Driving Independent Pharmacy Profitability in 2025 Featuring Nicolette Mathey
Precision. Profit. Performance.
In this episode of The Bottom Line Pharmacy podcast, Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP and Bonnie Bond, CPA sit down with Nicolette Mathey, PharmD, CEO & Founder of Atrium24 and Dotti to dive into the profitability levers for independent pharmacies in 2025
We cover everything from telemedicine, compounded GLPs, upcoming tax changes, and more!
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The Bottom Line Pharmacy Podcast is your regular dose of pharmacy CPA advice to fuel your bottom line, featuring pharmacists, key vendors, and other innovators.
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More resources on this topic:
Podcast – Driving Independent Pharmacy Profitability in 2024
Podcast – Legal Updates Impacting 503B and 503A Pharmacies
Video – Expanding Into Compounded GLPs Step-By-Step
If you prefer to read this content, the video transcript is below:
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: AtriumX.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yes, AtriumX.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: It’s a nice name, I like the name.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Thanks. Yeah, it’s the experience, it’s the intangible, it’s what’s next.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: It’s a good catchy, firebrand name there.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: But we knew that we needed to put on a conference for a long time. It just wasn’t the right time with COVID and then with the DIR apocalypse last year, but we always knew, and you know, for the past decade, really, back when I worked for PDS, that was my job was to all year, identify the pain points that our members were struggling with, visit pharmacies. I visited over a hundred independent pharmacies within like a five-year timeframe and just see how they’re solving the problems. How they’re solving them, how they’re failing, what they’re trying. And my job at PDS was always to find a problem, a solution, pilot it out, have some really smart people, much smarter than me do it, and then format it into something that we could launch at the conference in February at PDS. That was always my job. And to really vet it out too, because you can’t be reckless and just put something out there that could hurt businesses or you know, even worse patients. So that was always the job. So I was like, man, we still need that. We still need to do that. So, I haven’t announced this yet. I’ve just been kind of saying AtriumX and let’s all get together and let’s talk about what our challenges are and let’s network. But I’ve vetted out a telemedicine solution and we’re going to launch it at AtriumX. I’ve actually taken eight months to pilot it, to run it through legal. We’ve actually changed a lot of the structure because if you do telemedicine wrong, you could go to prison. Like it’s that extreme. Now that’s if you’re being very reckless and if you do…Yeah, that’s if you know you’re doing something wrong. If you’re accepting things that you just know are not a valid prescription and there’s no valid relationship. So obviously none of us are going to do that.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Is that what the Stark and Anti-Kickback in this game do?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: It even comes back to just how do you accept the prescription? Every state is different in their telemedicine laws, whether it has to be a synchronous visit, meaning like a video real time or asynchronous visit, meaning like a form or lab work that the patient fills out. We have a telemedicine solution that we vetted. We got legal approval after we went through it and made some changes. We piloted it in my own small fulfillment pharmacy and we’re gonna launch it at AtriumX.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: That is cool.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That is cool. So do you have to be a member of Dotti to go to AtriumX or is this open for anybody?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Nope, it’s open to anybody. It is, being the first year, it is limited. It’s kind of a smaller venue, which I like. We’re not gonna be at like a huge warehouse of a conference center. It’s at the Margaritaville Resort in Orlando. I know Scotty loves them Margariters. We did it just for you. But it’s a cool venue. I went and visited a lot. We were gonna do it here in Clearwater where we’re located, but all the hotels got flooded and damaged in the hurricanes. So we moved it over to Orlando, easy airport for everybody to get to. And yeah, it is what it is. It’ll be nicer weather than up north and it’s easy. But we got a really cool venue at the Margaritaville. It’s smaller, so we won’t be overrun by other conferences. It’s just our conference that’s there. You’ll kind of see everybody in the hallways and at the restaurants and everything. And there’s like cool shops and music and things on site that you can go to on the Sunset Walk. They have shuttles to Disney Springs and all the Disney stuff from the hotel. So it’ll be fun. Yeah. Yeah, you can see me there. I’m excited. Yes. What? Man, somebody’s got to be. No, it’s.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah. Very fun. Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Excited. Right in the heat of tax season two and I will be there.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I know, I got booted because somebody’s gotta stay back and do returns. We all can’t go. Can’t all go. I’ll take one for the team and stay back and get the work done. It’s no big deal. Just kidding. We have good staff here. We’re going to be in good shape. Yeah, we’ve got a couple different, usually we have a workshop that I have to go to in March too with the NCPA. So we’ve got a few things this year that popped up during tax season. So we’ll be busy, but it’s good. Already. Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, yeah, somebody’s gotta do it. Somebody’s gotta travel. It’s a busy conference season kicking off. We got the AtriumX. We’re doing vital care. As Sykes & Company, we’re doing vital care next week at Orlando. And then in Florida is going to be the APC Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding. Did I say that right? I think that’s the right name in March.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, yeah, that’s cool. In March.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I think so. Nicolette, I saw that you went on the Africa trip. I’m so jealous. I’ve been saying for years I want to go.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yes.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: So how was it? Was it awesome?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, it was so fun. It was amazing. My son, I have three kids. They’re 13, 12, and 11. So a lot of middle school is going on, bro.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Bruh bruh
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: It’s really, yeah. My middle schoolers have entered the chat and I’m cooked, but there’s a lot slang going on.
