Virginia Health Care Foundation Launches Free-Medicines Mobile App with Support from Owens & Minor
April 05 2017 - 11:12AM
Business Wire
With the financial support of Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:
OMI), the Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) has launched a
ground-breaking, easy to use, mobile application for its web-based
software, The Pharmacy Connection (TPC), which expedites
access to low or no-cost prescription medicines for uninsured
Virginians. Created by VHCF, a non-profit organization dedicated to
improving access to primary care for uninsured and medically
underserved Virginians, this app helps doctors, who treat
healthcare safety net patients, quickly identify and prescribe free
or low-cost medications for chronically ill, uninsured individuals
throughout Virginia and in 14 other states.
“TPC is more than just software,” said VHCF Executive Director
Deborah Oswalt. “It is an indispensable tool for many free clinics,
community health centers, and other similar organizations that use
it to obtain free and low-cost medicines for their patients.”
Traditionally, providers used a time-consuming manual approach to
determine if there were free medicines for their patients, she
said. “Now with the mobile app, physicians can just pull out their
phones and look up the meds while they are seeing the patient.”
This is an immediate solution that provides a list of free
medicines and dosages available to treat each disease.
Oswalt explained why this app is a game changer. “Prescription
medicine is typically the treatment for most illnesses,” she said.
“Volunteers at free clinics may donate their expertise and diagnose
a condition, but for the most part, a patient needs prescription
medicine to treat the illness. The reason this is such an important
initiative is that securing medicine is the critical link to
stabilize patients and improve their health.”
“Owens & Minor is honored to provide support for the VHCF
mobile pharmacy app,” said P. Cody Phipps, president & chief
executive officer of Owens & Minor. “Supporting this innovative
approach to delivering vital healthcare services fits with our
vision: ‘Together, we make healing happen by connecting the world
of medical products to the point of care.’”
VHCF has made it a priority to maximize use of the free
medicines made available by brand-name pharmaceutical companies’
Patient Assistance Programs in Virginia. These important programs
have existed since the mid-1990s, and today, there are more than
230 of them. “All have their own forms and eligibility criteria
making it difficult to keep up with the program variations,” said
Oswalt. That barrier is what sparked VHCF to create TPC twenty
years ago. Now, with Owens & Minor’s support, TPC includes a
mobile app. “Our approach is to find ways to add value and meet
needs,” said Oswalt, mirroring a key tenet of Owens &
Minor.
Another benefit of TPC is that it enables free clinics to
stretch their budget dollars and treat more patients, since they
don’t have to spend as much money for medicines for their patients.
Oswalt noted that prior to VHCF’s creation of TPC, most free
clinics had to devote more than 50% of their budgets to procuring
medicines. By using TPC, these free clinics dramatically decreased
the amount they had to spend on medicines, enabling them to
redirect those funds to treating more patients and adding new
services. An indispensable tool for many free clinics, community
health centers, and other similar organizations, TPC offers more
than 3000 medicines for chronic diseases ranging from diabetes
to hypertension and from clinical depression to asthma. Even prior
to the launch of the mobile app, TPC had generated access to more
than $4.6 billion in free medications for more than 306,000
uninsured Virginians since its creation.
About VHCFA public/private
partnership, VHCF helps uninsured Virginians and those who live in
underserved communities obtain needed medical, dental, and
mental-health care. VHCF helps free clinics, community health
centers and other similar organizations expand the range of care
offered and the number of patients cared for each year. In addition
to grants, VHCF outreach helps uninsured children enroll in
Virginias FAMIS Programs–the states comprehensive insurance for
children. Learn more about TPC and its role as an important asset
for health safety net providers and Virginia’s uninsured. To find
organizations that can help uninsured patients obtain needed
prescription medicines,
consult: http://www.vhcf.org/looking-for-help/prescription-medicine-access/.
For organizations that want to learn more about TPC and explore
using it to help patients, see
www.vhcf.org/for-those-who-help/the-pharmacy-connection/.
About Owens & MinorOwens
& Minor, Inc. (NYSE: OMI) is a global healthcare services
company dedicated to Connecting the World of Medical Products to
the Point of CareSM by providing vital supply chain services to
healthcare providers and manufacturers of healthcare products.
Owens & Minor provides logistics services across the spectrum
of medical products from disposable medical supplies to devices and
implants. With logistics platforms strategically located in the
United States and Europe, Owens & Minor serves markets where
three quarters of global healthcare spending occurs. Owens &
Minor’s customers span the healthcare market from independent
hospitals to large integrated healthcare networks, as well as group
purchasing organizations, healthcare products manufacturers, and
the federal government. A FORTUNE 500 company, Owens & Minor is
headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and has annualized revenues
exceeding $9 billion. For more information about Owens & Minor,
visit owens-minor.com, follow @Owens_Minor on Twitter, and connect
on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/owens-&-minor.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170405005952/en/
Owens & Minor, Inc.Truitt Allcott, 804-723-7555Director,
Investor & Media
Relationstruitt.allcott@owens-minor.comorVirginia Health Care
FoundationDeborah Oswalt, 804-828-5804Executive
Directordoswalt@vhcf.org
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