Through the work of teams such as IT, construction, pharmacy, cash management, etc., the St. Luke’s Hospital in Twin Falls is repurposing and rebuilding the west side of its facility into a retail pharmacy. Project Manager Steven Davis estimates the project will finish around April 1st. From there, Public Relations Manager Kelly Franson says they want to schedule a soft opening of the new St. Luke’s retail pharmacy with a ribbon-cutting ceremony over three weeks after the opening.
The plan is for the new pharmacy to be open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 8 pm, with Saturday 9 am to 5 pm, and closed on Sunday. St. Luke’s PR Manager Kelly Franson stated, “The hope is that as [the pharmacy] grows, we would then hire more people, and if there is a need for it, be open at different hours.” Franson and Davis hope the pharmacy will eventually expand and become 24-hour.
Regarding prescription pick-up, the pharmacy will not have a drive-through service. Project Manager Davis makes it clear that when it comes to where medication is sent, people “can choose any pharmacy in town, but if they say [the retail pharmacy], then they would just come over here, and they could either walk in or… utilize our curbside service, where they could park in a parking spot, and someone will bring it out to them.”
Davis clarified that some patients will not use the retail pharmacy continually and may only use it when they are at St. Luke’s and are discharged from the hospital. “That’s great because what we really want is to make sure that when they leave here, they’ve got their medication and that they can continue that care that they need at home–so they don’t end up back in the hospital.”
“A lot of people say you’ve got to make the healthy option the easy option, and so we’re really trying to come up with ways to make it as easy as possible for people to get healthy.” Franson also stated that the major part of their project, “meds to beds,” will provide this easier option.
Meds to beds is a term to describe the process of St. Luke’s in-patients who are discharged from the main St. Luke’s hospital being able to pick up the prescription they were just prescribed from the retail pharmacy specifically, which will be at the west end of the hospital.
Franson explained one of the benefits of having the retail pharmacy on staff is the pharmacists being able to “refill the prescriptions for people leaving the hospital and take them to the room, go through the education, make sure they know how to use [their medication], when to use them, and then they know that those people are going home with the proper prescriptions they need.” Furthermore, patients “can also make sure everything is accurate with their coverage. If there’s a problem, they know right there, and they can address it.”
Davis stated, “One of the biggest costs that we experience as a hospital system and also people, in general, is if… [patients] end up back in the hospital. The costs that are associated with being back in the hospital is really high for patients, for the community, for everybody involved. So the idea is to really try to get people to be better and help them stay better.”
Furthermore, Davis claimed, “One of the biggest things for the financial side of the pharmacy is that it’s going to allow [St. Luke’s] employees to get medications directly from St. Luke’s, through the St. Luke’s health plan.”
Moreover, Davis explained that the retail pharmacy project was supposed to start in 2023 and open in early 2024. However, the project “ran into a hiccup” with zoning laws.
St. Luke’s didn’t have the original area zoned for a retail pharmacy, so they had to provide a variance to have the zoning changed to put in a retail pharmacy. Davis had to go through the city, the community boards, and their council and “let the community have a voice in saying whether or not they wanted a pharmacy here or not.”
“Everything passed. There was no objection to it, and the city was pretty glad that we determined we would put in a pharmacy here,” Davis claimed.
Concerning the challenges of the retail pharmacy’s ribbon cutting, Franson hopes that, three weeks after the soft opening, she and Davis will be able to “nail down a date for ribbon cuttings.” But, to do so, they will have to “work with the city Chamber of Commerce, find when they’re available, when the pharmacy people are available, and when the St. Luke’s bosses are available,” Franson explained.