And my son, who’s 11, he’s very much, we call him Google
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP: That sounds like my five-year-old.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yep.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: And my son, who’s 11, he’s very much, we call him Google because he just knows all the facts and especially animals. He loves animals and he always has. And with my husband being a fishing captain, my son’s name is Fisher. And we always go out to the islands and the little barrier islands and Clearwater Beach and everything. And he just goes off by himself and finds all the shells or all the creatures or all the things. And he’s just, you know, so to take him on safari and just to watch him, it was the most magical thing that I’ll probably ever experience in my life.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That’s awesome. That’s what it’s all about right there.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Just to be in that much nature was amazing.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Amina has mentioned it to us multiple times. We just have to say the word.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Every year I get more clients that want to go, and they go.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: See, you know what’s funny too is knowing Amina, we all know Amina and how she is, right? And how she’s just such a light and she’s so positive, but she’s also reflective at the same time. And she listens and she’s just so humble. And now that I’ve been able to visit Kenya, I was able to see where she came from and the culture. And that’s just how it is. It’s amazing. There’s so much traffic, nobody’s honking, there’s no horns. There’s, I mean, there’s no lanes. There’s no, there’s traffic everywhere, but nobody’s honking. And then even the, you know, somebody bumped into somebody else and they’re like, my friend, what were you doing? You weren’t paying.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: There’s no road rage in Kenya.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: No, in America, would be a very different interaction here.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Just buckle up around here, man. Americans are like, get out of my way. People got things to do, places to be, whatever.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: But it was awesome.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I may have to sidebar ask you some questions about it. I really want to do it.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, you know, they don’t have PBMs in Kenya though, so what about that? Maybe that’s why they’re not so angry.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I know someone else, I don’t think they were in the same group as you that went this summer, but they were talking, I’m gonna get this messed up, but she was telling me about how someone needed a Z-Pack and like within an hour, I mean, I was able to like hook it up like through her network and whatever, like somebody rolled in with a Z-Pack. I was like, wow, that’s awesome. In like the middle of wherever they were, she said it was awesome.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: In the middle of the wilderness.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Sounds about right. Yeah, it was amazing. It was a lot of fun.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: How long was that flight?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Well, we went with, it was us five, so me, my husband and our three kids, and then we went with my parents and his parents. So, there were the nine of us. And my mom, she just turned 70.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That is the hell of a trip, the way. That group, kids, parents, woo!
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah. I know. Oh my gosh. But everybody behaved pretty well. But my mom is a very interesting person. She’s a hairdresser. And I think I’ve talked about her before and her work ethic and how she loves going to work every day. Well, she just turned 70. She still has more energy than I do and still loves going to work every day. She actually just got her hip replaced 30 days before we left on the trip. But don’t tell her nothing. Yup, she was good to go. And she loves vampires, Sasquatch, aliens, the pyramids naturally. So Amina was able to coordinate knowing how my mom is. Amina coordinated a layover in Cairo on the way to Nairobi and she made the layover like 15, 20 hours and then coordinated somebody to pick us up at the airport, take us through customs, a driver, an Egyptologist to take us to the pyramids on the layover.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Dude, I want that!
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Gracious!
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yep, we had lunch overlooking the pyramids with this amazing feast. I mean, so my mom with her new hip was able to climb the pyramids in Egypt.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Now seeing the pyramid sounds even more interesting to me than the other. That’s cool.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Man, I’m jealous.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: It was incredible. So, we were able to do that just on a little layover. Then we were able to pop over to the safari. So, the flight was long, but intentionally long because we made a little stop off.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I would love to see the Pyramids.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right, right, right. Well, I think I could handle a long flight if it was broken up like that. Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, and the long one was from Cairo to JFK. That was like 11 hours or so. But time’s gonna pass anyway, whether you’re on a plane or not. What are you gonna do? Like YouTube the whole time anyway.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: It’s only 11 hours. mean, it’s the experience of a lifetime for 11 hours.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yep. So it was cool.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Man, that is cool. So that’s a lot cooler than, I guess, pharmacy talk right now.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, let’s talk about pharmacy. I know.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Let’s just start an Amina Travel Podcast.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: We should, we should just have everyone talk about their trips. Yep, it’s awesome. It was cool. We are planning some things that I think our audience will be interested in for the conference. Trizepatide. The shortage has been resolved, allegedly.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Which I hear has, it’s on, you can’t do it anymore, right?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Kind of. So, they say the shortage has been resolved. Then there was a lawsuit between Outsourcing Facilities Association, which is like the group of the 503Bs. And actually one 503A, who I’ve been in communication with at FarmaKeio, but that group sued the FDA. And they said, no, it’s not readily available. Patients are gonna suffer. They can’t get the medication. So, while that suit was going on, there was a stay. So, nothing changed. You could still dispense it through 503B and things like that. Well, now they met in December, and they said the stay is over, the shortage is resolved. So there’s a ramp off period. So, they’re saying as of February 18th, 503A pharmacies, all of our pharmacies can no longer dispense Trizepatide because the shortage is resolved. That’s how it stands today, but it’s still a very heated battle.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: They’re still battling that?