Community Memorial Pharmacy Does More for Patients

Community Memorial Healthcare recently announced that the Community Memorial Pharmacy received accreditation as a “Specialty Pharmacy” from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care. This accreditation demonstrates that the pharmacy consistently meets high standards for providing comprehensive, high-quality care to patients who take complex, specialty medications.

“It’s a rigorous standard to meet and there are high expectations,” said Jack Tretko, Pharm. D, Director of Outpatient Pharmacy & Pharmacy Purchasing at Community Memorial Healthcare. “This demonstrates our commitment to excellence and to doing more for our patients.”

Community Memorial is the only hospital in the area with this license, obtained on April 18, 2024. The license is good for three years during which all high standards must be maintained. Specialty pharmacy accreditation is a voluntary process in which pharmacies are evaluated on their ability to meet rigorous standards in patient management, drug quality management, and regulatory compliance.

What is a Specialty Pharmacy?

Specialty pharmacies dispense injectable, intravenous, or oral medications, offer disease-specific clinical monitoring, and help ensure that patients take and store their medications properly. They also carry unusual, rare disease medications and medications that are very expensive. Accredited specialty pharmacies like Community Memorial’s must have organizational infrastructure in place to support these services, provide patient management and benefits coordination, and implement continuous quality improvement.

Community Memorial has two pharmacy departments: an inpatient pharmacy department and an outpatient pharmacy department. Inpatient pharmacists review all medications prescribed in the hospital, compound medications, provide antibiotic consultations, review patients’ lab reports, and adjust their medications appropriately. On the outpatient side, once a patient is ready to leave the hospital, Community Memorial’s outpatient pharmacists receive prescriptions from the physicians and offer a unique service called “Meds to Beds.”

“Patients can opt in to this program and use the outpatient pharmacy to fill discharge prescriptions. We deliver those medications directly to the patient bedside,” said Dr. Tretko. “Statistics show about 40% of patients who receive prescriptions upon discharge don’t fill them. Our Meds-to-Beds program supports better patient outcomes by increasing compliance with discharge instructions.”

Personalized Care & Support

“Community Memorial outpatient pharmacists also create tailored care plans for patient and check in with them monthly,” said Keegan Bachelor, Pharm.D, Outpatient Pharmacy Operations Manager at Community Memorial Healthcare.

“We help make sure patients know how to take their medication and we help them find financial resources if they need help affording the medications,” said Dr. Bachelor. “We ask questions like, is the medication working? Is the patient experiencing side effects? Is the medication being stored properly and refrigerated if necessary? Is the patient refilling medications on schedule?”

“Essentially, we serve as an extension of the patient’s physician,” Dr. Bachelor said. “We provide step-by-step guidance, and check in monthly to make sure that there are no barriers and that their condition is constantly improving, if possible.”

Free Prescription Delivery

Community Memorial’s outpatient pharmacy is located at 2790 Loma Vista Road in Ventura. Patients can pick up their medications in person or have them delivered.

Delivery is FREE to patients of the Community Memorial Health Centers and Community Memorial Hospitals in Ventura or Ojai. Home delivery is an especially helpful service for those patients who can’t drive right after a surgery or don’t have a caregiver. Same-day delivery service is available in Camarillo, Carpinteria, Fillmore, Port Hueneme, Newbury Park, Ojai, Oak View, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, and Ventura.

If you would like to fill a new prescription or transfer your existing prescriptions to the Community Memorial Pharmacy, please call 805-948-5175 and a member of our pharmacy team will assist you. 

To hear more from Dr. Tretko and Dr. Bachelor and learn more about Community Memorial's Specialty Pharmacy accreditation, click here to listen to a special episode of the Wise & Well podcast.