Montefiore Health System on the afternoon of Feb. 8 held a ribbon-cutting to unveil its new Montefiore Specialty Pharmacy at 100 Corporate Blvd. in Yonkers. The 17,000-square-foot facility is said to be one of the largest and most technologically advanced hospital-owned specialty pharmacies in the New York Metro area.
The Yonkers site is Montefiore’s second specialty pharmacy location. Its first specialty pharmacy, located at its Henry and Lucy Moses Division in the Bronx, opened in 2019.
Specialty pharmacies provide medications that have specific requirements for storage, dosing and management and include complex and high-cost medications for patients with rare and chronic conditions. Among those conditions are cancer, inflammatory diseases and immune disorders. In addition to providing and compounding medications the staff at Montefiore’s Specialty Pharmacy can handle securing insurance authorizations for medications when necessary, thus relieving a patient’s physician of the responsibility for handling that aspect of serving patients.
Montefiore said that since first emerging in the 1970s, specialty pharmacies have experienced tremendous growth, due in part to increasing numbers of cases involving intricate treatments that may require unique compounding capabilities and specialized refrigerated storage.
Montefiore said that its new pharmacy is able to offer convenient options to fulfill prescriptions including: direct shipping to the patient’s home or in-person pick-up; a pill counting system that uses a camera to confirm the correct number of pills have been dispensed; around-the-clock telephone access to pharmacists by health cafe providers and patients alike through an answering service; and, lower average copays for patients.
“Our new specialty pharmacy is designed to be an extension of a patient’s care team,” said Steven Tuckman, director of community and specialty pharmacy operations at Montefiore. “Before dispensing medications, our clinical pharmacists communicate with our patients to help ensure they understand their treatment regimens and possible side effects. This same team follows up to confirm that medications are taken as prescribed.”
Tuckman projected that nearly 100,000 prescriptions will be filled at then new pharmacy in the first year of operation, primarily from practitioners in the Bronx and Westchester.
“We’re always searching for opportunities across the health system to better support the community,” said Susan Green-Lorenzen, system senior vice president of operations at Montefiore. “Just because someone has cancer does not mean their other chronic illnesses like heart disease or inflammatory diseases go away. This new specialty pharmacy brings us one step closer toward making sure people with the most complicated conditions get the very best and most comprehensive care, easier and faster than ever before.”