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, it’s still heated. I mean, Lily’s got a lot of money, the pharma manufacturer that makes the brand named Trizepatide but I’m watching it and it’s interesting. We do have at AtriumX, because however this shakes out, we’re all gonna be affected. If we’re watching this or even if you’re not dispensing it, you have patients who are on it. So, they’re gonna come to you and want some guidance. And a lot of our pharmacies are working with 503Bs and dispensing it while this drug is in shortage. So, we do have, we’re going to have a legal update at AtriumX. We have some solutions. I’ve been talking with, we even have, we’ve created like dear doctor letters to explain what’s going on, what the options are, letters to patients, bag stuffers, so that we’re ready in case you can’t dispense the Trizepatide anymore. But at AtriumX, we’ll have legal update, and we’ll also have, I’ve been talking with sterile compounding pharmacies, and they’ve started doing different things and exploring, can you mix it with a vitamin? Can you central fill it? So, there’s a lot going on in that landscape and we’ll talk about it at AtriumX too.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: But the Semaglutide that’s still available. I don’t know how to say it. So Semaglutide.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: However you want to say it.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: No, there’s no right or wrong answer, I guess. We knew what you’re talking about.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I just know the commercial says Semaglutide so I’ll copy the commercial.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: It’s still on shortage.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: So, you can still do that.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yes. Yeah. There is. And I imagine a lot of patients will switch from Trizepatide to the Semaglutide. We’re seeing just a lot more interest in more peptides as well. The Sermorelin and there’s, know, but peptides, that’s a gray area. So, we have some peptide experts who will be there too, trying to plan some fun stuff at the conference that I can’t disclose yet, but it’ll be interesting, that’s for sure.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: And there’s still some money in that too.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: But whether you like it or not, this is kind of what we tell our clients, is you got to look into it. It’s definitely the thing right now. I mean, I know of at least 10 people that I just know in my circle of friends and different things that are on it one way or another. So, you know, we have these conversations.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, if you’re not doing it, pharmacies, I mean, at least do your due diligence and research, you know, whether you should be doing it or not. mean, you do got to do your due diligence, right Nicolette? Nicolette, your group has that due diligence ability to help in that area. But you got to be looking at it.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I mean, you can’t sit down and watch TV or anything without a commercial popping up and yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: You gotta look at it because your patient, the patients are getting it. If they’re not getting it from you, they’re getting it elsewhere. And why not go to the authority, which is the pharmacist, the pharmacy to get it instead of going to the med spas and the one-off areas. They’re getting it.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right, yes.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Nicolette did you see it on the news? I saw where a lady was busted, I forget what state it was in she was doing something in her home and selling this stuff. I mean I’m like what is going on? It was like Breaking Bad in there. I mean she and it was for the… Anyway, it’s crazy.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: No. It’s nuts. That’s a thing. So that’s why I like pharmacy to be inserted in this equation. It’s how it’s supposed to be. Just like I got real riled up when medical marijuana bypassed the pharmacy channel, because that’s what pharmacy is here for is to, we have distribution locked down. Like we got it figured out. So don’t let the GLPs go outside of the pharmacy dispensing model. Keep it. Educate your patients, you know, like if they’re going to med spas, the med spas are not educated. Now, most of the med spas are not educated about the quality standards that pharmacies are educated about and about supply chains and testing and all those.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: It was kind of like when CBD was big. I mean, you could go get it in a gas station, but who knows what was in that, you know.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, and you weren’t injecting that. And two, these GLPs have a lot of side effects. And so, patients are going to have trouble with their bowels. They’re going to have trouble with, you know, they’re not feeling hungry. So, are they, it’s slippery slope, you know, is their blood sugar getting low because they’re not eating? Are they getting enough protein? You know, if they’re not hungry and then they get hungry, they’re going to eat some chips.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: This is, this to me, it’s just a teed up perfect opportunity for pharmacies to adapt and change and evolve and get into this type of stuff. mean, after this is, after this is done its course, there’s going to be another one and something else. And you have got to get on these things because the patients are, they’re finding it and it’s either going to be at your store or somewhere else. Be the expert.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: It’s what they want. Yeah, they’re gonna get it.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right. That’s the thing. Yep. So that’s, I mean, that’s a huge opportunity, of course. And there are more drugs. I know we’ve been following the phase trials of the Retitutride, Retatratide, the triple agonist that’s potentially coming next. Now, some people are already buying the API peptides from China and just using the research grade chemicals, injecting them, which that’s to me, that’s kind of…That’s out there. That’s extreme. But people are doing it to your point.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That sounds good.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah, no, I don’t advocate for that at all.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That sounds sketchy.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Well, I don’t want to be the test rat, once it’s, you know, it’s vetted. Let’s go.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. And speaking of vetting too, that’s an interesting project that we’ve taken on, is the 503Bs and vetting them. Because you can get licensed and get all set up as a 503B, but not have your FDA inspection yet. So, there’s quite a few of them out there that haven’t been inspected by the FDA. Now that’s fine. You know, they’re operational, they’re working, and the FDA is backlogged. So, it takes them time to get out and inspect all these facilities and to do all the work that they have to do. But sometimes that initial inspection comes back and it’s not good. So, you don’t want to be buying from facilities that just aren’t checking all the boxes. Yeah. So, we do a really deep dive and continually vet the 503Bs. And now there’s so many more coming online too. So, it’s been nice to have like…
