationalisation and deprescribing (stopping unnecessary medicines), a Pharmacy Practice Academic at the University of New England (UNE), an accredited practitioner for undertaking Home Medication Reviews (HMRs) through the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacists (AACP), a vaccinator, an educator, a mother, and a rural woman.

Anna and husband are both Pharmacists and the idea of PharmOnline actually stems from their own experience. When breastfeeding their baby, Anna noticed some rash and upon asking Dr Google realised how anxiety-inducing the experience can be for someone who does not have a medical background. It is either that or that people can be isolated for a number of other reasons including remoteness, all which can limit their access to Pharmacists and appropriate advice. Anna wanted to change that and make Pharmacists even more accessible than they already are.

Early on the Pharmacists who worked with the platform did so on a voluntary basis, but now, in line with the vision, they are remunerated for their consult with the patients! A win-win for all parties involved, indeed! This allows Pharmacists and Pharmacies to extend their complementary services and improve engagement with the community members. In addition to that, PharmOnline caters to B2B and the age care space.

Always curious as to why Pharmacists, unlike others in the medical profession, did not necessarily charge for their knowledge/advice, Anna believes that ability to get immediate medical advice from experienced Pharmacists is the value that they bring to the table—being able to give medical inputs and individualized advice to each person. There are clear benefits to using PharmOnline as it:

Allows access to services for people who are limited in ability to travel to get medical advice
Provides continuity in care for people who because of COVID or any other reason (Pharmacists retiring) have had no ongoing access to support from their previous Pharmacist
Ensures privacy
Allows time and space to have conversations

Anna emphasizes how by giving people the time and space for conversations, they can feel empowered and confident about the options provided to them.

The services of PharmOnline.com.au can be accessed in the following ways:

Book a video consultation
Call 1300 for immediate connect

Once either of that is done, a person can access a consult with a Pharmacist and post consultation get a written summary which can be either product-based or based on a lifestyle change that can easily be implemented at home. They are also sent out an invoice.

Anna then goes on to talk about the services that the platform has for age care and how in the near future they would be catering to the demands of after-hour services. Anna highlights that their goal, in no way, is to replace community Pharmacies but rather to provide complementary services while also helping them earn extra revenue.

Topics Covered

About PharmOnline
The business-to-business model for PharmOnline
Value of Pharmacists’ individualized advice
Benefits and drawbacks of PharmOnline
How the system works
Age care-related services
Impact of after-hours services

Key Quotes (Time Stamps)

“I had always been thinking about the idea of making Pharmacists even more accessible than they already are. And I think the conceptual idea of PharmOnline came about when I had my first baby and I was up early…in the early hours of the morning breastfeeding her and she had a rash and I went, right, let’s have a look and see what this could be. So, obviously, a lot of us turn to Dr Google and in this case, there were a lot of, obviously, anxiety-inducing answers. And I thought, right, this is going to scare a lot of people who don’t have the training that I do.” (2:58 – 3:25)

“It has kind of just evolved over the past two years into its current form which is predominantly now business-to-business. So, we actually support clients through other organizations and do some business direct-to-consumer support as well.” (3:47 – 4:00)

“I think there’s just so much more opportunity though too. We could be doing quite a lot of work with private healthcare, doing direct services to large organizations. And so, we’re just investing all of that and rolling out services that we can offer as well.” (4:43 – 4:58)

“I think it’s a real flip on the model that Pharmacy currently is going with. I think it’s…I’ve always recognized that; even as an undergraduate Pharmacy student, I thought, ‘Why aren’t we charging for our knowledge and the service? Why are we only charging for the product and just doing it as an add-on?’ And I’ve always felt that that has been probably the wrong focus.” (6:22 – 6:41)

“That to me is our value as Pharmacists. You can get robots to dispense medication. The value for you is actually us having that input and individualizing our advice to each person.” (6:50 – 7:00)

“We offer that opportunity to have some continuity in reaching experienced Pharmacists. But also, privacy as well.” (9:38 – 9:45)

“I think often what is done is the diagnosis is made and you’re told what you’re going to take. Whereas, I think, a lot of people now want to have that time to discuss what is the best option for me individually; so, what should I get rather than just being dictated to. We offer that—having that time and space to be able to have that conversation.” (10:42 – 11:00)

“Initially this was all voluntary. So, the Pharmacists were actually doing this as a voluntary role which was really exciting for me. But also, I knew that I wanted to get to a point where they are actually being remunerated for their knowledge and they needed to be. So, we are now at a point where the Pharmacists that do conduct these consults then invoice PharmOnline and are paid a percentage of each consult. So, they are rewarded and it’s at a higher level than they can get in a community or hospital Pharmacy based job.” (15:12 – 15:41)

Social Media Clips (Time Stamps)