Hunt and Farfone break new ground

The past few decades have seen pharmacy evolve from one of America’s stablest environments to one of its most dynamic. Every day brings news of expanded privileges, or acquisitions, or new drug discovery, or some other shuffle in the shifting sands of healthcare.

For independent pharmacists, finding a foundation to build on can be a challenge. Two MUSC pharmacy alumni have recently broken into new ground they hope proves fruitful.

 

Hunt Opens a Honey of a Pharmacy in Duncan

Kelly Hunt ’95, president of Kelly’s Family Pharmacy, envisioned the future of pharmacy when putting together a new store. FirstChoice Pharmacy Duncan opened in July.

“We are very proud of it and I think it will really prove itself to be an asset to the local community of Duncan,” said Hunt, a member of the MUSC College of Pharmacy Dean’s Advisory Council. “We have tried to skate to where the pharmacy puck is going, not where it is today. And I think we may have hit our goal!”

FirstChoice features a "Lifestyle Enhancement Center" which is a large training room complete with a Roku-enabled TV that allows for pharmacists to teach classes on diabetes and smoking cessation. The LEC is headed by Ashley Schuford ’14, who joins Kandi Hunt ’95 and Jeff Bigby ’06 in the pharmacy’s MUSC brigade. The pharmacy also has more than 1,000 square feet of over the counter space, including South Carolina specialties such as local honey and honey-related products, Palmetto Tree merchandise and cosmetics from Charleston-based Hunter Brookes.

 

Farfone Finds Special Place with Specialty Pharmacy

When Dottie Farfone’s great grandfather ran Moore Drugs three generations ago, he could not have envisioned the pharmacy profession landscape of 2018. But the values of a family-owned, independent pharmacy are timeless.

For Dottie and Scott Farfone of Dottie’s Pharmacy, one of the ways those values find their way into practice is through working with pharmaceutical therapies such as oncology, Hepatitis C and biologics that are high cost, high complexity and high touch. The pharmacy also offers compounding and traditional pharmacy services.

The pharmacy was recently recognized for its achievements in specialty pharmacy by becoming one of only six pharmacies in the state of South Carolina that is accredited by URAC. URAC’s Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation helps specialty pharmacies position themselves and demonstrate their value in delivering clinical services.

“The role of specialty pharmacies, which serve patients with complex, chronic diseases, is even more critical to patient outcomes,” said Dottie Farfone. “At Dottie’s, our patients always come first and you can be assured that our clinical team will provide the service to take care of all your pharmacy needs.”

Founded in 1990, the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission (URAC) is a Washington DC-based healthcare accrediting organization that establishes quality standards for the  healthcare industry. It is an independent, non-profit organization.