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Are not up on the inspection.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: …a structure and parameters to vet them. I’m trying really hard by the time AtriumX is here to bring this one 503B into our network because they can get GLPs into California. They’re the only one I found. So, all my California peeps, they’re not able to dispense compounded GLPs because none of the 503Bs are licensed in that state. But this one is and it’s very, very, very reputable. It’s passed all of our vetting requirements with flying colors. It’s a really good stand-up company, great inspections, great stability. I’m very excited. It’s a small offshoot of a huge company. We’re small fish, so it’s kind of hard to get some attention, but I’m trying. I’m beating down the door. I’m trying to get my California pharmacies in there because
Nicolette Mathey PharmD: There’s a huge need for patients in California.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP: Big population in California.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. So I’m trying to tee that up. I have another meeting this week, so that would be something really cool. We’re going to start piloting it out with a few of our California pharmacies first, but I’d love to be able to just open up that kind of highway for California soon.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah. So, the conference Nicolette, you threw some teasers out there, for Trizepatide, legal issues, know, that kind of stuff. What else are you going to have there?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Well, long-term care. So I can’t say too much because it’s not my place, but there are going to be some innovations that are going to be launched at AtriumX in the long-term care space and in the automation space and in the billing space. So we always say, GLP is not your cup of tea. Tiffany puts that in our little newsletter. I think that’s cute. But there’s other stuff too. mean, GLPs, Telemedicine, long-term care and to that point, something that we did really different at AtriumX is we have these breakout sessions and they are completely peer-led. So that means we brought back Scotty B. If you guys know the MC Scotty B, he’s a good friend of mine and we brought him back because I love his energy and he’s able just to kind of read the room and see what’s going on and keep everybody going and keep everyone engaged and keep their thought processes going.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: He’s a talented dude.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: We actually have a special surprise coming from Scotty B. Cause he’s a martial artist too. I don’t know if you knew that he owns a dojo out in Denver.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I did not know that.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yes, So, he’s an interesting duck. He, he has the whole fired up entertainment. He’s even back in the day, he used to do like the MCing and all that for the Orlando Magic for the basketball team. Yeah, but he’s got the fired up entertainment and I’m pretty sure he runs a ring of DJs in Orlando. It’s like a whole thing. And then he’s got the dojo out in Denver. So, he’s a dojo DJ and he has some really interesting, he has a keynote that he gives about that dojo mentality and how it applies to business. And I’m really trying to fit that in because I’ve heard portions of it and it’s really good. And he’s given it for other industries. So I’d like him to give it to ours. So, we’ll see if we can make that happen. But with these breakout sessions, Scotty will physically pull everyone who’s in the room. So, if you’re a compounder, go over here. If you do long-term care, go over here. If you, know, and then move them around, physically pull them, give everybody ribbons, so that you can see throughout the conference who are my compounders, who are my sterile compounders, who’s my people doing long-term care billing. And then you can identify and network and talk with them throughout the conference. Then everyone’s gonna vote on what do they wanna talk about in the breakout sessions that we have. And so that’s the very first day, that’s Thursday. So, then Thursday night, myself and the conference team and the facilitators go through it and we choose, you know, people wanna talk about this topic, it got voted on the most, which subject matter experts do we have here who can talk to that and we’ll put together that breakout session. So, on Friday, we have a number of breakout sessions that will be peer led and voted on by everyone there. But this is also breaking news for the facilitators of the breakout sessions. We brought in Kelly Babcock from PDS and Leadership Growth Formula and Terry Norvell as well. And I know people love them and all the talks that they do and the workshops that they do for team and culture and just people. So, Terry and Kelly and then we have Jen Deal coming in as well who you guys might remember her from PDS and she has an accounting background. She’s going to facilitate as well.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Not sure who she is…
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Well, the facilitator’s role is pretty much to bring the people in and just to ask the question and keep the conversations going. then we’ll have Scotty doing that too. Scotty B.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah. Interactive. Yeah, I like that.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Not this Scotty.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I know, every time you say Scotty, I’m like, he’s doing what?
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Well, it’s funny because Austin our marketing guy was on your call or something about the conference and he called, he’s like, you got a minute? I was like, yeah. He’s like, did you know you’re MCing this event?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: You you’re doing what now, Scotty? I wish.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: And you were like, no.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I was like, what are you talking about? He’s like, Scotty’s he’s, they said you’re MCing it. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. That’s Scotty B. Not me.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: I mean, you could. You could.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: No, I can’t.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Love to see you do that.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Get him a little hat, get him a turntable.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yes. He’d play some old country, like I mean 50s, 60s, 70s country.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I would try.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Give them the margariters and put them up.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, it’d be margarita hour every hour. That’s how I’d get through it. Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: I’m saying. I think that’d be a good
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Well, this sounds exciting. It’s awesome. Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, I’m excited. I’m hoping that it’ll be different. you know, like I try to put together a lot of Zoom calls throughout the year of like people that want to talk about sterile or people that want to talk about what’s going on with Trizepatide or whatever’s going on. And it’s going to be just so much more impactful to have it in person.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yes.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. And people are always asking me, do you know anybody that does this, or do you know? So, we’ll be able just to make connections with people there and have actual conference time carved out in these breakout sessions to talk with those people and be like, what are you doing in your business? How would you have done it differently next time? You know, like what was the most impactful thing that you did last year?
