340B Pharmacy Services: Empowering participants to stay healthy and adherent

Fred Myrick, Chicago House Pharmacy Services Manager, received a call from a residential program staff member. The staff member was concerned for a resident’s wellbeing after noticing that they had been acting strangely. Myrick contacted Chicago House’s partner pharmacy in hopes of finding clues to this change in behavior. The pharmacist confirmed that the resident had not filled their psychiatric medication prescription for several months. Working in tandem with the pharmacist and the residential staff member, Myrick was able to get the resident back on their medication.

Signed into law by Congress in 1992, the 340B Drug Discount Program increases vulnerable and uninsured patients’ access to prescription medications by offering drugs at steep discounts through partner pharmacies and clinics. Chicago House established its Pharmacy Services program as a 340B participating institution in 2016 out of an increased demand for (and availability of) treatment regimens for individuals who are HIV positive. The program expanded in 2018 with a focus on PrEP access for individuals vulnerable to HIV.

Chicago House’s Pharmacy Services Program essentially forms a three-member team for participating clients: an HIV medical case manager, a pharmacist, and the participating client work together to keep the participant medication adherent and their viral load undetectable. Case management empowers individuals living with HIV to remain healthy and independent, receiving services such as medical appointment and medication adherence support, financial assistance, insurance navigation, behavioral health and substance use resources, and transportation assistance. The program’s unique access to a pharmacist allows Myrick and medical case managers to better support clients’ medication adherence; in turn, they can advocate on participants’ behalf as barriers arise, as in the example above. Financial assistance, a benefit of the program for individuals who enroll, can take many forms—transit passes, gift cards for food and household supplies, utilities back pay, rent, medical bills—all of which provide a crucial safety net for meeting participants’ emergent needs and ensure that they remain medically adherent.

Program benefits include confidential 24-hour prescription delivery, a one-to-one relationship with a pharmacist, and co-pay assistance. Since its inception, Pharmacy Services at Chicago House has served two hundred individuals with the mission to keep participants healthy, stable, and engaged in life-giving care.