Nathan T. Long
PharmD, 340B ACE

I specialize in solutions to pharmacy business problems.  When solving pharmacy business problems, I aim to:

• Identify and mitigate risks facing pharmacy businesses and other industry stakeholders

• Maximizie the return nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individual business owners can receive on their significant investment of time, energy and money 
  
  
  
  

Much of my experience is in turning around struggling entity-owned FQHC 340B pharmacies or starting new ones.  However, I am very much a generalist and have invested significant time and effort into understanding the pharmacy industry as a whole.  In that time, I have identified and mastered several universal concepts, honing skills that are, in the aggregate, extraordinarily generalizable.

Virtually all outpatient community pharmacies can benefit from my expertise, if on a slightly adjusted scale compared to the FQHC 340B pharmacies given the magnitude of 340B's impact on the latter.

Similarly,my my accumulated expertise and understanding can benefit most pharmacy industry stakeholders--whether third-party payors/PBMs, the health plans themselves, governmental and public health-related entities, manufacturers or wholesalers.

What I Do
At the heart of my approach to solving issues facing pharmacy and pharmacy-adjacent businesses is an intense focus on a few key areas: 

• rigorous compliance

• treating people as people

• embracing best practices

• an unending quest for the highest possible efficiency 

• Prioritizing each area appropriately to avoid excessive focus on any single area jeopardizing the others
  
  
  
  

This balanced focus allows businesses to minimize the likelihood of encountering common issues while maximizing safety, satisfaction, efficiency, and--ultimately--profit.  This near-universal concept is true for community pharmacy--and most regulated industries--but also commonly applies in other business entities, related and unrelated. 

So...


Looking to reduce regulatory risk?  
Noncompliance can be unintentional and entirely inadvertent, but even accidental noncompliance comes with substantial risk.  

Rigorous compliance-focused policy and procedures, compliance-aware processes and business culture, technology-assisted inventory management and tracking best practices, and a good billing procedure once-over "just to be sure" are a great start.    

Contact me to begin the process of being SURE you've done all you can to stay compliant!

Watching payroll outstrip revenue generation due to lousy efficiency?
A properly optimized pharmacy business is reminiscent of a well-oiled precision machine. 

Workflow and process optimization, including business-need appropriate utilization of software and technology solutions, evaluation for duplication of effort, and partial or full automation of some tasks might just fix that. 

Contact me to schedule a free no-risk conversation about becoming more efficient!

Concerned your pharmacy is often losing customers to a competitor after only one or two prescriptions?
Combining incredible customer service with appropriate pricing strategies increases patient satisfaction. 

Increased patient satisfaction yields patient retention.   

Contact me today to find out how you can build a loyal pharmacy patient base of "happy 'regulars!'"

Stuck in a staff-turnover nightmare?
Enabling, expecting, and modeling a culture that consistently demonstrates the value it places on each individual employee as a human could be the key to keeping your employees. 

Protect the investment you've made in your current talent and avoid the costly training of replacement hires.  Over approximately a decade managing retail pharmacies and pharmacy departments in health centers I lost and had to replace three staff--and two of them left for reasons unrelated to the job itself.  It can be done, and it can be done economically.   

Contact me to discuss what YOU can do to build a team that wants to stay working for you!

Each of the scenarios above may seem simple, but combined they can drastically increase profitability for pharmacy  and pharmacy-adjacent businesses! 

Pharmacies:
Imagine if your patients kept coming to you in spite of the $7 less per Rx they would pay at CVS or Walgreen's...now imagine if 90% of your patients felt that loyal. 

PBMs & Health Plans:
Imagine if your health plan had patients so satisfied they continued to come to you for coverage even when they expected to be entirely healthy for the next five years. 

Manufacturers:
Imagine if your product was so beloved and your patient-facing benefits so appreciated that your brand-name drug outstripped the generic in sales for an additional five years after going multi-source.  

My Services
I offer a comprehensive range of Pharmacy Consultant services to empower a new venture navigating the start-up process or to assist an established operation making targeted improvements.  Potential topics for consulting services include 340B or other healthcare regulatory compliance, company culture and talent retention, third-party or PSAO relations, technology utilization and workflow effieicncy, community relations and "goodwill" business equity generation, and customer service, satisfaction, and retention.

The list above is, obviously, not exhaustive; please feel free to contact me to discuss your specific needs!

I currently also offer temporary as-needed pharmacist coverage*. 

(*Subject to availability -- contact me for details)

My Qualifications/What I Bring to the Table

• 20+ years overall pharmacy experience

• Practicing pharmacist since 2009, pharmacy experience since 2001

• Practicing (licensed) pharmacist in NC  (Contact me for inquiries regarding other states)
  
  
  
  

• Exhaustive 340B knowledge and extensive 340B experience

• Multiple years nonprofit 340B Federally Qualified Health Center experience at the Director of Pharmacy Services level

• Credentialed as a 340B Apexus-Certified Expert
  
  
  
  

• Experience with virtually all forms of outpatient community pharmacy practice

• Chain and independent (including both Specialty and Compounding)

• Five years as Pharmacy Manager in busy chain retail locations.
  
  
  
  
  

• Prior successful pharmacy launch experience with responsibility for:

  • Regulatory compliance -  including acquisition of state licenses, DEA, etc.

  • Third party credentialing - contracting/reimbursement, and PSAO partnership

  • Workflow design -  workflow process design and optimization, workspace design

  • Policy & Procedure - drafting, evaluation and revision for efficiency and compliance 

  • Budget & Operations - staffing, inventory, fixtures and supplies, pricing strategy

  • Customer service  - approach and philosophy provide consistent patient-reported experience satisfaction levels near 100%* 

*Reported customer experience scores based on historically gathered data in an adequately staffed nonprofit FQHC pharmacy environment.  Individual pharmacy results may vary based on multiple contributing factors including demographic, local culture, organizational goodwill, etc.   

• Inventory management optimization - reduce overstock & out of stock

TLDR

Broadly knowledgeable; deep familiarity with prescription medication purchasing, billing, dispensing, reimbursement, supply chain & inventory, legal & regulatory, third-party/PBM, PSAO services, claims reconciliatioin, site visits, audits and audit-preparedness, policy & procedure/SOP, customer experience/satisfaction, efficiency optimization, technology, pharmacy software solutions, specialty pharmacy considerations and accreditation, patient compliance enhancement strategies, and many additional areas.

I offer affordable and negotiable rates and payment terms for any business case, billed hourly (rounded in good faith to the nearest 1/4 hour) or by project.  Additionally, potential opportunities for direct (W2) hire and bespoke custom-solution services are available.  Contact me today!