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right. Huge to build a network and a community like that to just people that can just sit around literally around a table and…
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: And then, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause really at a conference.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Get ideas from each other, yep.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Love how you’re bringing some innovative different things, know, because conferences now you just go and you hear something, you know, whatever, like bringing to the table new ideas and new, you know, forward thinking things is, has a lot of value. Tremendous.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah. Get your CPE, yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: That’s the goal. We’re involved. It’s an intimate event. We’re only going to have max 150 attendees at this first show and max 20 exhibitors. So in this first show, we wanted it to be just very curated, very intentional. Typically, conferences, to your point, the only time that you get to actually talk with people is at the lunch tables and that’s purely by chance. Just wherever you sit down and it’s a little uncomfortable. You talk to them, where are from? What do you do at your pharmacy? This way I’ll be able just to look at your ribbons and know what I need to know. But at the lunch table or usually at the lobby bar everybody loosens up a little bit and they’ll end up talking to each other more and that’s great. Like those hallway conversations, the lobby bar conversations, we’ll have those.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah. Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: And we’re actually curating sessions of like-minded people who are interested in the same things with facilitators, professional facilitators, who are being trained right now as we speak to go through this facilitation process for business and be able to pull those conversations actually out and provide value.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah, Scotty, they did something similar to that. I just went to the digital CPA conference, and it was much bigger, but at least they were trying to do something like that where you had the breakout sessions, and each kind of table had like a huge banner there that had a subject matter. So, people went to what they were interested in and what made sense for them so they could kind of all just feed off each other during that time.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Awesome.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: But I like it. It’s going to be awesome to have a smaller group. To really be able to sit there and that’s great.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, it’s gonna be fun.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I know it takes a lot of work getting that going.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, it does because it’s a lot of chicken or the egg. But we’ve gotten a lot of great early momentum. We’ve had some wonderful sponsorships come through and exhibitors and everything that’s going to allow us to put this conference on, which is wonderful. Sykes was one of the very first supporters, which I appreciate more than you know.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Great.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yay.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: So, I was like, we’re putting on a conference and you guys were like, we’re there.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah, of course. Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Sign us up.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: So, I know you guys speak at almost all the conferences and everybody, like your sessions are packed. So, we will likely have you guys in a breakout session that’s peer led and that’s facilitated just because we didn’t wanna do like the one too many where it’s like, all right, now everybody’s gonna attend this. Now everybody’s gonna, so this way it can actually be interactive. But I know there’s a lot going on, right? We have a new administration coming in. It’s a new year.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: It’s gonna be a lot.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, there’s a lot of content from us this year. Get ready.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, it’s tax season.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Especially by then, there’s no telling what will be going on. Because I think there’s going to be some changes hitting quickly after the 20th.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: It’ll be a lot of, lot of tax stuff this year. So, buckle up.
Nicolette Mathey, CPA: Is there anything top of mind that we need to know or start preparing for?
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Well, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will be, most of it expires this year. So that will be on the table completely this year with other changes and updates to that law. So, it’s going to be monumental, these changes this tax year. So, we’ll have all that content. Now, what that looks like for pharmacies, we’ll have to see.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: No telling what else.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: There’s going to be quite a bit of changes for sure.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right. What about R &D? Do we have any updates on R &D yet or you anticipate that’ll come with the new?
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That’ll come, that’ll change probably and that will come with the updates for sure because that has bipartisan support the R &D expenses where you have to capitalize your R &D expenses which nobody does but that do and should.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: And that’s one thing that could change. I’m sure it’s going to change somehow. And the ones that do, that’s a hard hit. For the first few years.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Okay. I heard you talking about that on another podcast a little bit Bonnie, because I opened a pharmacy, what, like September of 2024?
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Mm-hmm.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Well, that’ll be interesting as we scale that fulfillment side, what happens and I’ll lean on you guys to let me know what I’m supposed to be doing.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP: We’ll have it.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: We’ll have it, yep, we’ll dig into it and figure it out. All these changes, how it affects pharmacy specifically, so we’re excited about it. We hope it’s a lot of positive changes.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. I hope so. I’ve been working on just scaling our software side and scaling the software company and that’s the whole thing. The development team, the product manager, all that fun stuff. And it’s such a different world. everybody’s kind of, everybody from the outside in the development side and the business side that I’m working with, because we have pharmacy software, they’re all like, what’s going on with pharmacy? What’s happening with all these middlemen? You know, and the government’s putting a lot of pressure on them now. So, it’s like, point is it seems like people outside of our industry now are really starting to notice how messed up it is.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: They do. I’m running into it in the community and people are aware of the PBMs now.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah. So especially with this administration change coming in, I know we’ve been, you know, hoping and praying for a long time and, feeling discouraged really. I mean, I have at times really discouraged and seeing the reimbursements last year and just, so maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel coming now, at least in exposure of them. And they’re talking about breaking apart CVS and their PBM, the pharmacy side and the PBM side.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Mm-hmm.