Aspirus Health’s Specialty Pharmacy Program Brings Vital Specialty Medications to Patients; Improves Rural Health System’s Financial Outlook

Clearway Health was selected in 2022 by Aspirus Health as their specialty pharmacy partner to improve medication access, adherence and clinical outcomes for their patients. Aspirus Health is a non-profit, community-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin. The health system serves communities through four hospitals in Michigan, 13 hospitals in Wisconsin, 75 clinics, home health and hospice care, pharmacies, critical care and air-medical transport, medical goods, nursing homes and a broad network of physicians.

One year after the start of the partnership, more than 300 patients have been enrolled in the program to receive specialty medications, which are vital to their health. Specialty pharmaceuticals are high-cost prescription medications used to treat complex, conditions and often require special handling, administration and monitoring.

Specialty Pharmacy Partnership Improves Financial Outlook

The program has increased pharmacy revenue, which funds system-wide improvements to help patients in the Michigan and Wisconsin communities they serve. The new revenue has been used to improve the delivery of medications to the patients at Aspirus, provided additional financial and copay assistance for patients in need of added support, and helped to improve the collaboration among pharmacy teams and providers within the hospital.

Pandemic recovery, staffing shortages, high labor costs and other significant issues continue to plague the healthcare industry. Rural communities have been some of the hardest hit. Clearway Health has partnered with Aspirus to overcome these challenges and manage a successful specialty pharmacy program.

Aspirus’ New Multispecialty Clinic

In addition to hiring eight staff members to support the overall specialty pharmacy program, a key initiative in the program’s success was standing up a new multispecialty clinic. This new clinic, located in Medford, Wisconsin, brings additional pharmacist support to Aspirus patients and includes a highly trained pharmacy team to assist with the medication needs of patients.

Clearway Health and Aspirus Health have worked together to provide specialty pharmacy services through in-clinic support from specialty pharmacists and liaisons to ensure patients receive coordinated and personalized care. They also educate and partner with referral providers in select specialties such as rheumatology, pulmonology and dermatology.

Clearway Health’s Services Support Aspirus’ Patients

These new services have helped to ensure that patients received all pertinent labs while on medications; determined if patients were at risk for other adverse events due to the medications they were prescribed; taken patients off medications that should have been discontinued or because of unnecessary side effects; and discussed with patients their current medication and recommended more effective options.  

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