Reducing Healthcare Costs in Charleston

August 29, 2006: Last Tuesday, John Miall dosed us with his wit, intelligence, and Southern charm, as he explained how there is hope for reducing pharmacy related costs in cities like Charleston, S.C.

Mr. Miall, an honorary member of the American Pharmacy Association, has dedicated his efforts to creating and exploring “The Asheville Program”. The program began in Ashevillle, N.C., about ten (10) years ago, as an experiment of sorts. The object was to find out if healthcare costs for chronically ill individuals in the workforce could be reduced. The project was partially funded by Glaxo Smith-Kline. Miall and his team gathered diabetic individuals as trial subjects for their program. The individuals agreed to participate in monthly monitoring visits with their pharmacists.

The monitoring pharmacists did not practice medicine, but checked the diabetic subjects vital signs, and kept tabs on their health. The idea was to report to treating physicians the first sign of a problem before it could become severe. Problems such as loss of limbs, organ failure, and heart disease are preventable if caught and treated early. In exchange for participation in these visits, the diabetic individuals were given access to free insulin, blood sugar monitors, other health supplies and prescription medication. This system controlled costs by reducing the number of major hospital stays and missed days from work.

Mr. Miall explained how “The Asheville Program” picked Charleston as one of the ten cities in which to continue testing out its hypothesizes. The project is going on now in our city, with participants from some local businesses . Ideally, the lessons learned from Miall and his colleagues will translate into lower healthcare costs for employers and more cost efficient care for everyone.

Submitted by Jackie Gottfried, Keyway Committee