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: I remember when the CVS-Caremark merger went through when I was in pharmacy school, when I was in grad school, what, probably around 2008 or something. And I remember everybody saying, and my professor saying, the FTC is gonna block it. They would never let this happen. They didn’t block it.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yep. Well, Trump’s been on the record saying he’s gonna, you he doesn’t like the middleman. And I mean, when he says something, he usually means it, right? I mean, so we’ll see.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. But it’s easy to get jaded, you know, because these are the biggest companies in our country. They got the most money. And that’s frustrating because are we going to see change? I don’t know.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I know they’re extremely powerful. Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: I don’t know.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I think it’s definitely a good thing when the people not involved in our industry know what a PBM is now. So, you know you have to think change is coming. The public is aware of the issue. It’s an issue.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, and I’m seeing that so much more as are you.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: It’s out there.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah, you know, that’s true. I used to post on my personal Facebook page back when I had my bigger pharmacy a few years back. I used to post on there about PBMs and about that. Nobody knew what I was talking about. None of my friends. My parents didn’t know what a PBM was. Like nobody knew. Now people know. Yeah, my mom’s too busy knowing about Sasquatch. She don’t know what a PBM is. Eh, but now they know. See? Look at that. Yeah.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah. I was just explaining it to my husband not long ago. He seemed a little bored by it, but he listened.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: So, it’s going be an interesting year from that regard, you know, with how the new administration handles that, how they handle the taxes. So, I mean, it could be a monumental year for pharmacy in a good way. Let’s hope, you know, let’s hope it’s been many years of pharmacy taking a beating with these DIR fees and getting screwed. So.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah, that’s the thing though, pharmacies, you know, there is something to manifestation. So, you could focus on what’s wrong and there’s a lot wrong. And there always will be a lot wrong. Or you could focus on what’s right. We had a great opportunity revenue wise during COVID. We had a great opportunity revenue wise during this GLP craze and it’s not over yet and it’s not too late to get started. So, there’s gonna be something next. You just gotta keep your eye on the horizon for what’s happening next.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right. I mean, Scotty and I weren’t even pharmacists, and we were almost about to jump on the COVID testing bandwagon. I mean, you’ve got to take advantage of what’s there, what works. I mean, just filling scripts. Because nobody was doing it. It was crazy.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah. Well, because we had an opportunity in our community that was there and we were like, man, let’s do this.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah. I know, I know. So, there’s always gonna be opportunity. And I think as pharmacists too and pharmacy owners, I’m seeing a lot more move to online, move to like I’ve been researching Telemed and vetting Telemed, right? I’ve vetted a lot of telemedicine companies that just couldn’t fit their business model into the brick and mortar independent pharmacy model because they’re all online. All the Romans and Hymns and Hers and Tri-Eden and IVIM and all these things. They’re taking market share away from independent pharmacies, Amazon pharmacy. I mean, that behavior is moving online.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Amazon pharmacies ramping up too. They’re really ramping up with some brick and mortar locations I’ve seen.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yep. Yep. So, our pharmacies have a great opportunity to utilize the data that’s in your database already with your patients, with your prescribers, and to let them know because like these online pharmacies, they’re not even pharmacies, online communities, telemedicine platforms, they’re already creating the buzz and making your patients curious. So, if you reach out to your patients, say, hey, we offer that too, and you can come talk to me and you can come pick it up and I’ll talk to your doctor and I’ll make sure that you’re getting the best quality. And when you have side effects, call me or you come to me or I have solutions for your side effects. You don’t have to go Google it or ask WebMD like that’s what we’re here for. You can keep that business.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: And a lot of the technology players are catching up with, you know, online checkout experiences and all those things to keep patients in the community. We don’t have to lose them to online retailers.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Absolutely. And going back to that PBM thing, I keep CNBC on in my office here and just about every day they talk about PBMs. Now.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Really?
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah. You know, there’s always a segment, CVS and PBMs or something. You know, six, 12 months ago, that was not the case. But just about every day now, there’s a PBM blurb.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, well, you know what, I should have mentioned this when we were talking about Africa and all that. We also had a two-day stop in Manhattan to show the kids New York, because they had never been, since we had the fly out of JFK anyway. We flew from Tampa. We had, it was such a trip. We went from Tampa to JFK, spent a couple days in Manhattan, did a tour, did all this, Timesquare and all that stuff. Then we went to Cairo and Kenya.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Man, y’all checked a lot of boxes on that one.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Now, the day or two after we were in Manhattan, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare got shot and killed, and we were right there. We were like the next block over like the day before and we couldn’t believe it in this. That, I mean. That’s wild.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That is wild and that brought to light the issues in the industry altogether. I mean that’s you know as terrible as that is.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: That’s insane.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right. I know people get angry. As heated as that is, because I know it’s riled everybody up. And I think that was the purpose. But that’s going on. Other industries are noticing for sure. The public is noticing. There’s a patient website onthepen. Have you heard about it? It’s like there’s so much patient online communities, even the Weight Watchers community forum is real active. Reddit is popping with all this about patients who are advocating for their GLPs and for their life-changing medications. Now, that business, that compounded GLP business is self-pay. So it’s outside of the PBM model and the PBMs, if you’re trying to get the brand names, patients are experiencing the friction and they’re starting to ask questions. And these are smart patients. They’re like, this is wrong. Some things I’m paying $1,200 a month for my insurance. Like, why can’t I get my therapy that my doctor’s prescribing me? And more than patients have ever experienced this. So that onthepen website or a website podcast, all that, they post quite a bit about the shortage or about patients having trouble accessing their medications. So, I truly think if this, if February 18th comes and these 503A’s have to stop dispensing Tirzepatide places like the Weight Watcher community, the online Reddit communities, onthepen communities, they’re gonna go nuts.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: So. I always say… what do I say?
