Chelsea
The move caps months-long negotiations between representatives of the Chelsea Health Center, staffed by Gifford Medical Center, and The Medicine Shoppe in Barre, Vt., that is expected to result in the medication dispensary reopening pending state regulatory approval.
“They are moving as fast as they can,” said Bob Frenier, a trustee of the health center who has been leading efforts to recruit a new pharmacy.
Kinney Drugs closed its Chelsea dispensary on Aug. 31, saying the small number of customers and declining Medicaid reimbursement rates made the location unprofitable. Kinney opened the pharmacy, which was staffed by two technicians, in 2012, bringing the town of 1,238 people its first pharmacy since the 1920s.
But the decision to pull out of Chelsea presented a real hardship for residents, many of whom are seniors and were not looking forward to long drives to get their prescriptions filled.
“Bob had reached out to us to ask if we’d be willing to fill the space once Kinney (left). We thought it was a good opportunity for us but also a good way to provide for a community,” said Jeff Nichol, marketing and compliance officer with The Medicine Shoppe.
As part of arrangement, The Medicine Shoppe is installing teleconferencing equipment so customers can be in live video contact with a pharmacist at the Barre office. Kinney also operated a teleconference line that was linked to a pharmacist in Bradford, Vt.
“This is a new animal for us, so it’s taking some time to educate ourselves on the regulations and technology of a tele-pharmacy,” said Nichol. He said tele-pharmacies are more prevalent in rural states as a way to serve under-populated areas that cannot support the costs of a full on-site staff.
The 400-square-foot Chelsea pharmacy essentially operates as a dispensary for medications prescribed by Gifford Medical Center personnel located in the same building. The dispensary fills 200-250 orders a week.
“It’s not the kind of place where you can buy sunglasses and suntan lotion,” Frenier said.
Nichol said the Chelsea dispensary will be open Monday through Friday until at least 6 p.m., and possibly a half-hour longer for customers to pick up medications. The dispensary closed at 5 p.m. when it was operated by Kinney.
The extra time will make a difference for area residents who complained that the dispensary was closed by the time they returned from work, according to Frenier. “Almost everyone in Chelsea works out of town,” he said.
The Medicine Shoppe is a national chain of pharmacies owned by Dublin, Ohio-based health care giant Cardinal Health. The company franchises the name to individual owner-operators. The Barre Medicine Shoppe is owned by Liberty, N.Y., pharmacist Mayur Patel, who operates a dozen pharmacies in New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
John Lippman can be reached at 603-727-3219 or jlippman@vnews.com.
