Small Biz Spotlight: Sudbury Pharmacy

When Joseph Chammas worked as a clerk for a national pharmacy chain for 14 years, not only did he get valuable experience, he realized there is a demand for direct, personalized business.

Chammas went to MCPHS University, graduating in 1996. With the support of family and friends, he and his brother and co-owner Marc Chammas opened Sudbury Pharmacy on Aug. 5, 2005.

What made you decide to open this type of business? We like being in the pharmacy business because we get to help people understand their medications, how to take them, and what to expect. As a specialty compounding pharmacy, we also get to custom make medications for our patients. This is sometimes necessary when something is unavailable from a manufacturer, or if the patient is allergic to one or more ingredients in the manufactured products. It’s also handy when a child cannot tolerate the taste of a medication, and we can make it so it tastes much better with their flavor of choice.

Why Sudbury? We chose the area because we felt that Sudbury and the surrounding towns did not have an independent pharmacy to serve the public. We were lucky to get this specific location in the busiest plaza in town.

Biggest struggle? Our biggest struggle is dealing with insurance companies. The reimbursements we are getting from insurance gets worse every year, to the point where now the payments are either at or below costs on more prescriptions. We spend a lot of time trying to get approval for our patients when their insurance plan would not cover the medication normally. Lastly, most of the new drugs are specialty medications and most plans limit their dispensing to specialty mail-order only pharmacies.

What do you see for the future? The future of pharmacy will have a lot to do with patient care and compliance. As an independent pharmacy, we have a closer relationship with our patients, which puts us in an excellent position to provide services such as medication compliance packaging, more extensive counseling, and follow-ups.

Politics and small business: how does government affect your business? Our practice is regulated by many agencies, including the State Board of Pharmacy, the DEA, FDA, and others. These agencies are constantly changing regulations, most recently in relation to our compounding practice, and we have to make adjustments to stay compliant. We also have to deal with all the constant changes in the Medicare program, and the annual changes in the Medicare drug plans. To help our patients navigate this world, we signed up with the iMedicare service, which provides guidance in choosing the most appropriate plan. We have found that many legistlators are unaware of most of the problems we face as pharmacists and pharmacy owners. Most don’t even know that when a prescription is filled, we are not billing the insurance companies directly. All claims go through a Pharmacy Benefits Manager (PBM) company, which act as a third-party in the process. Unfortunately these PBMs are a big part of the problems we face with drug coverage.

Do you have or know of a business that deserves to be in the spotlight? Tell us about it: charlene.arsenault@patch.com.