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I mean, it’s only growing. I don’t know how the shortage is not there anymore because it’s the whole space is growing exponentially.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: It’s really something to watch though because I subscribe to any legal case and I get I got an update today that actually and this has been happening for a few days but since this it’s been happening for about five days now but I got another legal update today that was filed with that OFA versus the FDA lawsuit on the shortage that Lily entered the lawsuit. So now Lily is able to defend with the FDA against the OFA because they have a protected interest and so all the courts have allowed Lilly to enter. So, it’s just it’s heating up so I read a lot of that stuff. I read all the legal documents. I won’t say that I understand all of them but I read them all and then on the pharma manufacturing side I’m subscribed to a ton of those just newsletters and articles, and I read all those. They’ve been buying up huge facilities globally to try to end the shortage. They’ve been investing money.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Well, I know they’re building a big facility here in Raleigh area, I think, Bonnie. Huge.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Mm-hmm. I believe so. Mm-hmm.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah. So yeah
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. So, but the thing is that it’s incredible the amount of patients who are on these medications and it’s only growing. So, what a time to be alive!
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: And I had clients back in September. I was talking to pharmacies back in September or August saying, well, we’re not in it yet. We’re not doing it yet, but it’s going to run out soon. And here we are. I mean, it’s still going. It’s never too late to get in it.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I had a naysayer for like the last six months and then I talked to her on Friday and she’s like, I’m calling Nicolette. She’s like, this is ridiculous. Like I’m just, I’m giving in. I’m doing it. I was like, yes.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: That’s the thing. There’s even still a couple of state boards holding out saying…Yeah, Mississippi, Louisiana is giving a little trouble to Alabama. Actually, one of our GPO partners on the 503B side just got licensed in Alabama and they’re shipping in there now.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Mississippi…What’s their issue? Like, I mean, I’m just curious to truly understand. Do they just not trust it? The safety of it?
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: It’s new. So, they’re hinging on the fact that 503Bs have always historically sold into hospitals and clinics. They’ve filled shortage drugs for hospitals. I don’t know, normal saline shortages, whatever, lidocaine shortages, injectable shortages for hospitals. The FDA put out a guidance and it’s called prohibition on wholesaling, which makes no sense. So, kind of what we’re talking about, but they put it out in like June of 2023. And in that, in like line 280 or something or 380, whatever it is, it explicitly states that, so the whole point of that document is to say 503Bs cannot wholesale. So, they can’t sell it like to me at Atrium and then I’m selling it to pharmacies, or they can’t sell it to clinics to go sell to a bunch of other clinics or what if they can’t, 503Bs can’t wholesale. 503Bs have to sell to the dispensing entity. And that’s it. That’s what the document was for. So 503Bs have to sell to the hospital. 503Bs have to sell to the clinic. 503Bs have to sell to the pharmacy. And then the pharmacy is gonna dispense it pursuant to a prescription. That part was like an aha because everybody said, wait a minute, 503Bs can sell to a pharmacy? And pharmacies can dispense pursuant to a prescription? But it’s in black and white that they can do that. That’s not what this whole document was about. This whole document was about prohibition on wholesaling and it was defining what is wholesaling. But for a 503B to sell to a pharmacy, a 503A, and then for that 503A to dispense a prescription, know, pursuant to a valid prescription for that item that is not wholesaling. So that is not prohibited. So yeah, it’s kind of like a buried backwards way to say it but it was very clear 503B’s manufacture products that are in shortage and other things but mainly they manufacture products that are in shortage, and They can sell to these entities. They just can’t wholesale them because the pharmaceutical industry has a very specific structure for manufacturing and then manufacturers wholesale to distributors or to like, you know, the McKessons, the Cardinals, the Cencoras, and then the buying groups and all that gets involved. That’s a very specific channel, but that’s not what 503Bs do. Their place in the supply chain is to fill in when needed on shortage products or in various specific circumstances. So, they’re not in that whole channel of wholesale, but they can sell directly to the dispensing facility of hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies. But that part made a light bulb go off in all of our industry’s minds like, wait a minute, we can access that channel as well. We don’t just have to play over here buying from the big three.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP: Yeah. So, these states are saying it’s a wholesale activity and it’s not allowed.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: I think the states are confused, to be honest, and I think a lot of the state boards are antiquated. But the states are saying, well, that’s a draft guidance document. So, we’re not going to accept that. It’s like, this document is not what gave the green light. This document clarified. So, if you go back, there’s nothing saying.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Most federal regulations are draft for God knows how long and you have to work off the drafts until you get the finals. And that’s the way it is in the tax world anyway.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right. Yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right. It’s the guidance for the industry. Yeah.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: We would get nothing done if we waited for everything to be.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, finalize. Yeah, we wouldn’t be taking anything.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right. You can’t find anything in writing that says that you can’t do that. There’s nothing in writing that says 503As cannot purchase from 503Bs, cannot, cannot. So just because this document is a draft guidance, it’s a guidance on the prohibition of wholesaling. So, you might be able to argue that that’s not final yet, but that’s not even what we’re talking about. But exactly to your point, when I first went to my friend Haley, who owns PQ Pharma, I’ve known him for over a decade. I almost bought his pharmacy years ago. He lives here in Palm Harbor where I do and a brilliant guy. And I first went to him, I it was like last April. And that was my first experience with 503Bs. Haley was a great sterile compounder, sold his pharmacy for a lot of money. And I mean that he was very successful. He sold it to a big nationwide group like wonderful, that pharmacy is still in existence in Palm Harbor. Now, Haley opened PQ Pharma in Brooksville, Florida, about an hour north of us. So I went and visited his facility, looked at all his paperwork, talked to his microbiologist, got like a real education. And he said the same thing. Cause I was like, well, Haley, this says guidance. And he said, that’s what the pharma industry operates on, is guidance. That’s what you get.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Right. And that’s what it’s for, right?
