Remote work is a hot topic these days and, by all accounts, will keep increasing into the next decade. Thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic, 61.9% of the companies are planning more remote work now and in the following years to come. And 36.2 million workers or 22% of Americans will be working remotely by the year 2025 – an 87% increase from pre-pandemic levels.¹ But how do companies like specialty and home delivery pharmacies continue to serve our partners and care for our patients with a highly distributed workforce?

The Shift to Remote Work

Like other companies in our industry, AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy was forced to quickly shift to adapt to the immediate implications of COVID-19. The impact of the pandemic completely influenced the way we work and interact with our patients. 

In a previous blog, our CEO Joel Wright, RPh, commended our team members for “an incredible job stepping up and making sure patients got their medications as smoothly as possible. It was also great to see how our patients responded too. Many began to reach us using the digital tools we developed to care for them. We were able to fast track several digital innovations to help patients self-manage their prescriptions online – our patients told us that is what they wanted, and we responded. As a result, our patient satisfaction scores increased through the pandemic period, as high as 95 percent,” he said.

At AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, shifting to a remote workforce was part of the long-term plan and the onset of COVID-19 accelerated moving people to work from home. Today, nearly 80% of our team members work remotely.

How Remote Work Impacts Our Partners

Before the pandemic, inviting pharmaceutical and payer partners to tour our facilities was commonplace. We delighted in walking guests through the life cycle of a prescription, introducing them to departments and team members who supported patients in each step of the patient journey. We were excited to have them tour the pharmacy, meet our pharmacists and witness the actual fulfillment process in real time. 
 

•  Today, with so many of team members remote, our tour looks a bit different. We developed an inspiring video to highlight the life cycle of the prescription, allowing us to keep our team members safe, while still showcasing the great work we do for our patients.
 

•  Our partners know the training, quality monitoring and coaching steps that took place in a live environment all still take place today.
 

•  Rather than being housed in physical locations, our distributed workforce model allows our team members to support work across our multiple centralized specialty pharmacies, where permitted by state laws/regulations. 
 

•  Having a highly distributed workforce gives us a more flexible model. While much of the workforce will continue to remain remote, we make accommodations as needed when it comes to requests for onsite visits. 

How We Support Patients Today 

During the pandemic, AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy expedited the release of digital tools like text and email notifications providing status updates and online self-serve capabilities. Today, we continually work to meet patients where they are – giving them the opportunity to self-serve or to connect directly with a pharmacist at any time, via any platform. Here are other ways we support our patients:
 

•  AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy’s clinical programs and counseling to specialty patients are available online. These programs allow specialty patients to monitor changes in health, especially when they cannot get into the doctor. Our programs are tailored to each disease state and drug. We are available 24/7 by phone or online to answer patient questions about their health, condition and treatment.
 

•  For specialty patients, our job is to make sure their needs are met with highly personalized care, evidenced by our 93% patient satisfaction. Our pharmacists are all specially trained to help support patients every step of the way, so they can concentrate on their health. For questions or more information, visit alliancerxwp.com/specialty or call us at 855-244-2555.
 

•  We want to eliminate financial barriers to access and connect our patients with resources to help make their treatments affordable. Our experienced patient financial services coordinators have knowledge of all programs and can guide patients on any options available. As many of these programs require patient enrollment, AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy helps by facilitating this process for our patients. 
 

•  From a fulfillment perspective, we have pharmacists who work on site as well as remotely. Our Connected Care clinical programs are also fully supported in a remote environment. These workflows are seamless to the patient or to the prescribers, as there is no difference in the experience either is going to have with us.

Moving Forward

As new products come to market, AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy continues to build customized programs to support the needs of our partners and our patients. We are continuously evolving what the patient experience should look like based on patient feedback. Not only are we working in a different environment, but how patients also want to be communicated with is different today than before the pandemic. Our partners also want us to engage with their patients differently. 

At AllianceRx Walgreens Pharmacy, we are creating mechanisms that allow patients to have the convenience of a digital experience, while still providing a human touch. We continue to partner with pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop ways to best engage with patients using their therapies. We recently introduced the ability for them to create customized digital  notifications specific to their products. We also have clinical programs customized for pharmaceutical manufacturers we can engage via text messaging. 

At the end of the day, we did not miss a beat by moving to a highly distributed workforce. Our regular satisfaction surveys tell us our team members are happier with the work/life balance of remote work. And our patient satisfaction scores are higher than before the pandemic. It’s all about being nimble as an organization, while continuing to evolve the patient experience and provide convenience with the human touch.

Sources

¹upwork.com/research/future-workforce-report

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