The Coast Guard is re-opening six pharmacies at CG clinics this year.
Base New Orleans’s pharmacy reopens soon. Pharmacies at Base Miami Beach, Base Boston, and Air Station Miami will open in two to four months. Base Houston Galveston’s and Sector New York’s pharmacies will open in three to six months.
In total, these six re-opened pharmacies can provide services to almost six thousand members.
These are in addition to the 17 CG pharmacies already serving CG members and their families.
Clinic pharmacies can fill most prescriptions and offer over-the-counter medications and supplies.
If a CG Pharmacy is unavailable, you can fill prescriptions at other local military treatment facilities or through Tricare’s Express Scripts to have medications shipped to your door.
Some CG clinics have also increased their capability by establishing medication therapy management (MTM) services through collaborative practice agreements. MTM permits pharmacists to serve as provider extenders, freeing up primary care managers to take more appointments. Under MTM, CG pharmacies can offer certain medical services such as:
Dr. Berhan Yeh, senior medical executive for CG Base National Capitol Region, said, “By providing MTM services, pharmacists alleviate many routine medication issues for which patients would otherwise need to talk to a medical provider. This increases patients’ access to care while allowing providers to focus on other aspects of health care. Pharmacists have always been an important part of the team concept in providing quality health care and CPAs allow them to perform in a greater capacity at the highest levels of their training.”
The increased number of pharmacies combined with the increased capabilities offered by MTM help the Coast Guard deliver point-of-need healthcare for the workforce.
Resources:
Tricare’s Express Scripts