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That’s what you get.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right. Yeah. It’ll take seven years or something to like to formalize that document, but you can’t wait.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That’s what you get and you gotta weigh the, you know, the pros and cons of that guidance and make a decision, but you gotta make a decision one way or another.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yep. Now the NABP, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, recently got a new president, Jeff Maceros. And I went to school with his wife Maria, and we sat next to each other at UF for like four years. So, I’m really trying to stick it to Jeff like, hey, I need you to talk to us. I need you to because so many state boards under your National Association of Boards of Pharmacy are not on the same page. So, we really need some leadership to bring state boards together.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, I was going to say this is a leaders, it’s a leadership thing, you know, with not making the call on whether to do this or not in these states, you know, its leadership, I think, as a…
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Yeah, and if you think about it, there’s 56,000 retail type pharmacies in our country, ones that actually like serve patients, you could say there’s 80 something thousand if you include all the specialty mail order type things that are closed, but let’s say 56,000. If 18,000 to 20,000 of them are independents, that’s a huge percentage. So, we need representation with NABP. We need all the state boards to be on the same page because just like 503Bs are a carve out to help in special situations, so are independents. No one’s more accessible. No one’s more adaptable. You have so many rural areas where all they have is independent pharmacies. So, I’m really trying to advocate for NABP and for these state boards that are just out of alignment with the rest to just work together just to streamline patient care.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, yeah. Hope so. So, I’m really trying to get Jeff’s attention, but we’ll see.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Well, it’s going to be an exciting, exciting year and we got the conference AtriumX. We got tax changes, maybe some pharmacy PBM changes this year. I don’t know. We’ll see. Who knows? Nobody knows. What curve balls are we going to get? There’ll be a few of those. I’m sure.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah. Nobody knows.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Always keeps it interesting though, you know.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, always.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, always glad to have you on Nicolette and your perspectives and insights for our listeners here. And yeah.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: And if anybody’s not in this space yet, call Nicolette. She can help you get it, get it going. Yeah, we have the whole solution. We’ve put a couple hundred pharmacies through it. It’s a great opportunity for pharmacies just to keep their patients instead of losing them online because they’re going get it anyway, to your point. So, it might as well be a…
Bonnie Bond, CPA: I hear good things about it. Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That’s right. They’re going to get it. If not from you, from somebody else.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: And I haven’t heard of one provider, I’m sure you may have, that is against it or has an issue. We keep hearing from our clients that providers are on board. They’re like, it’s great option.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: You know, it’s usually political. It’s usually the providers that are part of a big like hospital group. And it’s not on the P and T committee or they’re not allowed to write for compounds or whatever it is. And that’s why this telemedicine solution that we found is going to be so impactful. Because if you have a patient come into you like, hey, I saw that you often use medications. I saw it on your social media. My friend gets it, whatever, but my doctor won’t write it. Do you have somebody I could see? Yes, you can put the telemedicine on your website. You can have a bag stuffer with the QR code, lead them right to it. And it’s pretty seamless. They’re licensed. They have licensed providers in every state, except maybe Alaska, I think, but they’re working on licensure there. But they have them in every state. They comply with the laws in each state as far as synchronous or asynchronous visits. The patients have to upload a full body photo. They have to have a video call if that’s required in your state. They have to fill out a whole checklist, medical history. They have to upload lab work. It’s legit. It’s a legit visit and appointment. And then if appropriate, the prescribers, have your pharmacy’s protocols loaded because it’s your link and your URL. So, if you compound certain things, those formularies are uploaded for that telemed provider. So that makes it really cool too. So, you’re not gonna be getting prescriptions that you…
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: So, they’re just checking a box pretty much. Like the provider, they know the patient, they know which pharmacy, and they’re just going in and checking these boxes and you do these two things.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, they’re doing the medical visit and they’re making sure that they’re complying with that state’s requirements for a telemedicine visit. And then if it’s appropriate, they’re prescribing that prescription for that patient. But since it came through your pharmacy’s link, it’s going to your pharmacy. And let’s say if it’s a GLP, they know which GLPs you have because on the back end, you’ve put in your formularies.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Yeah, that’s cool.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, so it’s pretty cool.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I like that.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, yeah, we’ve been working on it for some time, so I’m excited to launch it at AtriumX.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: I can’t wait to hear more about that.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Mm-hmm. That’s another podcast.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah buddy. Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: That’s exciting. Well, it’s another thing man. It’s like, you know, get with it get going get on these things get changing evolve adapt. Put yourself out there, you know grow the pharmacies Grow that expertise. I mean, that’s what it’s all about
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Right.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Yep. Yep.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, don’t lose your patience in online market. Yeah. Yeah.
Bonnie Bond, CPA: Absolutely.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Well, Nicolette, we could probably go on another hour, but we appreciate you, everything you do in the industry and joining us on our podcast today.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah, likewise.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: Maybe we can make this a recurring quarterly update. I don’t know. This is pretty good.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Only if we have Margaritas.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: So, Margariters. Yeah. It’d be cool if we can do, maybe Austin and I will do a live update from AtriumX. We’ll see.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Yeah.
Scotty Sykes, CPA, CFP®: But thanks again, Nicolette, and thanks for all our listeners out there. Have a great day.
Nicolette Mathey, PharmD: Thank you, Scotty. Thanks, Bonnie.