Welcome to “Paying it Forward,” a monthly interview series made possible by Piedmont Health. In this series, we hear from the folks at Piedmont about the importance of community health centers – and why they chose a career in community health.
This month, Aaron welcomes Piedmont’s chief pharmacy officer, Kelly Stout. A UNC grad originally from Alamance County, Stout says she came upon Piedmont via “divine intervention” 24 years ago – thanks to a random conversation with a fellow pharmacist who made the connection – and hasn’t looked back since day one.
“What we do (in community health) is so amazing,” she says. “It takes care of our communities, it keeps patients out of emergency rooms and urgent care where the cost is more expensive. We prevent strokes, heart attacks, every day with the care that we provide.”
Kelly Stout started pursuing a career in pharmacy back in middle school, on the advice of her grandmother. Today as chief pharmacy officer, her work is mostly behind the scenes, often navigating shortages and supply-chain issues to make sure Piedmont’s patients always have access to the medications they need.
“Knowledge is power,” she says of her role. “(You’re)looking at what shortages are out there, (and) what are the alternatives. You really have to put your clinical thinking hat on and go, ‘okay, if not this agent, then what?’, and (find) cost-effective alternatives…(and) you’ve got to communicate that to providers so they know which (prescriptions) to write, and then (communicate) to patients so they understand why they’re getting a different drug than they got last month, and how it works. Communication is key.”
Stout says Piedmont has recently been able to improve that communication with a new mobile app called Rx Local, allowing patients to text pharmacists with questions – as well as order prescriptions and set reminders to take their medications. (“I’m the pharmacist who can’t remember to take her own medications in the morning, so I’ll be using the app for that,” she says with a laugh.)
But in terms of procuring medications in the first place, Stout says one of the most helpful tools has been the federal government’s 340B program, which enables community health centers (and similar agencies that largely serve low-income and uninsured patients) to obtain drugs at a significant discount, to make them affordable for patients who would otherwise have to go without.
“It makes no difference if you go to the doctor and get diagnosed with a disease, if you can’t afford the prescription to treat it,” she says. “We (can) make sure that patients don’t have to decide between meals next week for their family and their medications for diabetes or hypertension.”
Stout says the 340B program also helps Piedmont – because the revenue generated from those patients helps support their other programs, like behavioral health services, medical nutrition therapy, mobile medical units, and more.
As a result, Stout says she’s now spending a lot of her time in Washington, making ten separate trips to meet with lawmakers about the importance of the 340B program. That’s because there’s a proposal on the table that would shift the financial model, to make health centers pay the full un-discounted costs of medications up front and claim a rebate later. Supporters say the shift could reduce fraud and waste, but Stout says it could have a major negative impact – not just on Piedmont, but on community health centers nationwide.
“It would create a significant cash flow issue for organizations like ours – and smaller organizations would cease to exist,” she says. “(It) probably wouldn’t shut our doors, but it could definitely limit access to those (other) services, because the revenue stream wouldn’t exist…
“(And) community health centers are already an open book. We lay our data out for anyone to review, (and) we’re happy to show where our dollars are spent. We’re all not-for-profit, every dollar we make has to go back into our systems and our patients. We’ve proven to be a worthy recipient of this program. And we don’t need to add layers of complexity or difficulty (providing) these meds to patients who already struggle every day just to get what they need.”
97.9 The Hill WCHL and Chapelboro.com are your headquarters for local news and local voices in Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Every weekday morning, 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck chats with government officials, UNC scholars, business and nonprofit leaders, area musicians, and others in our community as they share their thoughts, their experience, and their expertise on the central issues of today. Click here to listen back to all of Aaron’s conversations – and tune in to “This Morning with Aaron Keck” at 7:30 a.m. on 97.9 The Hill to hear those conversations live.
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