Scott Webb (Host): Have you ever been at the hospital and wished you could fill your prescriptions while you were there? Well, you can at Salinas Valley Health Retail Pharmacy. And here today to tell us more is Jasmine Ho. She's the Outpatient Pharmacy Services Manager with Salinas Valley Health.

 This is Ask the Experts, the podcast from Salinas Valley Health. I'm Scott Webb.

Jasmine, it's great to have you here today. We're going to talk about the retail pharmacy, why it was opened and when it was opened, and all that good stuff today. So let's start there. When did the Salinas Valley Health Retail Pharmacy open? Why was it opened and is it open to the community?

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Well, Salinas Valley Health Retail Pharmacy opened in August, 2022. We are open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday from 8:30 to 7:00 PM and on Sundays from 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM. The pharmacy was opened to serve as a convenient one-stop destination for patients visiting the hospital, allowing them to see their providers and pick up their medications in one visit.

Our goal is to offer accessible high quality pharmacy services to both our patients and the community. The pharmacy is open to the community, including our Salinas Valley Health employees.

Host: Yeah, that's great. Let's give folks an idea of where it's located. I know there's a Starbucks involved and that always helps me.

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Well, we are located on the first floor of the Downing Resource Center parking garage inside the gift shop next to Starbucks. We offer free valet parking in the garage as well. You can let the valet attendants know that you're picking up your medications at the retail pharmacy and they can assist you.

Host: That's perfect. I love that. Free valet parking. It's near the Starbucks, you know, kind of one stop shopping. So let's give folks an idea like what are the benefits of switching to the retail pharmacy?

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Well, we offer quick and convenient prescription fulfillment, personalized clinical support from our licensed pharmacists, direct communication with your Salinas Valley health provider for streamlined services, making it easier to address any prescription issues with the providers and easy refill process and communication with the retail pharmacy team through our RX local app.

Host: Yeah, we're going to talk about MyChart too. Just want to get a sense of, you know, transferring prescriptions. How do we transfer to the retail pharmacy? What's the process?

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Well, if you have any questions or need help transferring your prescriptions, you could give us a call at (831) 759-3277 or you can email us at Retailpharmacy@salinasvalleyhealth.com. And when you contact us, let us know your name, date of birth, phone number, or address, and the medications that you want to transfer, and which pharmacy you want the prescriptions to be transferred from. And on the MyChart app, you can update your preferred pharmacy to Salinas Valley Health Retail Pharmacy so your provider can send the new prescriptions or your refills to our pharmacy automatically.

Host: Yeah, like I said, a relatively smooth process and MyChart's involved, and I'm sort of in the process of learning MyChart myself with my own providers. So maybe you can just explain that MyChart process a little bit.

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Yeah, so basically when you go on your My Chart app, it tells you your preferred pharmacy and you could change it to our pharmacy, and the provider would be able to send all the prescriptions and your refills to our pharmacy automatically without you letting the doctor know.

Host: Right. Let's talk insurance. We can never have conversations regarding pharmacies without talking insurance. So what insurance does the pharmacy accept?

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: We accept a lot actually. We accept Medicaid, Medicare part D, Anthem Blue Cross Express Scripts, Caremark, Western Growers, Aspire Health, and many more. So definitely come visit our pharmacy.

Host: Yeah, most of the major insurers, of course. I wanted to have you just go back through the hours of operation, make sure we emphasize those.

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Yes, for sure. Open seven days a week, Monday to Saturday, 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM and Sunday, 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM.

Host: Yeah, I love having those Sunday hours. That seems to be when I remember to refill my prescriptions. I don't know if other folks are like me. I've heard about this program, Meds to Bed. I want to learn more about that. How does that work?

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: For sure. So Meds to Beds at Salinas Valley Health is a hospital based program where our retail pharmacy staff delivers your prescriptions directly to the patient's bedside before they are discharged from the hospital. So this ensures the patient leaves the hospital with their new medications that the doctor prescribed.

Any medication issues are solved with the doctor before the patient leaves the hospital to ensure continuity of care. The goal of the program is to provide convenience and improve patient outcomes and satisfaction. So for example, if I were admitted to the hospital for an infection and chose to enroll into the Meds to Beds program during my stay, the doctor would send my new prescriptions to Salinas Valley Health Retail Pharmacy.

Our pharmacy staff would then fill the medications and deliver them directly to my bedside. Without this program, I would actually be discharged and left waiting in a long line at an outside pharmacy for my prescriptions when I should be actually at home resting and recovering.

Host: And it's just fun to say, it's just fun to say Meds to Bed, you know, I just enjoy saying that and it's so convenient as you say. So you're there, you get your meds, maybe you grab some Starbucks, hit the parking garage and you're on your way home right, to rest and recover.

All good stuff. I just want to ask you, you know, we've all had that experience, at least with me. I pull up to the pharmacy, I see the pharmacist in there, in their white coat, and they're refilling, you know, prescriptions and all that. I just want to learn from you, like, what do you like most about your job?

What do you like about being a pharmacist, or what do you love about it?

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: One of the things I love about it is patient care. I feel like as a pharmacist in our retail setting, we are the first healthcare provider that the patients look for and because of that, we are able to offer, you know, guidance, our expertise to the patients before they even get to see their primary care provider.

And I feel like I really do make a difference at the end of the day when I see my patients and I help them with their medication issues or their healthcare issues.

Host: That's great. Yeah, I have a friend who's a pharmacist, you know, and I go to that pharmacy and we wave to each other. But I'm always like, you know, I wonder how many of us really ever get to interact with pharmacists like I get to today and talk about Meds to Bed and hours of operation and where to find it and all that good stuff.

So really appreciate your time and your expertise and the work that you do. Thank you so much.

Jasmine Ho, PharmD, BCPS: Thank you for having me.

Host: And if you have questions or need help transferring your prescriptions, give us a call at (831) 759-3277. That's 831-759-3277. You can also email us at retailpharmacy@salinasvalleyhealth.com.

Host: And to listen to more of our podcasts, please visit salinasvalleyhealth.com/podcasts. And if you found this podcast to be helpful, please be sure to tell a friend, neighbor, or family member. And subscribe, rate and review this podcast, and check out the entire podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is Ask the Experts from Salinas Valley Health. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well, and we'll talk again next time.